Whose planet?

Hyderabad has this huge crowd of street sweepers maintained by the municipality. Night falls, traffic lessens and they come out, in their shabby light blue uniforms with glow strips, brooms and small carts in hand. Sweeping Hyderabad's streets and lanes.

They should be kept off the streets for a month.

Let the the garbage pile up. And let us realize the porcine attitude we have towards public cleanliness.

Admit it. We are without any civic sense. I only have to go and stand on the steps of my office building at around 1700 hours to prove it. There's a fast food place right in front of it inside the building compound. Along with other shops. And a huge red garbage bin next to it which is never so full that you cannot throw something in it.

Still, people saunter by, grab a sandwich or a roll, and drop the paper plate, cup or small plastic packet wherever they are standing. Yes, right there. In the middle of the steps. In the middle of the road. As if they are standing inside the dustbin. Imagine them doing the same thing inside their drawing rooms. 'Done Ma!' screams the kid, carefully dropping the leftovers on his house's marble clad floor, and pouring some water from his glass over it for good measure. Does this image seem ridiculous? How? You take such good care of your house. You should. It's your property. But the road is not? Is that what you think the reason is? An unsaid stepmotherly attitude towards what is (or what you think is) not yours?

How long does this attitude take to encompass the lakes? the trees? the few places which have real green grass? None at all. We do it all the time.

It's time we grew up. And realized that the environment does belong to us. Because if we don't, soon there won't be any environment left to write blog entries about.