Friday 12 August 2016

Dark side of a chocolate, and some bitter truth

Bus stops can be marvelously contemplative spots, or at least that’s how I find them. While the world races past you, you wait there stoically, eyes peering for those familiar clutch of numbers that you want to see and just hop on.

Today was no different. Just that the wait was a tad too long. And even as I let my thoughts saunter, something faintly grazed my feet. It was a Dairy Milk wrapper and you knew it was licked to the last bit. A moment ago, I had unmindfully seen this indulgent mother feed her child the chocolate, a usual mommy trick to keep their little ones pleased, especially during the after-school hours.

But the woman didn’t even blink before trashing the glitzy cover right there, as if the whole world was this one big dustbin except, of course, her house, I’m thinking. (No, actually I’m quite sure). While I was in all mind to give her a piece of my mind, I realized she would not care two hoots about it.

While the soiled wrapper lay there in the company of smoked cigarette butts and zillions of junked bus tickets, I had to move on. And while the ride was on, I turned to FB, bored and killing time on my timeline, till something casually caught my eye, again.

This time it was an ad featuring Big B and Kangna Ranaut. What more, the ad was curiously titled ‘Don’t let her go’ ( (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=do3Wc9da_yg&feature=share).
 I played it, and what played out for the next 2 minutes 45 seconds only confirmed the one belief I reluctantly held for so long -- only the good god almighty can save this country from turning into the world’s largest dumpyard. It’s only he, in this case she (Goddess Lakshmi), whose vanishing act can instil fear in the minds of people who mindlessly go around littering in public places.

It always amazes me how tiny little posters of gods, goddesses and religious symbols plastered on compound walls and public places manage to keep our peeing population at bay.  And then what about those messages, again on walls, warning people from dumping garbage at a particular site or else risk paying hefty fines?  No wonder, the makers of this ad and the brains behind the Swachh Bharat campaign thought it apt to tap a collective conscience in this manner. Fear can work wonders, especially where the language of reason has miserably failed.

In retrospect, I feel I should have probably stopped that mother from junking the chocolate wrapper there, and I shall live with that tinge of guilt for long. But then when my everyday effort of segregating waste at home ends in one clumsy mix in the garbage van the very next morning, I wonder, what is the purpose of it all? We talk of Solid Waste Management. How about some Solid Thought Management first?

Guess, it's time to wrap my thoughts, though am no way junking them!


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