Clean Calcutta Project!!

When I was in school we were part of a Project called the "Clean Calcutta Project". I don't know about the others but most of the Convent / Missionary schools were part of it. We were given aprons with a message printed and brooms and baskets for the litter and went around the school sweeping the streets and loved it. The sense of achievement and pride in being part of something important was huge. But that was then and the lessons learnt are long forgotten.

This inherrent need in a Calcuttan, to litter, is quite bizzare. Mind you I'm talking about a 'Calcuttan' and NOT a 'Bangali'. The prevalent notion among us is that the city gets dirtier by the day because of the filth being strewn by the never ending inflow of people from the neighbouring states. Wellll.... That's so not true! It's not entirely true i.e. The natives of the state are equally to blame and how.

I live in a middle class 'para' in South Calcutta, predominantly Bangali and almost entirely residential barring a STD/ISD booth. A neighbour is from the film fraternity and ad shoots happen quite often right in front of my house on the street. Another neighbour's house is used for movie shoots. And another house has a car with a leading media house sticker on it. So we have celebrities and the Press. You'd think it would make a difference...ha! Think again!!!

If you happen to walk this way anytime between 3 o' clock in the evening and 6 in the morning it would be like an obstacle race. Although, thanks to the very efficient Local Counselor, the 'sweepers'walk the streets twice a day. Once early in the morning and again around lunchtime. In spite of knowing this ( you'd have to know it, right? One cannot ignore the unmistakeable clattering of their little push carts) people insist on dumping their garbage on the street after they've left. So between lunchtime and next morning the road is bombarded with trash till everyone's gone to bed and the poor black tar gets some relief! God forbid you happen to protest this long followed ritualistic process, you would very vocally be put in place with the argument that it is not in front of your house. But some of them wouldn't even be able to argue that coz they walk to a common point on the road to dump their garbage in front of a neighbour's house!

I don't understand it. I simply cannot believe that these are the same people who send their children to other countries and visit them there and follow rules to a T. U don't find them spitting or blowing their nose and flicking it on the roads or throwing garbage on the streets in front of their houses or chucking things out of their car windows. Why am I even talkin about another country...even in other cities the norm is to keep your trash with you till it is collected. The neighbours definitely do not need to see what you had for lunch!!

I've lived in four cities in India including Calcutta (yes, I still call it Calcutta and will continue to do so)and have been amazed at how clean they are. I don't think it's ok to blame the authorities. Yes I have noticed some very good cleaning procedures in place in the other cities but the people there are equally conscious about it. I have definitely never seen open garbage trucks with plastic sheets a size too small trying desperately to hold it's precious cargo in, boldly speeding through the city in the middle of the day leaving a trail of trash in its wake and sharing a healthy load of its contents with unlucky cars and motorists who happen to be behind or beside it. Welcome to good ol' Kol, they'd say, smiling indulgently, if you happen to mention this to a hardcore 'maddhabitto Bangali'.

After having said all this I meekly have to admit that I do nothing about it. Other than not adding to it in any way I do not try to make any difference to this very strange custom that our people seem to follow of treating the streets like the community garbage dump.

My senses are numbed to the litter and I simply walk around it and carry on my way... Such is life.