In a faraway distant society where real justice prevailed and not the secular justice as we see in the modern-day India, people were having issues. People always have issues and it is the duty of the state to solve the local issues locally and global issues globally. It is never the case of the state to provide global solutions to local issues and local solutions to global issues. The solution should depend on the principle of equal treatment of the all; be it in good or bad. The king of the society had a rule that any person who comes to his court for justice should not reveal his personal details to the court until the justice is pronounced. The people with problems would be moved into a box which is not accessible to the king or his minions and the people will take up names such as Chanda, Munda, Banda, Anda, etc. One fine day, the king was told that there were to cases which needed his attention and King sat in his seat with his ministers and asked for the proceedings to begin.

Case 1

Chanda and Munda are neighbours and are also good friends. But due to a variety of circumstances, Chanda and Munda begin to fight over an issue and unable to come to a mutual agreement, they approach the king for a just resolution of their dispute. The dispute is regarding the smell of the food prepared by Chanda which Munda is unable to bear. The king at first thought that these two are wasting his time, but Munda reminds the king to hear his case before closing the matter. Munda tells that the air is given by the nature and is for use of everyone without any bias. The air flows in all places and carries with it good fragrances and also bad odours. As a society and also within the kingdom, the design of houses is such that bad odours are not allowed into the living spaces so that the people lived comfortably. Munda than tells that a particular food prepared by his neighbour Chanda creates such a pungent smell that it becomes difficult to breathe the air. Munda asks the king that the air given by the nature is polluted by Chanda for his personal benefit. Chanda intervenes and tells that within their locality only Munda has problem and nobody has issues with the food prepared or its smell. What should be the decision of the king?

Case 2

Chanda and Munda are good friends were also neighbours. Munda had a son who would keep crying all night and his crying is very loud. The sounds from Munda’s house disturbed Chanda’s sleep and he developed hypertension and other sleep related issues. A few months of discomfort later, Chanda’s life was altered when he found a cute little dog and he took it home. Chanda’s dog in a few months developed a very strange habit of barking whole day and night. Chanda had begun to recognize the mood of his dog and began to enjoy the sounds. Munda was very much disturbed by the sounds of the dog and it was his time to get hypertension. But near to Chanda and Munda there lived Banda who was disturbed with the sounds from his neighbours. Banda took both Chanda and Munda to the King and asked the king that the whole nature except for a very few and seasonal insects; there will be utter silence but because of his neighbours his ears are overloaded and his life is altered for no fault of his. Banda complains that he is not able to focus because of the random irritating sounds from his neighbours. As the king was about to pronounce the judgement, both Chanda and Munda requested the king to hear their side of the story. Chanda tells that he met his wife in one of the loud concerts which were organized every weekend by Banda. Munda tells that one night as he was walking from the loud concert back to his home, he found the dog alone and decided to take it to his home. The two complained that it was Banda’s loud music which is more problematic and is artificial in nature. Chanda and Munda told that the sounds created by their dear ones are natural and not artificial. What should be the decision of the king?

 In both the cases, the King remained silent unable to give instant decision and he requested the men to come back after a few months.

The first is the case of air pollution and the second is the case of sound pollution.

The king went into deep thought analysing the issue. He realized that among the five senses, only the nose and ear can get information without having a choice of receiving it. He thought that people can avoid touch by moving away from the place by a few feet but sound and air travel very far and wide. Then the king thought that the eyes can read information from greater distances and he thanked god for giving eyelids which can greatly help in shutting off the unnecessary sensory stimulation. The sense of taste is deeply protected as it is the one which will facilitate the provision of right kind of energy to the body in normal circumstances. The king then felt that the humans have evolved into a society and ensured that the two normally flowing sensory stimuli are unstoppable by ordinary means and hence societies have formed various rules for self-governance for the comfortable living of all. But he wondered how justice can be given to the problem of his citizens, when stopping of the activity is not the solution. There is no bench mark of what is a good smell and what is a bad smell. Also, there is no standard for what is good sound and what is irritating sound.

The King was going in circular thoughts about how to make the life of his citizens much better and suddenly he let out a fart and only to realize that he too was making a lot of people uncomfortable. Upon introspection, he realized that he snored heavily and had a flatulence problem. King was now in deeper trouble because the solution he was to give must be implemented by him. It was because of his power and position in the society, no person has dared to say the problem aloud. He went to his queen and asked if his farts and snoring sounds disturbed her. She laughed and told him she had no problem as he liked him for a variety of reasons and the minor irritants which were part of him would not disturb her. But when questioned further, she told him that it was always better if he farted and snored a lot less. King was now in serious trouble because the judgement will have even more serious implications, if a large number of people begin to come to him for justice, including his queen.

The king realised that people might come to him for every small discomfort seeking justice and he cannot be an agony aunt for all of people’s problems. The King thought of ghettoization of the society but got feared due to its consequences. He realized even if he created ghettos of like-minded people, there would be points of discomfort which may increase the future cases.

So, in an ideal society what should the King do to improve the comfort levels of his people?

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