Let women pay the price, 'cause men will be men

While I was growing up, I wasn't much sure of what exactly gratitude meant. But, I did learn the meaning of being good to everyone and having a generous heart. That - my parents did exhibit always.

As I grew up, I learnt the importance of being thankful to every person I met. No matter how menial the job done by one is, or how unimportant one's job might look, I understood every person has a role in shaping our lives. It might look inconsequential but, that I learnt is, on the surface.

Living in the city of Chennai, is so much different to living where I belong to. I don't have to think twice before stepping out of the house alone, or about returning from work late at night still having to walk for a short distance before reaching my door.

Reading about the plentitude of rapes that happen each day in cities and in villages, leaves me in discomfort. Every woman, actually. It is not like Chennai does not have rapes happening but as far as I have learnt, being a female who walks around alone many times and returns late from work on some days, I sure do know that this is the safest place I have lived among all the places that I have lived in till now. 

Mothers and fathers can only ask us to take care and to be safe and keep worrying until we are back home.

I still remember, a few years back, I had a habit of saying thank you to auto drivers, cab drivers, akkas, annas, bus conductors et al, in short everyone I could come across.

I still remember the early morning, a month back, when I had to avail a cab at 3.15. It was the faith that I had in Chennai being one of the safest cities in India, that I went ahead and booked the cab. I still was skeptical about how safe I would be at that point of the night. But I went ahead.

That morning, I was safely dropped off at the airport.

A few days later, I had the office cab dropping me back home after my work hours at late night. 

It was then I realized, every time I thanked the driver it was to a great extent, thankfulness for dropping me off without trying to outrage my modesty. News of sexual assaults on women or even on female infants has become so ubiqitous that one can not help but live in skepticism and doubt.

Amid all this, when I am alone and hire a cab, I do not see a driver but a potential rapist. Sad, but true.

Delhi is mocked as the rape capital of India. Rape victims get burnt, their families tortured.

Victims undergo torture by the perpetrator, and then by the society which fails to understand their ordeal, because they haven't undegone it, yet.

The world might have become a smaller place, so have our hearts. Our society is developing, as claimed, but when I look around I don't see development reaching neither the lowest ebbs of the society nor all the echelons of the society. 

Society treats women as objects, eye candies, arm candies, items. And we don't bat an eyelash. 

Because, all is in jest. For you, even the lives of women.

The blame is laid on women for rapes, for wearing provocative clothes, for inviting trouble, and for asking for it.

But never do we shame the man who assaults a woman and does not even leave that baby who had just turned 2. 

Is this the better place we all dreamt of and wanted to work towards? I hope not. 

All said , women have reduced to means of cashing in on, for the society. A politician promises better days for women because he needs the seat, a film maker needs an item song objectifying a woman and her body, because he knows that is how he could earn money,  beauty prodcuts aim at pitting women against themselves - because it is essential that they feel inferior to themselves and help the multinational money-minting machine earn some more bucks. 

This is the world that we have reduced to. 

Unless the mindset of people doesn't change, the world will never become a better place - never for the womankind.

I still hope I could go back to the days when I used to thank men around out of plain gratitude, and not because they did not lay a hand on me. 

Justice served? No, not really

Yakub Memon was hanged on his 53rd birthday, on July 30th, for being a part of the group which orchestrated the 1993 bomb blasts in Mumbai which killed around 260 people and injuring 700. 

Many across the nation are lauding the SC decision to hang Memon in order to get justice for the lives lost in the blasts and to 'set an example, a message which would be sent across Pakistan.'

Going back to where it all began from, the deadly blasts were the brainchild and handiwork of Dawood Ibrahim and Mushtaq Memon (Yakub's brother - known more as Tiger Memon), and the involvement of Pakistan's ISI is also alleged. 

