Day 274 of facts of pride about India giving smiles – A fact to achieve our dream of a CLEAN INDIA! – Take action Stop future garbage on the walking track!
This is a small example of how anyone can strive towards our dream of living in a clean India.
In Nov 2010 I was briskly walking along the periphery of the Shivaji park grounds in Mumbai along with many other fitness conscious morning joggers. There were some clubs at the edge of the grounds and I spotted a sweeper woman from afar doing her daily chore. Suddenly she collected all the garbage which included waste cauliflower leaves and threw the heap of rubbish straight on the walking track and calmly went back inside the door.
I had two options. Either I could continue with my daily walk, ignore, grumble about it, and could concentrate on my fitness. This is what almost all the people around me seemed to do…they just continued walking, probably thinking that India is like this only.
Another option I had was to ensure that such kind of unclean practice, never ever happened again. I screamed from afar, yet nobody seemed to be bothered. In a split second, I picked up a huge handful of cauliflower leaves from the pathway, stormed inside the door and just scattered all the garbage on the clean floors of what seemed to be an office room.
The lone official there looked at me in utter surprise. I said, ‘How does it feel when an outsider makes your home dirty? Well, the public walking track outside is my home. Please ask your maid servant, to never ever throw your garbage in public places ever again!’ He immediately called the maid from within and reprimanded her and told her never to repeat this mistake again. I left within a minute and continued on my morning walk with a huge feeling of satisfaction.
This incident becomes the cause of laughter when I narrate it at every celebratory get-together with friends of family. One minute of doing something extra-that is all it took to achieve one simple act of responsible citizenship.
You have a choice when you see someone adding to the garbage in public places.
You can do nothing about it or add to it or crib about how dirty our public places are.
Or
You can bring it to the notice of a responsible person to ensure that such an irresponsible act never ever be repeated again.
Forget about trying to make the whole of India clean….start by taking responsibility for keeping your own street clean.
Imagine if all Indians believed-MY STREET CLEAN STREET- then our dream of CLEAN INDIA can soon become a reality!
(this article was written in 2010…now after 2014 the whole of India is co-operating for the Swathcha Bharat mission!)
So which fact about India gave you a smile today?
Please share your experience of facts about India that made you smile.
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