We, The Ugly Indian

January 22, 2015 Nation & Society 5 Comments

"Saare Jahan se achcha, Hindustan Hamara

Hum bulbule hai iski, yeh Gulsita hamara".

We are gearing towards 26th January. The country is in Republic mode and you can see, experience, the twice in year- sense of patriotism all around the nook, corner and malls of the country. The best part of it is not just the Saffron, Green, White- Tricolor decor all around but the beautiful patriotic song of the folklore that is being played around, literally everywhere.

It was a usual day for me when I was leaving my house for office and stepped out of my apartment to reach to my office. I stay in a considerably expensive locality of Mumbai [read high rental apartment] and generally travel via Autos within the city. While I was stepping out from my home, I was tuned in to this great song by legendary poet Bankim Chandra and could not stop self from humming it, aloud and in my mind.

As I closed my door and called for the lift, I could not stop looking at the stained walls of my building's passages and ladders. I shifted to this place around a year and half back. In this entire tenure, I have only seen the stain getting stronger and public hygiene, getting weaker. The space inside the lift was no good, no clean and for the cleanliness freak me, not a great sight to come across all the time I take the elevator. Well if you think I should stairs in that case, sorry but lets not get in to the beautiful drawings and cleanliness at the whole series of staircases, floor by floor.

The outside world is no cleaner. The roads are laden with Garbage, literally the rotten garbage that is spilling all over and outside the huge machine operated garbage bins. That's not end to it but to end your reading woes caused due to a post filled with rotten stuff on Indian Roads, buildings and lets say infrastructure, let me summarize it as-

1) Dirty streets, main roads wherein the garbage of all kind including Human excreta, animal excreta is strewn all over. If this is the condition of a well known suburb in Mumbai, wonder what smaller cities have to go through.

2) There is a divider between the link road near my house and it is a "monumental" sight in the evening when the locales throw all their rotten, stinking, usual garbage, proudly at the middle of road, atop the divider. If you are inside a four wheeler, you can cover your nose to evade some smell but closing eyes specially while driving is harmful. If you are not travelling in a closed window four wheeler, peace be with you and your health- Physical and mental

There is no end to "litter stories" in India and no dearth to the "Indian Literatti" and then we blame Hollywood to portray India as "Slumdog" showcasing what is real rather than what is fanciful and well portrayed in our commercial potboilers, often shot at exotic locales of Swiss Alps, European Trails, Maldives and others. Even the Deserts of UAE looks more beautiful than some of our keys locales in India.

Litter India Litter
So I asked few people to complete the Lines- " From Kashmir to Kanyakumari.....". Here's the top responses that I got-

1. From Kashmir to Kanyakumari, India is a one big litterbug's heaven.
2. From Kashmir to Kanyakumari, India has the biggest longest toilet
3. From Kashmir to Kanyakumari, All Indians are One [Clap clap]
4. From Kashmir to Kanyakumari, Litter De India