The blasts were planned as a relation to the killings of Muslims ensued by the Babri Masjid demolition in Ayodhya. The riots killed over 900 people and injured many more. The first question that arises is that why was no justice asked in this case. So many people were killed, irrespective of their religion, caste, creed - Indian were killed. 

In 2006, of the seven members of the Memon family, Court pronounced four guilty, acquitted three. 12 convicts including Yakub were awarded death penalty while 20 were given life sentence. In 2013, except for Yakub, SC commuted the remaining 10 convicts' death penalty to life imprisonment. After the sudden hanging of Ajmal Kasab and Afzal Guru for their crimes, awarding death penalty to Memon is something to raise eyebrows on. Memon's case will be taken by the non-Hindus to be an attack on them. 

One of the reasons that Yakub was convicted for was his involvement in the conspiracy. But so were other members whose death sentences were later commuted. Are they not equally guilty? If their sentences could have been reduced, so could Memon's be. The real conspirators are out there, maybe grinning over India's lackadaisical judicial system and lax police. It has been over two decades that the blast took place, our system  hasn't been able to catch the biggest fishes in the pond of underworld. Neither has justice been delivered, and if hanging Yakub is the way to deliver justice, it certainly is not. 

It is clear that he is being made the scapegoat for our inefficiency to be able to get to Tiger. 

It is clear that he is being targeted so that we have something to show to Pakistan. But the real question is will justice be served? 

Indian citizens and people involved in the law and police, of the likes of S.N. Thapa (former 

additional customs collector - now dead), R K Singh (Former assistant commissioner of customs), Mohammed Sultan Sayyed (former customs superintendent), Jaywant Gurav (former customs inspector), S S Talwadekar (former customs superintendent) were all found guilty and given RI. Nobody is questioning the judiciary's decision on that.

Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar, who was involved in the Delhi blasts of 1993 was given a shortened sentence after his life imprisonment was commuted. That was because he was suffering from schizophrenia and the court had taken too long to come up with a sentence. Sounds similar? These were the grounds on which initially Yakub Memon had filed a mercy plea, which ultimately was rejected.

Death penalty in the Nirbhaya case is justified because law in India awards death penalty in the 'rarest of the rare' cases. How does Yakub Memon fit the bill here? He does not, had he fit him and the other convicts who had their sentences commuted would have all fit.

The hanging of Memon, unfortunately, is like Afzal Guru's hanging, mired in a lot of political strategies. Hanging a man after delaying the case for over 22 years doesn't bring justice. Hanging a man who surrendered and helped police as an approver, in making a breakthrough in the Mumbai blasts, is a shame. He was not innocent, but Indian judiciary's decision has not been rapt. Doubts linger on every aspect of statements made by the police. Like Memon's claim that he came back to India with his family or if he was nabbed from an airport in Kathandu or from a railway station in Delhi. Talking about sending a message to Tiger and Dawood, or setting an example to act as a deterrent, or exemplifying the achievement of justice, Memon's death has failed to do any of it.

Memon tried a lot to save himself from the death penalty but it was not of any help.

Punish a man for his brother's crimes. That is what the Indian system did.

::ORR Short story submission :: Story of the sky

Beneath the giant mango tree, her childhood was spent. Playing with her scooter, making mud pan cakes or piggybacking on dad, were some of the things she remembered. Happiest moments of her life, she remembers those as.

When she was three, she got her first kitchen set. Since then, it had been one of her most valuable assets, her paraphernalia to certain illusory yet the tastiest of savories. Her mom used to read out bed time stories to her and her dad would hug her, lying with her until she fell asleep.

Turning five, she got a beautiful train that would run operating on a battery. She would assemble her dolls, her toy dog, her teddy bear, the kitchen set and the train under the mango tree. She would then enact a scene of the train arriving at its ultimate stop, her toys – the guests arriving, and herself cooking them a sumptuous meal. It would be a wonderful story, quite movie-like, and she would happily revel in herself playing the host.

