A high-ranking official’s (in)famous comment on Indian hygeine at the recently concluded Commonwealth games had the nation in a furore. Though the poor gentleman wasn’t wrong in what he said, the issue is that he said it. In public. In front of the foreign media.
India never ranked high on the hygeine list anyway. But that doesn’t give an official the license to wash our dirty linen in public, does it?
Anyhow, thats not what this post is about. Ummm..actually it is, but not regarding Mr.Bhanot. He came to my mind only because I was reminded of him when I saw a certain mail from the clients.
Since I’m not making much sense up there (read, last para. Not the upper chambers of my cranium . Just clearing the air before we proceed 😀 ), let me clarify further. It so happens that a few people from the office were sent to the client-side in US. These people were working in a separate section of the office premises and hence, were provided with a separate smoking zone for their convenience. The clients were considerate enough to provide a receptacle for throwing of cigarette butts.
B-U-T.
We are Indians. Right? Right.
So we throw the cigg-butts on the ground, stamp them and forget about it. The receptacle be damned for all it is worth!!
The quality manager put in one or two gentle requests to the project head to communicate the lack of cleanliness in the smoking zone. The project head, on her behalf, sent a couple of gentle mails to the team in question, requesting them to make use of the receptacle.
B-U-T.
We are Indians. Right? Right.
So we ignore the mails and continue to throw the cigg-butts on the ground.
And that’s when the Project head explodes. I mean, literally explodes. At least that’s what we can surmise from her mails where she questions all the team members AND their respective heads AND their managers as to what is so difficult about aiming a cigg-butt at the trash bin!? Not only that, she explicitly asks the ‘visitor’ to behave like ‘guests’ and adhere to the rules of ‘their country’.
Now , now.
It made me think.
On the content that was NOT said, but implied. Like “This is NOT your country to do as you please” , “You may trash your country as much as you want, don’t try trashing mine” or even , “Don’t try to make yourself at home in my neat and clean country. You are a visitor, so just try and stay clean till the time you have to go back. And go back you will, because no way are we letting you people stay here a minute longer than necessary“.
We were ashamed when we saw that mail. It wasn’t just about the cigg-butts. It was a much larger issue. Of Indians being termed unhygenic with zero regard for cleanliness. That we prove it so strongly within a short period of Mr.Bhanot’s widely-heard comment, makes our case all the more weak.
So coming back to the question in hand, why is hygeine such a difficult word. We all try to keep our homes, our bathrooms, our courtyards clean. What about that patch of land right outside the courtyard? Why is it ok to dump all the trash out there? What makes us think that the boundaries of our homes are the ONLY areas of our concern? What makes people spit on the roads? What makes men pee on the roads? Why can’t mothers reprimand their children who throw toffee wrappers on the ground? Why can’t men throw cigarette butts in a trash bin?
Why is the ‘toss-it-out-of-my-hands-onto-the-road’ the only physical activity we believe in? And while we do the tossing, why cant we wait till we find a bin?? Does holding a wrapper for a few minutes more make the hand filthier? Does the stubbed out cigarette burn the fingers till you find a trash-bin to throw it into??
Why exactly do we feel the urge to discard unwanted things like waste paper pieces, gutkha wrappers, etc as soon as possible, irrespective of where we discard it?? Do people try doing this at home?
I’m not really sure where I’m heading with all these questions 😦
Its very difficult to explain the concept of hygeine to a population where the majority them does not have access to toilets, trash-bins or even water. For a villager coming to a city, a packet of ‘gutkha’ is to be consumed and the packet thrown away, for the breeze to take it where it pleases. The villagers may not even be aware of contraptions like trash-bins. Can we blame them??
I know that there are plenty of trash-containers in my city, but we see the trash lying outside the bin. Any idea why the bad aiming?
There are plenty of smaller trash containers in the city, but most of them get stolen, either for the metal or are just vandalized, because the perpetuators are not aware of the significance of the bins.
One of the maids who used to work for us earlier, once proudly claimed that she cannot use a loo because of the confined space. She doesn’t even use the one in her own house!! She prefers releiving herself on the hill-side behind her place. She and a hundred others who have made the base of the hill their home. The early-morning walk on the hill is no longer fun. Because the morning scene is unsightly.
How do you then convince these people?? How many more common toilets will the government churn out before convincing people to use them? The problem here is not lack of toilets. It is the lack of will to use them!! Even today, in most parts of the country, constructing a loo is considered an overhead, an unnecessary expenditure.
Is it any wonder then, that to an outsider it looks disgustingly ridiculous to see children lined up on the roadside emptying their bowels? Who will teach the parents that they are responsible for teaching their kids to use a loo. How many people can we convince. How many will change for the better? And how many will just ask us to mind our own business and let them get on with their life?!!
Yeah, I’m disturbed…… and rightly so.
I have no idea if those erring members of my company have been suitably punished or not. Though I’d like them to. But they aren’t alone in tarnishing our image. Its just something they are used to doing back here in our country. Its a force of habit, if nothing else. A habit inculcated so deeply into their bloodstream, they are no longer aware that it is wrong. And while I say “they“, I mean “us“. Because I’m a part of this too.
