No More Silence

It was an overly crowded bus-stop. Nine in the morning and everybody was out for their respective jobs. Ritu was also there, preparing herself from within for the interview. The bus was late so people were showing their disgust in loud tone. Apart from the hullabaloo, there was another sound that managed to overpower the noise. That voice was of a tall man with a golden chain dangling from his barely visible neck. He was busy in a telephonic conversation. Ritu smiled mischievously. But what happened next made Ritu very, very angry. The man was continuously splitting the tobacco he was chewing and he was spitting it on road, on the footpath, the pole near the bus-stop and the wall behind it. Ritu was filled with disgust but she remained silent.

Then after another minute, finally the bus arrived. Everyone was busy taking their seats while Ritu saw the man spitting again on the road before he jumped on the bus. Thankfully, he didn’t have anything in his mouth now.

After five minutes, Ritu saw the man taking out a pouch of tobacco from his pocket. He tore it apart and poured everything into his mouth. Ritu waited to see what he was up to. She was amazed as well as irritated to see that the man threw away the pouch from the bus window to the road. Then he employed himself in chewing the tobacco. After a couple of minutes, he stood up and went to the door and spat the tobacco on the road.

‘That’s it!’ Ritu uttered the words in sheer disgust and anger. She moved to the man and asked him- “If it was your home, would you have done this? I assume your answer is no. Then why are you doing it here? I assume you answer is because this is not your home and you don’t live on the roads. But let me ask you one thing- won’t you walk on this road tomorrow, won’t you stand on the bus-stop where you spat a few minutes back? Won’t you ride on the bus that you painted with your tobacco-mixed spit? You will, right?”

Everybody was nodding in approval. But the man was speechless.

Ritu added, “If you don’t care about keeping your neighbourhoods clean where you live, how would you give your children a cleaner environment? If someone throws garbage in your house someday you can’t blame them, because you are guilty of the same offense.”

“I realize it. What I did is wrong. Thanks for pointing it out. I was totally unaware of what I have been doing. I promise to change myself and throw garbage in to the bin only.”

This incident ended in a happy note. But not every incident ends in a happy note. People who keep dirtying the roads and thus the country don’t actually understand how their acts are not only making the country dirty but also they are actually making it uninhabitable. We should at least give it a thought; it is not only for making things aesthetic but also for a better habitat and a healthy life. Plus, who doesn't want to see his country neat and tidy!

#AbMontuBolega campaign is something that empowers you to raise your voice against all that is dirty. If we keep silent, what is going on will continue to go on. A person who is deaf or pretends to be deaf needs a slight noise. So, speaking up and protesting against the dirt and for the Swachh Bharat is needed. Join the movement on Twitter and Facebook.

Source: IndiBlogger

This is my entry for the IndiBlogger Happy Hours Power of Voice to Clean India Campaign in association with Strepsils.