Theirs was a small yet beautiful house. It was surrounded by a garden on both sides, and plants at the front. They would wake up to the mountains visible at the back of their house. Her room had the choicest of toys, few in number, yet most closest to her being. A dog, a teddy bear she loved since she was three month old, a doll her parents gifted on her first birthday, a kitchen set and a duck – a plastic one. Their home was a simple one, like her parents. It exuded a nice vibe, the appearance, the surroundings and they were a happy family, in simpler times. Sundays were not lazy, but bustling with more life than the weekend. They had three meals together. They watched television, they did gardening, slept through the afternoon, and her dad helped with homework and lambasted her if she failed to get the math right. Math was not her favorite subject. She liked English and Science most.

Summer holidays became her favorite two months, her grandparents would visit her. Her grandmother would ensure she ate at least six times a day and her grandfather would recite to her stories of the yore. Sometimes, two of her cousins would arrive too with their parents. When her cousins came, she would love playing hide and seek around the house, and also guests' homecoming. Her cousins were not so accepting of the latter game, but she used to run around them making them concur to play her guests, while she played the host. She loved her cousins, and they adored her. She was the youngest among them, the sensitive and the sweetest. There was a naughty twinkle in her eyes and a pretty smile on her face, always. There were three things she secretly wished. Firstly, her grandparents could be with her always. She hated her grandparents return to their hometown after the summer vacations. She loved them as much as she loved her Mamma and Papa. Secondly, that her cousins Veda and Disha could be her siblings and they could live with her, playing till eternity. Thirdly, she very deeply hoped and longed to get a pet puppy. That, unlike her toy dog would lick her, follow her, play with her and share her room. Such were her happy innocuous yearnings.

She had told her parents about wanting a puppy, but her Mamma was not keen on getting one. Cleanliness, hygiene and tidiness issues like any other mother she had. Papa and Mamma made her understand that when she will be old enough to look after a dog, she could have it. Daddy’s favorite girl made peace, instead bartered for many chocolates. So, she went to her room and played with her toy dog, feigning games of it running and fetching the ball or following her. She was a happy child, happily she dreamt of growing up.  

Once school started after summer this year, she was introduced to craft. She found it interesting- making things with paper and sticks. She loved the crafts class, and the teacher was very patient. She used to end up staying fifteen minutes past the class, engrossed in making something novel, every crafts class. But she loved coming back home and exhibiting it to her parents.  Her Sundays, now had an extra hour dedicated to her creative proclivity. Her mother would assemble everything she made and keep it on the mantelpiece, or the kitchen, or their bedroom or her grandparents’ room. Their home was brimming with the little girl’s presence. That's what kept her Mamma hinged on her thoughts when she was away from her for the school hours.

For her eighth birthday, she got a bicycle. She loved it. She would tell about it to her grandparents - about how she used to fall while trying to ride it, and how Papa caught her almost always. She was having so much fun. Her parents spent the evenings making her learn riding it. Once, she stopped falling she would keep riding around their house ringing the bell on it. It had a basket in the front, where she would carry her toy dog and doll whenever she cycled round the house.

That summer two days after her grandparents arrived for their summer stay, her parents had to leave to see an ailing relative. Her Mamma told her that a distant uncle was unwell, and that they’d be back till the nightfall. By 8 that night when they didn’t arrive and grandma called Mamma, they said they’d be late to reach, maybe around ten thirty. Her Mamma asked Amma to tuck her in and to read her bed time stories.

Never in the past had she slept without her Mamma reading to her the stories. She hurled defiance at her grandma’s reading it; she was not being finicky, but she experienced an inexplicable feeling in the gut. She was a kid; she didn’t know what it meant. Her grandma pacified her saying Mamma and Papa are on the way and that they will reach in twenty minutes. She looked at the clock, crooning that she will sleep after twenty minutes. But amidst that all, she dozed off. That night she saw her parents in her dreams, her Mamma smiling and Papa coming to throw her in the air like he did when she was a toddler. Her Mamma whispered to her “We love you, we are always with you.” The three of them were hugging happily when she saw tears in her parents’ eyes.