Because , in more ways than one, I’m guilty too 😦
Because I don’t bother to point out to the guy watering the walls that he’s not at home. That I don’t try and advise a kid to NOT throw wrappers when they are in the presence of their parents/guardians. After all, what are they there for? I don’t bother to check if my maid throws the trash in the trash bin on the roadside or just flings it casually,unmindful of whether it landed in the right place or not.
Yes, I’m at fault.
And it means that I lack hygeine too, because I’m not bothered enough about the cleanliness outside my home.
The cigg-butt incident has opened my eyes in more ways than one. I was earlier upset that it happened, but now I’m glad that it did. If not for anyone else, it was eye-opener for me 🙂 .
I’ve now resolved to take tiny measures to correct my ways. No shying away from pointing out someone who litters and request them to pick up their trash. Though, the watering-the-walls-guys are still an ugly prospect, I’ll just have to tag the BF along to do the needful!! He wouldn’t like it one bit, I tell you, but its all for the sake of a better tomorrow, right ?! Thats the line I’ll tell him. Hope he falls for it 😀
Wish me luck 🙂
happened in PSL?
Your serious posts never gets any comments, why so?
LOL!!
I believe people are still pondering over it..
Or maybe the truth is, the post hasn’t really struck a cord.
Personally, I prefer believing the first option 😀
And no, its not PSL 🙂
I definitely think ‘they’ or rather ‘us’ can be blamed! I was in the US a couple of months back and the cleanliness is what struck me. I remarked on it to a few friends who immediately came to the defence of our country by saying ‘we are a poor country’ WHAT the hell does that mean?? That we lack infrastructure?? Do we really need all that much to show a minimum of cleanliness?? Not at all. Lets talk about waste not being carted away by the concerned people or the government not doing anything about it AFTER we have used the bin at the street corner for what it is kept there for.
I don’t think poverty enters the picture, for even the poor people keep their own homes clean. It is the civic sense that is lacking. As long as your own home and yard is clean hell with the outside of it. Poor or rich the mentality is the same. That’s what should change. Where is the feeling, that ‘this is my town, my village, I should keep it clean’!?? Rich or poor it is not that difficult to understand that. No amount of bins or people to clear them away will help till people feel that pride in keeping their surroundings even beyond their home limits clean.
And I can definitely say I do supervise and make sure my maid does not throw trash on the road or where she is not supposed to. I have never let my kids throw things, they can litter the car with their toffee wrappers, which can then be cleaned on reaching home, but no wrappers can be thrown other than in the dustbin. Of course I have not yet stopped to tick off a man watering the wall. Don’t be deceive into thinking that they who do so lack basic amenities at home. Not at all. Most men think it is their birthright to relieve themselves when they feel like it.
Something I ask anyone who talks about our heritage and great culture is, What culture are we talking about when people who talk about it don’t care enough to keep their surroundings clean, litter, spit and urinate without a care in public places?? First learn/teach the basics of cleanliness, THEN lets talk about how great our culture and heritage is to others with the pride it deserves. Whats the use of talking about how great our country is when the people of that country don’t have pride enough in it to keep it clean??!!
Oooh I have ranted! 😛
You said it all Shail!!!
My sentiments exactly.
And you know what? The watering-the-wall guys should be shamed into using a public loo or controlling themselves till they reach their homes/offices/wherever!!
Don’t women have bladders too?? If we have the sense to not urinate in public, I can’t see why men can’t follow the same!
First, let me apologize for dissappearing for a while, Life took over.
Now to the points you make…I used to get laughed at for keeping the candy wraps and other things I need to throw in my school bag, cause the know-it-alls reasoned “whats your problem throwing it in the gutter?” I also got laughed at for standing in the queue and not cutting in and for yelling at a person who cut the queue. I got laughed at for following traffic rules too and any rules cause the Know-it-alls reasoned that I was a loser if I did so. Yes! that was me the outsider amongst my own people.
Hygiene starts with an awareness in our minds and then spreads out. I havent yet figured how to make others aware of it especially in my own country. It shames me when I watch the seemingly educated, dressed in a suit people throwing cig-butts on the street and proudly putting it off with their costly leather shoes.
I teach my children and any child I come in contact with but the adults, well they are like the dogs tail, cant straighten them out.
I was indeed wondering where you had disappeared to 🙂
As for “I teach my children and any child I come in contact with but the adults, well they are like the dogs tail, cant straighten them out.”
tell me, aren’t ALL kids taught all this at school and home? Yet we find children littering all over the place. And the adults whom they emulate, weren’t they kids too once? Weren’t they taught all this before?
Somewhere in that time frame of being taught all this and growing up, children learn that the easier way out is better. Why bother with throwing wrappers in bins if the streets are going to be swept the next morning ?
It is this mentality that is at fault 😦
And sadly , it is difficult to fight this mind-set !!