Posted on 01/23/2015 10:52:17 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Volunteers cleaning the streets of Raipur, India.
In cities all over India, anonymous men and women are picking up trash, fixing potholes and painting dirty walls. They’re not paid to do this; in fact, they pay for their tools themselves. These citizens are part of a growing movement of “spot-fixers”, volunteers who use their free time to clean up ugly parts of their city, and then post before-and-after pictures on social media.
While teams of volunteers like this have operated steadily in big cities like Bangalore and New Delhi for several years now, dozens more have sprung up over the past few months. Some of the newest groups say they were inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Clean India” campaign, which was launched in October. Modi called on all Indians to do their bit to keep the country clean, and specifically suggested that “if you see dirt anywhere, take a picture and upload it on social media – then take a video of yourself cleaning it and upload the photo of the clean spot”.
Old and new groups alike share a common aspect – they don’t accuse the authorities of failing to do their jobs, but instead emphasize the individual’s role in shaping their community.
“Whenever we travel and people ask us where we’re from, they say, oh, India – it’s very dirty there, isn’t it?” Satish Bhuwalka is a founding member of “Bunch of Fools”, a volunteer spot-fixing group that was founded two months ago in the city of Raipur.
I started this group with six other friends; we’re all former classmates and businessmen. Whenever we travel and people ask us where we’re from, they say, oh, India – it’s very dirty there, isn’t it? This makes us feel very bad. So we wanted to do something about it, show a different face of India to the world. And we firmly believe that keeping streets clean is every citizen’s responsibility.
Every Sunday, a group of at least 30 of us go out to different slum areas in the city to clean up garbage and fix what needs fixing, like holes in the street or sidewalk. The tools, the paint – we pay for all of it out of our pockets. We don’t ask for donations or do any fundraising, since we don’t want to be linked to any political group or organisation.
Often, the people living in the slum areas find it quite funny that we – educated businessmen – are picking up trash. They say, this isn’t your job – don’t you have more important things to do? But then we explain why we’re doing this, that the streets are important to us, and they get motivated to start cleaning too. These are usually very poor people, who can’t necessarily pay for materials, but they can pick up garbage and might then think twice about where they throw their own garbage.
Of course, not only poor people litter in India, far from it! We call ourselves ‘Bunch of Fools’ in opposition to the ‘wise’ people, which is what India's educated people are called – educated people who still throw garbage out of the windows of their cars! If they’re wise, we are the fools…
A few before-and-after shots of the "Bunch of Fools" work in Raipur:
I salute them. And they did it all without government help...: )
I’m sure the labor unions have made that illegal here in the USA.
That's like all those white folks who go in the ghetto to help out the "poor".
Or, it’s like the white people who go clean up the beach on Earth Day. Maybe idealistic, but not to the level of foolish.
This is good work. Now if we could only convince the rural folk that toilets are a good thing and taking a squat in the back 40 is a bad idea. IIRC, there was a problem with villagers being attacked by tigers a few years ago. They were being attacked at night when they were squatting in the bushes going #2. Tigers generally don’t attack in indoors bathrooms.
CC
Do yourself a favor and don’t google image search “pollution Ganges River.” It’s like one big sewer. They make Haiti look like a nice vacation resort.
Thanks for posting this.
I’ve heard of this for the last several years.
Excellent work ethic, civic pride and no apparent sense of entitlement.
No wonder so many India countrymen sucessfully transition to performing our outsourced labor (helped by lower wage competitive advantage over US workforce).
Now if only Sharpton’s people did likewise!
especially in this country
Taking pride in where you live and not expecting someone else to do it!? Fantastic!
WHERE ARE THE LEAF BLOWERS??? < /sarc >
But other things might.
There are moments when I am happy to have a septic tank.
LOL
CC
I really, really like Indians from India.
The very definition, for the most part, of polite, considerate people.
All that I have met in the technical world, would make outstanding CONSERVATIVE US Citizens.
They think like we do!
“Or, it’s like the white people who go clean up the beach on Earth Day.”
And they have to pay 15 bucks for parking a half mile away because the home owners won’t let them park by their house.
Great work, awesome. Now stop calling me!
LOL.
I remember stories from New York City in the 40’s and 50’s where the Mayor would ask the citizens to shovel the streets after big snow storms so essential public services and folks in general could function. People would dig in and it took far less time then waiting for the plows.
Very nice, that’s what it takes to make a society work.
Indians in the US tend to live their lives very conservatively—if you count wedlock before childbirth, hard work, lack of criminality, and educational and professional attainment as conservative—but they unfortunately tend to vote liberally. I think in part they bring their sense of social injustice in what they see in India to the US.
The real issue is they squat in the front yard or anywhere else they are when the urge hits them.
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