When she woke up, she couldn’t find her grandma beside her. She went out looking for mom and dad. She saw a bevy of people assembled at her house. She called out to her grandma who came rushing. She had been crying.

Bewildered and thoroughly perplexed, she asked her grandma what was happening. Her grandma didn’t say anything but broke down again. Her aunties and uncles were home, she sighted her cousins as well. Something was definitely not well; her Lata mami took her to her room. She demanded to see her parents. Lata aunty and Rajesh uncle said they have flown to a distant land. She started crying loudly, she wanted to see her parents. Grandma came running to console her. Grandma said they had to take a flight in the morning and that they will call when they reach. That couldn’t assuage the feeling inside her. She asked her grandma why she had been crying, why Lata mami was crying. She had no answer. She broke her reticence when she said Mamma Papa will be gone for long, and that they will have to stay with naughty Falak for a long time till then. Falak couldn’t understand a thing, but she knew, they were not going to come back. The movies had acquainted her to such things. She started crying uncontrollably.  Amma crying patted her, stroking her hair until she slept off. When she woke up, her grandfather was beside her. She had never seen him that dreary.

She looked at him and started crying again. He took her outside. There were less people at home now. Her grandparents took her to the backyard by the mango tree. She asked them again where her parents were. Amma looked at the sky. She told her how her Mamma loved the sky and used to stare at it during days or nights. She told how her name Falak meant sky.

Too young to have faced such a loss, too callow to understand something so painful, she stared at the sky remembering her dream. The sky became her favorite now. Her nights were spent staring through the window at the dark drape outside sometimes adorned with countless stars, and sometimes just darkness. She knew how the sky was her mother’s favorite; she knew how she was their favorite. She missed them terribly, she wanted to cry but her grandma would keep her engrossed in tales about her parents. She missed her Papa, his hugs, the chocolates he bought her, their hide and seek games, her mother’s night time stories, her kisses, her scolding, his love. She missed them, and she knew they won’t come back.

She started loving the sky. It was so vast yet so calm. It was so blue in the day, and so beautifully dark in the night. Papa and Mamma were in the sky she believed.

“They are in you”, grandma always said.

What ALL I realized wading through my twenties!

“Sometimes I wish I were a little kid again, skinned knees are easier to fix than broken hearts”

Most of us had that point in life, when this quote and many of its likes it made sense.

Growing up sucks, I admit. It is better to live without responsibilities, a carefree life. You have no one to answer to, and losing & gaining is a part and parcel of the road to a perfect life.

But as I am into the 23rd year of my happy life, nowadays I feel good about growing up. I used to abhor the fact that I’m no longer a kid, to be pampered by people or the feeling that I can’t do inane activities while in front of people. But growing up has its own happy part. Things that I have learnt and realized make me feel happier, and much more why it is known as growing up.

1. Listen to the conscience, it speaks: Nothing can guide you like the little voice inside your head. And nothing can save you, like your instinct. When they speak, pay heed.

2. Never be afraid to speak your mind: If you feel strongly about something, speak up, act.

3. Not everyone is meant to stay in your life forever: The ones who truly matter, will anyhow manage to stay. And when people leave, there’ll be a reason to it. The reason you may not realize sooner, but definitely, at some time later, it’ll be clear.

4. Stay in touch: Family and friends are the ones who’ll be there forever. No support matches the support of family, and the love of true friends. Be thankful for them, and be for them when they need you.

5. Be grateful: Life is not bad, it is beautiful. God is wonderful. Live a thankful life, for God has bestowed some of the best things on you. Things you might not notice every now and then, things you take for granted.

6. It is okay to be a kid: We all were kids once, it is our basic nature. We learn to grow up. Don’t let the kid in you die. That innocence and jest makes your eyes sparkle, and life happier to deal with.

