The Indian government has declared 15th September to 2nd October 2023 as the period for cleanliness. It is titled: SWACHHTA HI SEVA (SHS). This aims at ‘Garbage Free India’ – with focus on visual cleanliness. I am not a political commentator. I am not interested in educating manes or serving the needy. In other words, I am not a social activist / aspiring politician.
How can we have ‘Garbage Free’ Society? Does the present way of living make ‘Garbage Free’ Society a reality? I think it can never happen considering our lifestyle. Everything is packed – be it a food item or a non-food item. Water, clips, soaps, Tomatoes, mobile phones etc. are packed. Because we are told that proper packing is marketing. They are all one-time packing. To use a 50-gram soap, we have to unfold a solid packing. Imagine 140 corer people using everything and throwing away the packaging. We are, in fact, creating more garbage. All the streets, lakes, highways, dump yards are filled to the brim with garbage. Added to this we also have millions of tons of sewerage. Treating the sewerage is an idealistic thought. We leave sewerage into open lands, rivers and oceans. How can garbage-free society be a reality?
Sweeping streets, Celebrity Street sweeping, Nationalistic Street sweeping, etc. are purely cosmetic in nature. We are not doing away the roots. The more you prune a tree, double the growth of the greener branches / foliage. The more you sweep the garbage, the more garbage comes. Cleaning India, rivers, oceans, air; preventing climate change etc. are those stupid issues of which I am not bothered. Let the planet go to hell, I don’t care. Let the future generations suffer, I won’t be there to know it. Our forefathers never bothered of us. Why the hell should I? Allow me to state pragmatically, street sweeping is not becoming garbage free. To have a garbage free society, have package free items. How package free sales are possible is your funeral.
Let us go to the root of the problem. Cut the root. The tree will automatically die. I remember the poem of Vemana (Telugu sage & reformist poet):
| ఆత్మశుద్ధి లేని యాచారమదియేల? భాండశుద్ధి లేని పాకమేల? చిత్త శుద్ధి లేని శివపూజలేలరా? విశ్వదాభిరామ వినురవేమ. | Aathma sudhi leni yacharamadiyela bhanda sudhi leni paakamela chittha sidhi leni siva poojalelaraa viswadabhi raama vinura vema |
Meaning: There is no reason to follow rituals when your heart is not clean, not good. It is plain stupidity to cook in an unclean utensil. What is use of praying the almighty when your heart is unclean and mind without good thoughts?
People are always eager & ready to become fools: they keep waiting for that person who can fool them. Sweep the roads. Garbage free society. Civilizations were ruined when the people walked behind a pied piper. I feel happy to watch this entire drama titled ‘Garbage free society’. These are the very ‘dramas’ that makes life intoxicating. Don’t you agree? Even if you do not agree it does not matter / IDGAF. If you do not agree that ‘fire is hot’, it is your problem. Never mine.
I am neither angry, nor disgusted, nor want to change the system. Whether the entire system is good or rotten is not an issue I wish to ponder. That is not me. Say what you wish – IDC. I am excited to watch yet another scene in the drama. And right now, I am wondering which broom to use to clean my heart?
About the Author
Dr. K. Raja Gopal Reddy is a seasoned internationally qualified Insurance professional.
What you are reading here, may not answer all the questions we have, but has the absolute power of asking unsettling questions which increase the interest in the strange world, and show the contradictory wonders lying just below the surface of the commonest things of life. Look at this disturbing but beautiful thought of Friedrich Nietzsche “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him”.
Dr. Reddy can be reached at: raja66gopal@gmail.com
