Dr. Simmi Gurwara
Clean India campaign is a better-late-than-never campaign. It gives a fresh impetus to our long forgotten cleanliness drive to keep our surroundings as clean as we know are on foreign shores. Clean roads, clean parks, clean schools, clean colleges, clean bus stations, clean railway stations, clean outlook, clean minds, clean systems and clean establishment. Everything clean. Spick and span. Shining brightly. What could possibly be better than this. It is a lofty ideal. But difficult to achieve, given our tardy and tedious approach towards anything fresh and different to our set patterns.
One goes gaga over such an initiative that pledges to ensure cleanliness all around. News regarding the clean drive being taken up by political heroes and local volunteers in any city of a billion plus country fills us with hope and determination that things will change with the change in attitude. Attitudinal change may be big thing but nothing is impossible and so says our Prime Minister. His vision gives sharpness to our lousy and easy going attitude towards everything including the cleanliness in our neighbourhood.
We hate to think twice before we litter our used stuff of every conceivable type. It is a herculean task to come across a road which is not dotted with the garbage heaps staring straight in our face, reminding us of the stark absence of values in our otherwise bloated selves.
What fun is our education that fails in giving us the right kind of values. We may be overly particular about our individual cleanliness but when it comes to our collective conscience about the same we fail miserably, showcasing the worst side of our socialized selves.
Everybody seems to be a culprit barring a few who make cleanliness their religion. There is no dividing line between literates and illiterates at least in the matter of contributing profusely to the increasing piles of junk seen all around.
When the ministers of newly formed government made surprise checks and it turned into national news headlines, we found it read-worthy. For plain reason that it sounded like a wake up call to all those sloppy creatures who make every effort to remain absent from their designated place during office hours. The erring officials started reporting on time. And it was no more a news item that could grab the headlines. Everything settled down. However, it would be great to find the ex-defaulters still coming on time and doing the job which they are legally and ethically bound to. For we have this habit of going back to square one. ‘Chalta ha’ culture has advertently or inadvertently become a part of our psyche. This obsessive compulsive disorder of sorts derails every initiative aimed at reform. Sounds cynical, but sadly true.
Who is to blame. Well there can be so many in the roaster. Since finger-pointing is our National sport, we have no qualms in preparing exhaustive lists of wrongdoers. For every time we trash things without reaching out to a trash-bin, we have a valid (or invalid) reason to shield our inabilities like the busy without business style of living, inexplainable laziness that compels us to opt for easy and time saving options, and the ‘devil may care’ attitude which is the mother of all excuses.
Blame game can be played endlessly, keeping things perennially same (read pathetic). What is required is to take the first step, getting out of the rut. And the rest will follow suit.
Let every citizen become an active member of clean India campaign. Celebrities may help generate awareness amongst the masses but unless and until every thinking (and non thinking) individual puts his/her foot forward, the campaign won’t come to fruition. Are we ready to follow the Gandhian dictum-Be the change that you want to see in others. We better be.
