Do not litter

Most of the times when we follow the "Do not litter" sign, we are glared at for our efforts! I was walking with a friend of mine, after an usual late night meeting in the library. Coffee and snacks before sleeping have become a sort of routine for me. It was the week before exams, so there would usually be more than one snacks break. We were both having coffee while chit chatting about things varying from gossips to the economy of the US. She almost dropped her coffee cup beside the road when she remembered that I was beside her, and said that she did not do it because I would feel bad! Situations like these have been occurring time and again to me these days, with another friend of mine, in an almost similar situation, said that we should stop worrying about these things and start enjoying this freedom of dropping anything anywhere in India. Somehow I cannot throw away even a tiny bus ticket after the ride is over, always wait till I get home and then throw it in the dustbin!

There is a little flashback for all those patient readers. Though I was a little conscious about littering, I never cared so much until a small incident happened to me exactly an year back, i.e in Aug 2009, when I was in Pune with IBM. We were following eastern standard time (US timings), though I had problem initially, we started having a good time with the entire office to a few of us. There was very little work and so we had lot of time for movies, LAN games, midnight walks, snacks breaks etc. The usual cleaning of work place takes place around 9 PM. It was the turn of a not so young man that day, and adding to his misery, the chocolate wrapper I threw didn't land in the dustbin. It was his job to bear with people like me and patiently pick all those. I was busy in having a good time with the online movie I was watching and he was having a hard time bending down to pick that wrapper. I realized what he is trying to do, and believe me, I felt very guilty and responsible for his painful situation. Though my ego dint allow me to apologize, I picked the wrapper and threw it into the dust bin.

After I came across the following lines in some website, the Do not litter conscience in me has even increased. "While most people leave the area happy after a night of drinking and chatting, there are others who dread the weekly gathering. One cleaner, who is part of a Malaysian cleaning crew at Little India, said in Malay: 'They take it for granted that somebody will always clear their rubbish for them." Are we doing the same? May be yes. We are making the lives of a few people miserable by littering. Its of course their job to keep the area clean, but is picking up our waste, for which we wouldn't have taken more than a minute to do it ourselves, their job?

Have you read those American or European bloggers, who come to India and start complaining "aw! dirty.. pathetic!! etc etc". I would just hate to read these stuff in their blogs. Indians are smart, intelligent and yes handsome too. But how can we stop such blogs. I searched for the same on net and the most common answer was impose a fine. But we all know what happens when a fine is imposed in India. Many of us know how to escape it, few will gain by not giving us a receipt, but the problem persists. So what is the solution?

I think it is time for us to make our country clean, a neat India, a shining India. No Singapore, No Malaysia.. truly Indian. We don't need sky scrappers or do we need American trained government workers to make India shining. Lets do our part in making a truly incredible India.

I have decided to stop littering and be responsible for my nation.. Its your turn now..!

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bit senti ?? Please bear with me.. :-)