Garbage of blames

On 23rd July, Sunday morning, around 8 o clock, there is seen a corporation vehicle emptying huge heap of garbage dumped at the corner of a road of an area in Mysore. I, from the middle of group of green shirt volunteers noticed them taking the garbage with bare hands and filling onto the truck.  I thought I should talk to them, not to ask the reason for not wearing gloves, but something else. I went and asked them, why do people dump the garbage here? I think you guys don’t collect the waste every day! Why don’t you daily collect?

Frustrated having showered the blames by people I went on that morning, made me speak in such a manner. Every Sunday it is confirmed to the volunteers of “Swaccha Mysuru Swastha Bharatha” (Clean Mysuru, Healthy life) campaign organised by Ramakrishna Ashram, Mysuru in association with Mysore city corporation, to receive the heap of blames by the public who they go to educate on cleanliness and hygiene.

These volunteers go to each house, clean their surroundings, wake them up from their deep Sunday sleep, call them out to preach them on cleanliness, avoiding plastic, water conservation and warn about contagious diseases.

Some respond positively, some stay as if nothing happens to them, some would be murmuring within themselves, “Oho, as if we don’t know? Should we know all this from you.” Some thinks that these people don’t have any other work, they come to give unnecessary speech early morning. There is also another category of those spitting out blames. It looks like as much the volunteers do try to convince, the more they litter their openhanded blames on them.

The list of blamed includes neighbors, wind that carries garbage to their doors, pourakaarmikas, corporators and most popularly Mysore city corporation.  I am being the employee of corporation gets embarrassed. While defending the institution I work for I try to persuade them that they need to cooperate and not corporation can do everything. They better stop demanding burdened works from corporation. Few times the crowd will blast on volunteers when we get into conversation.

In this context when we spoke to the Pourakrmikas who were clearing the garbage, it seemed that they felt offended by my condemnatory talk. One of those guys humbly said “Madammore, dina hogtiv, Aidaidu bucket kasa haktar madam (We collect daily, each house dumps around five buckets of waste), pointing at the Pourakarmika lady “Eevakkang keli avru eshteshtu kasa tandu avrugu sustagade” (Ask our sister, how tiring is it to collect waste from this area!).

Then my co-volunteer asked them to say such people that it is not possible to collect waste beyond a limit and complaint on them or put a fine. They laughingly dragged their tone “Maaaadam, Adakke kasa ilband biddide” (That’s why the garbage is heaped up here) “Ma’am, we can’t complain on anyone, they just think we are meant to do it and we shall do it.”  There is no such provision too to impose limit for domestic wastes dumped from households.

Then I asked “Why are you not wearing gloves, you will be infected otherwise” One of them suddenly started pulling out the heap of waste and showed the mixture of wastes submerged in semi solid food waste “ Nodi madam, idnella gloves hakond baachakkagutta? Separate madakkagatta?” (Can these be cleaned completely with wearing gloves? It’s difficult to segregate the waste with gloves. So, we won’t wear it though it has been provided.) We just pitied on them, blamed the public who aren't empathized with them  and moved from there.

Volunteers do talk to Health inspectors, ward corporators on the complaints they receive from public. There always found sufficient effort from every side to stay responsible of their duty.

Many people do presume that government servants don’t work, they ignore their responsibilities! But after my joining to the service, I see here people work even after office hours, even on Sundays including higher officers. They are not rewarded anytime, but the blames even when they do the best to their potential.

It is more important to public that they need to cooperate rather being critical. Unless their cooperation there is no development. When corporators and environment engineers ask to segregate wastes, and provide them separate dustbins, we hardly see anyone does that! In many houses those dustbins are used to rinse cloths. When that is questioned, the question is ignored!

To be aware of basic cleanliness, one need not be a post graduate living in posh areas. Perhaps, the education from our schools has failed to impact on us in that line. Even most of the NGOs who are organizing cleaning campaign are just conducting cleaning drives involving volunteers, but not the work of education. There is a need to enter the minds of people, inculcate such temper of inclusiveness and cooperation. Ramakrishna Ashrama, Mysuru is in one such effort.

When public is involved themselves; each day, bit by bit shall clean the whole locality. Most importantly the garbage of blames stuck to all of us got to be removed.