From young age I have been taught to keep myself, my things and my room (meaning surrounding) clean. But when I see around, hardly a few keep this in mind and grow. When you are not clean within yourself and not tidy around your house, I bet it is a total chaos. I guess with 70% of such people in a city, the city resembles a dustbin or a trash can in itself.

The Sanskrit phrase - "Mansa, Vacha, Karmana", sounds very simple, but has a plethora of meaning hidden - "Let all your deeds initiate from the mind and speech". So with cleanliness! It has to come from within one's self. However, in actuality, civic sense hardly means anything to anybody. I see people using designer brands, seeming to look well educated, littering the roads.

People around here do not seem to be aware of the concept of dustbins. We see this in sophisticated workplaces, and big multi-national corporations. The people eat and have no sense to throw the remains into dustbin, and keep the place tidy. They just consume the grub and walk off leaving behind the stench, like the dogs or pigs. They smoke cigarettes of sophisticated brands, spread the ash around considering themselves one with the sadhus / sanyasis, leave the burning butts in the ashtrays. The attitude is - "If the fumes irritate you, go and extinguish it yourself". I would hate to put my fingers into the ashtray, to touch the leftover butts of these creatures. I hope their upbringing had taught them the social etiquette of thinking about others.

Every colony / locality has a dustbin. Very few of the houses seem to use it, treating these as someone's private property. People are too lazy to go and dispose their thrash into the common bins. They look around for unoccupied sites, and empty their thrash there. Obviously, this will attract flies. Of course the stench spreads, but probably they have become insensitive to it. Thick skinned buffalos! Its so convenient to thrash garbage in India. Norms in other countries require you to sort garbage, and the same people are sorting it into four or more categories.

We find the same people advocating cleanliness exempting themselves from the boundaries. If this is the scene at a area level, its left to imagination how much rubbish can they spread around. It is your responsibility as a citizen to keep your surroundings clean. In the process, the city automatically will be clean.

Our streets resemble open gutters at places, representing the state of mind of the people around. All this is taken for granted under the pretext of being 'public property. If this were the civic sense we maintain, then we need not pressurize children by asking them to "memorize" that "Cleanliness is next to Godliness". This should be an in-built instinct like the desire to eat or breathe.

We do boast of enjoying nature, and picnicking in its lap. They do carry their so-called modern snacks in their colorful toxic packaging, and leave behind the remains like brain-less animals. They should ensure to clean-up the mess, as religiously as cleaning after a bog.

We have another social evil in form of pan-spewing machine (pan is the mixture of some betel nut, and other stuff wrapped in a green leaf). This machine is operational at maximum efficiency, without any concern for the mortals around. I was going on a bike with my brother, and felt something damp on my legs. It was a sophisticated pan-spewing machine from the bus. I wish I could have slapped the asshole!

We need to be clean within, before demanding Government action. Government agencies are to assist us, and not perform our roles. It is a pity that they have become like the other people. They drive around the town spilling more than what they carry, spreading the perfume under the brand-name, "Bangalore Mahanagar Palike'. If the people are cleaner, they will have the right to point the role to others.

We do have public toilets for excretion purposes, but people still prefer using public grounds and parks. I wish they could save the cost of constructing toilets in their houses, and use the living room and the dining room for the purpose. A good toilet costs almost lakh rupees!

Talking of making Bangalore a Singapore does not make any sense unless you are not aware of cleanliness. Let us pledge this day to keep our surroundings clean. Even if ten people imbibe these values, its worth the writing! Government can do nothing without our coming forward. Now, it is our turn!!

Do we have a solution to this problem? Feel free to drop in your opinions at the 'Banging it Out!' board in the Communiqué.

Your opinion matters...