7. You are not born to please everyone: It is abs-effing-olutely OKAY if some people don’t like you. There’ll always be people who will have a problem with everything you do. It is fine if they do, they don’t know your life or you.

8. Never rush to grow up: Everything has its own time, and happens at its own pace. Doing things that make you look grow up, is not cool. Neither is doing drugs or smoking. They still kill. Never be in a hurry to portray yourself as a “grown up”. It is not a mask to be worn, it comes with maturity of thoughts. If you’re a baby at heart, be that. Don’t be coerced by others’ “grown up” activities.

9. Never forget your roots: Everything that taught you something when you were a kid, will always have its impact on your psyche. Remember it always. Parents are not your enemies, they never were. They just know better, they grew up like we did – on the same path. But their lives were simpler. Listen to them, respect them and always be thankful to them.

10. Be human: Compassion is our natural instinct. Respect the elders and the kids. They need care. Help people. Reach out to poor and the downtrodden. We are all leaves on the same tree.

11. Get over the past: There was a reason it did not make it to your present. Believe in that, and move on. Living in the past, and moping on it, will only make you sadder. You deserve to be happy, at each second. Forget the past and look forward to better things that are on the way.

12. Don’t judge people: Eccentric is nothing, and a reason shapes everything and everyone. There might be a reason why people did something, a story unknown to us.

13. Sing if you like to: You don’t have to be born A R Rahman, Lata Mangeshkar, Lana Del Rey or Eminem. If you love singing and like your voice, trust me, it’s more than enough. Sing to your heart’s content.

14. Don’t gossip: It never did anything good, never will.

15. Have a hobby: Yes, and facebook-ing is NOT one. It is a total waste of time, admit it. Sing, read, dance, write, be into gardening, pottery, and paper-making. Pick up anything that suits you, and indulge in it. It will leave you much happier at the end of a rough day.

16. Give up grousing: Bad days come so you learn to appreciate the good ones, and carping never helps. Days brighten on their own. Keep a smile, and spread many more. Every problem you face will have a solution to it!

17. It is okay if your friends, neighbors, cousins, juniors from school et al are getting married, and you’re still single: Yes it absolutely is. You can still smile, dance on their weddings before you get hitched and have to go for weddings as the ‘Missus’!

18. Shopping is fun: If you love clothes, go on a spree! No qualms on that. But be mindful of your spending habits. It’s not a problem to please your own self, but be thrifty. You know when you actually need something. And yes, once in a few months, a shopping spree doesn’t kill!

19. De-clutter: Your house, thoughts and life. Keep only what is needed. Too many things in your house and your mind thwart growth. Clothes, memories and grudges with people who let you down at some point earlier – you don’t have to live with those forever. Keep it less and simple! Live it light.

20. Keep your mind happy: Sad thoughts pull one down. Don’t let others’ behavior affect yours. It is a ripple effect, one sad thought, followed by many others - you become sad for the entire day. Don’t let your thoughts go unbridled. Half of what we think as our problems, barely even exists; it is all in the mind! The more negative we think, the more worried we make ourselves. It is very essential to live in the present! Live this moment, with much mirth.

21. It is okay to be by yourself at times – We need time to organize our thoughts. One does not need to be clinging to anybody and anything at every moment of the day. Also, take a break from the T.V., laptop, the smartphone matey. Breathe fresh air, smell the rain, enjoy a cup of coffee by yourself.

22. Never stop learning: Life is a teacher, so are books. There’s no paucity of anything to be learnt. Whatever be it - an art, craft, technology, a new language, take it up!

23. Take responsibility for all your actions: We are humans, beautiful in our imperfections. Admit mistakes, apologize when needed and carry a light heart. It is necessary to own up to our mistakes, even if it invites criticism from others.

