For a Cleaner India

Hello Reader, 

It was a Saturday night and I met my flatmates after a usual working week in which we hardly get a chance to see each other due to our mismatch in timings. So, we decided to have some fun and go for a drive to India Gate and roam around on the iconic roads of Delhi all night, in one of my flatmate’s new car.   

We parked our car and walked towards the historic War memorial, India Gate. You might know that India Gate was actually built in remembrance of the martyrs, who sacrificed their lives during the First World War in France and later, an inverted rifle on a black marble stone was placed in middle of the gate which is known as the ‘Amar Jawan Jyoti’, for the brave-hearts, who fought during the 1971 war. If you think about it that way, about why it was made and the important history behind it, you‘ll feel proud about our Army and by just standing there, facing the memorial, gives you Goosebumps and incepts a patriotic feeling.

It is fairly crowded most of the times and is surrounded by green grassy gardens, where people enjoy with their friends and family, go for picnics, eat and play around. What they forget to take care of is evident from the picture I have clicked and shared below. 

And all this in the time when movements like Swacch Bharat are getting so much popularity. We saw the popular ministers and actors posing on the TV screens with glorious smiles on the last Independence Day. Also, a strict circular was passed in all the government offices and educational institutes to repeat the same. And the enthusiastic pseudo-nationalists held brooms in their hands and went to their respective work places and swept the dirt around their offices and houses and then later, posed with victory gestures. Was all that only for a day? Is it not our duty to continue that even on the usual days? Yes, it is. But, I am quite sure that the plant pots placed on the staircase corners of almost every Government Building is still painted Maroon with Paan Spitting and littering. 

And spitting, littering, throwing wrappers and polythene bags anywhere will certainly not contribute to make India Cleaner. It is a very bad habit of majority of people in our country who just throw away the waste on the roads, on the railway tracks, platforms, in public buses, trains and near Historic monuments like India Gate. 

I had a similar experience at Wagha Border, in Amritsar, too. People show great enthusiasm and love for India when they rush, in volumes to watch the evening retreat and gather in the gallery and cheer the Soldiers, displaying their strength and ability. All the patriotic, Desh Bhakti songs are loudly played for everyone while the tired visitors (because of all the rushing and running),  kill their thirst and hunger by buying plastic water bottles and Samsosas, Patties and Chips from the BSF Stalls. But what they forget to do is throw away the empty bottles and packets into the many dustbins that are placed there. Also, at India gate, there are too many dustbins placed for everybody’s reach but why they are not effectively used is a question for which I have no answer. 

Yes, they live in this delusional world where they think they are the real country lovers attending retreats and monuments and cheering our soldiers but all that, I think, certainly goes into the dustbin if not those empty wrappers and bottles. If one cannot walk a few extra miles to put a light wrapper in a dustbin, then one’s show of patriotism is as important as that Chips packet, peacefully lying in front of India Gate (in the pic). Can we not put a little more effort to keep our country internally clean, for which our Army men shed their blood and sweat, protecting us from external dirt, day and night, being at places one can’t even imagine to survive? Are we so hopeless? Let’s not be, please.   

I, personally, want to raise my voice against this bad, immoral, improper and unacceptable habit of throwing away waste anywhere and everywhere. This is our Country, our Motherland, not an open dustbin. 

It is very simple to contribute to the garbage spread by the majority by adding more wrappers and bottles to it and reasoning it as “It’s already dirty, what difference will one more wrapper make?” It does make a difference but an unwanted one. 

So, speak up whenever you see someone casually littering around. 

And, join Montu on his campaign to speak up for what is wrong. 

http://www.abmontubolega.com/

What is #AbMontuBolega Campaign?

#AbMontuBolega campaign is an initiative taken by Strepsils India and Montu, a character played by the talented new actor Saqib Salim, who falls in different social problems and yet, always keeps silent. But, then there is a limit to keep mum . One day, you have to speak up. And that is what this campaign is all about. You can follow and know more about this campaign from these links:
Facebook 
Twitter.

Thank you IndiBlogger 
and Strepsils India for this prompt.

-Ashish