Spending 23 years nowhere but under the warmth of pampering and sophistication, shifting to Chennai for my first corporate job has been a great eye-opener for me. Normally, it takes me around an hour to reach my office. I take a share-auto from our house to the nearest railway station, then commute from there to another station, from where I take our company shuttle. This routine 120 minutes/day of to and fro transit have taught me more than anyone or anything could in this world.
Each day, I am a silent witness to trash carelessly thrown onto the railway tracks and garbage tossed apathetically from window seats. Also, the very disturbing fact that a person is ready to walk up to the railway track and fling junk but doesn't feel like instead walking over to the trash can was so infuriating. I started contemplating on why people acted that way. The simple but hard truth of it - We Indians apparently lack the tacit knowledge that a trash should go in a trash-can. Our minds aren't programmed to search around for bins. Rather, we hurl things we do not need out of our own way, not giving a damn about those who live around us.
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| Image Source: Frontline |
But, even when I am frustrated about all this, what do I do? Absolutely nothing!! I just play dumb. At times, I manage to cast a disapproving look at the folks who chuck out trash, if I am seated opposite to them in the train (which, by the way, never gets noticed in most of the cases). Once, I even tried preaching a fellow commuter but he just gave me a death stare in response. I gave him an equally agonizing stare back, but my insides were already cringing back with hurt and shame.
As days rolled by, my frustration gave in to resignation and I learned, like all citizens, to turn a blind eye to the trashing madness around me in railway stations. I also programmed my mind to think, "What can I do when the world is like this? I responsibly use trash cans and that is all that matters. I should learn not to be too hard on myself and take public matters in my own hands" This is how I have been coping with both myself and the world. Having said that, I very well know that this mindset will hold good only for so long. Not very far from now, I would feel downright ashamed for being a passive accomplice to this act. The indifferent attitude that I adopt now will gnaw my insides then. I know I have to act now if I want things to change around me.
Changes do not happen when we keep on secretly wishing for them on a shooting star. They happen only when we boldly act on it. I earnestly await those days when I walk in a railway station or peep out through a window from a train and see that the sides of railway tracks are spotless. Let's make SWACHH BHARAT a reality and not just a fantasy in our minds!!
This post has been inspired by the #AbMontuBolega Campaign by Strepsils (http://www.abmontubolega.com/)
About the Campaign: Through #AbMontuBolega, RB (Reckitt Benckiser) aims to break the inhibitions that have settled in the minds of our citizens, encourage them to kit up and voice their opinions loudly, on what we should do to create a healthy and cleaner India - the much fantasized SWACHH BHARAT.
Litters of course it has become a habit because of decades of bad practice and wrong governance. Sweep just can't clean and keep country clean, it required subjective nature to tackle the problems existing as we could believe the govt will take that into consideration and also i heard that separate departments has been created for this particular campaign and reforms are being invited. Clean city is a safe city, we had to manipulate this into reality. Don't litter - Pick the litter up, set an example to kids, friends, family then automatically the perceptions of those who litter will change and leads to cleaner city as you dreamt.
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