24. Be a good friend: We come across a lot of wonderful people as we walk through life. Some of them become a part of our heart and soul. Friends make us happy, brighten lives and be with us whenever we need them. If they make us feel so good, don’t we deserve to be one! Even if it’s just some moments of your time, or just a shoulder to cry or an ear to listen, never deny someone who needs you. Listen to people, make them feel good about themselves!

25. There is still a lot to learn. Life is a beautiful gift, and God is watching over you! You are luckier than you can think, and yes you are awesome! :)

That little voice inside the head!

A or B, A or B, B or A !!!????!!!??

Should I be doing this or not!!?!???!!?

Lots of questions in life which need an answer, quite a number of choices to be made. Sometimes (most of the times) there is a small voice coming from the heart, or soul, or mind whatever you call it, which warns you from taking a jump. We are faced with tortuous moments, needing an urgent decision to be made, and a small voice helps make the decision.

And a later point, we realize how happy we were to have taken that decision. I’m sure this happens to most of us. Call it intuition, or instinct, the ladies – or the fairer sex have stronger one!

Right from smaller incidents in daily life to dire situations, there is a little voice guiding us all. Call its God’s way of speaking to us when faced with tough situations, or his way of indicating that something doesn’t bode well, God’s guidance never leaves us. No matter how hazy the path looks, the way will never be lost.

God is always there, as (s)He has always been.



A tribute to a dying nation

Ours is a young nation, beautiful and replete with natural beauty and cultural heritage. 60 years from independence, we look at how far we have come. The developments that have taken place. Something to make us all proud. Very proud.

Looking deeper, a part of the society is still in darkness. While the urban locales are budding with improvised standard of living, better jobs, higher number of educational institutions, better equipped with the latest equipment in industry, better health facilities and faster development, the rural parts are still in ruins. Not much help has been meted out to the remote areas; they are still places without proper supply of drinking water, devoid of electricity, sanitation and good health facilities. Unemployment and lack of education is eating the people of our own nation. The vicious cycle of poverty, lack of education and unemployment is leading the rural part of our nation nowhere.

That is just the beginning. The nation today is in peril not only because of poverty or unemployment, but because of corruption that aims at taking down the entire nation. A bad judicial system, illiterate "leaders" heading the states of our nation and the number of scams to which the resources which can otherwise be used for upliftment of the State fall prey to, are a few of the factors.

Every day, the news is outlined with cases of crimes against women. Be it an acid attack or honor killing or murder or rape or female infanticide. It was heartening to see the whole of Delhi erupt in protest of the ghastly crime on 16th December. But again, the system promised to look into the case, promised that justice would be served. Words remained on paper, the nation is back to where it was, and justice remains shrouded.

Lack of education could have been blamed for the rise in such crimes. But again, lack of apathy and the paucity of sanity and compassion cannot be steered away from imparting education. These are something innate, inbred in every individual. The society is ruled with monsters roaming around having no thought, just clear indifference towards the rest of people living in the society. And to top it all, the insufficient political and judicial systems are taking the country to deeper levels of downfall.

Where are we heading? Where is the unity and peace, Gandhi dreamt of? Is this the cost of living in a nation, whose freedom was bought at the price of the lives of martyrs like Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev? A nation, whose name used to make us proud about being an Indian, now brings upon us, at least on me, utter shame. Baby girls are getting raped savagely, girls can’t walk safely during any time of the day, the poor are tormented, people from lower echelons of the society are mistreated like they are outcasts, people standing up for truth get killed, and the truth gets twisted and turned and in the end gets bought for a sum of money. A nation where justice, in some cases, takes years and years to come; Where political parties play on humans and cause schisms in the society; Where people are valued less and avarice blinds the conscience of people; Where nowadays not even a baby girl is safe; Where a rape victim is victimized, while the culprits walk scott free. And in the worst case, the cases get closed and victim is lost in anonymity sans justice. Sad is our plight.

The police force set up for our protection, turns out to be the biggest tormentor. It's members all living for money. Police blames the victim of any crime for the crime, and fails when it comes to catching the perpetrators. If the culprits are caught, the judicial system delays the case and takes months and years of time for trial and a sentence to the wrong doers. In such a case, where do we see hope?

No society is perfect; crime and anarchy have existed since old, old times. But our society is falling to its destruction. Anarchy is taking over. No matter how uneducated the people in a society are, it doesn’t account for barbaric and unrelenting behavior towards ones’ own fellow beings. And even worse are the people who make merry when a part of the society is suffering, and use it for their own benefit.

Last November as the 21st approached, we were talking about the world ending. Many people anticipated that as well, others were afraid of it ending. Amidst that, none of us saw that the world did end. A world filled with joy, humanity, compassion and hope. Now all we have is a world around us sans all these, a place which is plagued with discomfort and apathy. Where people revel in accruing benefits from crime, where females are unsafe and not respected and where children can’t laugh hard and play in joy.

PS: I have focused too much on the dark side; I know that goodness in the society still exists. But we need to know that a major part of our society is at strife. People are suffering. This was just a reflection of the saddening events from our daily national life.

The ugly Indian

Venue: the central bus stand, Chennai

What: a wall, quite old or maybe not that. Just that the remnants of betel leave eaters makes it look shoddy. Very dirty indeed. And needless to say the smell of urine reeking from such public places makes the sight unbearable.

Come rains, major parts of the city can be seen flooded with dirty water with garbage once dumped by the roads, floating on it. We knowingly unknowingly become the part of “nation trashers!” Nation, yes indeed! Because the dirty streets, paan spewed roads, garbage filled nook and corners, leaking pipes, unmanned holes and public urination places are a national shame!

For the international visitors to India, India is a land of beauty and a close alliance to nature. But the truth doesn’t lie concealed – nor does the dirt on the streets, the garbage dumped by roadside which houses flies and feral dogs, and the public urination places leave any stone unturned to lessen the beauty.

I feel the NGOs and various committees which organize volunteered beach cleaning, road sweeping events et al do a very commendable and respectable job. The act is a paradigm of success and togetherness at behest of a person’s own will. For not many have the thought of giving back to the society. But again no matter umpteen times the streets are cleaned, the beaches have respite from the plastic and dirt shrouding their beauty, nothing ever changes. It is all back to the drawing board.

It’s time we realize that we have been brought up with the sloppy mentality, the art of keeping our homes clean at the price of dumping trash on the roads and the street corners. It is not the streets, the corners and the beach walk ways which need a sweeping; it is the minds of our very own people. The dirt settled in one’s mindset needs a scraping, for newer and better thoughts to settle there. The thoughts which will force us to think twice before we start littering our streets, with the wrappers of edibles we consume or the paper cups we use.

Why do we not think once before trashing our nation, but the same “we” when go abroad, would not even leave a paper bit on the nicely kempt streets there? Yes, the rules in most foreign countries would ask you to own up even your dog’s poop, let alone leaving you get away with not using the trash bins. If our government can’t come up with such stringent rules, should not we take up the task of being responsible in the li’l ways we could!? There is a lot for the government to do, agreed, but there are still trifling things we can take care of.

By not littering our streets deliberately, to start with. There are dustbins at street corners; we can make use of those. We keep our living rooms spruce and clean, why dump the waste on a roadside and make our nation look sloppy?

Nobody needs to start sweeping the streets or start whitewashing dirty walls, at least we could check ourselves when we are unconsciously or in many cases consciously litter the places outside. We ourselves show a tepid interest in the betterment of our nation, then hell should we expect foreigners coming as tourists to appreciate it. They write about India being hot, polluted, and having beggars wandering all around. True that. But why add more to the list. Doing the small things from our sides would not be a Sisyphean task, then why not do it!?

A cleaner and greener India should not be a distant dream, let us all play our small roles towards bringing that out!