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Thursday, January 22, 2015

A Rainbow of Colors


We are a country with many colors namely of festivals, different attires, cultural plurality, terrain and innumerable more. We have read about most of these from our childhood times and also in the growing up years. As we grew older we noticed many more colors due to our peculiar habits, upbringing, set of friends and attitude towards environment around us!
When we step out of our house the first color we see are the stains of betel nut /gutka or paan which many Indians are in a habit of eating and then spitting out the saliva with scant concern for the walls/ streets / bathrooms or public or private places! So the deep maroon, brick red , and other tinge of colors may be visible where one would least like to see them!

Mercilessly chopped trees in the cities and in country side are the grim reminders of the environmental hazards that follow as a consequence. The lack of ‘green’ shield and sight of chopped trees are sometimes very unsettling especially when done with nefarious intentions.

One color which I would not like to go in detail to elaborate, which is offensive is ‘Yellow’! It reminds me of the rhyme learnt in the nursery, ‘Yellow Yellow Dirty Fellow’! The multitudes in city and villages beeline in wee hours to openly deface due lack of toilets! Wish one can find a quick solution to this scourge!

The blue rivers, lakes and seas are shamelessly dumped with garbage and effluents thus adding grime to the color. Even the blue skies are not spared as constant pollution of the air and toxic fumes often make the color of the sky disappear behind the smog and soot due suspended impurities! Even the ‘Taj Mahal’ has not been spared as the sparkling white marble has tinged into slight yellow due to constant onslaught of pollutants!

We love silver but to find silver colored foils and wrappers besides all color plastics in heaps in the garbage is constantly challenging to handle. Despite various laws against their use and  ban on the plastics these indiscriminately dumped in the garbage. We love to flout every rule in the book and even authorities turn a blind eye to these acts.

‘Black is black and Grey is Grey what can I do’ the famous hit song of 1970s by Los Bravos   comes to mind every time I see the walls splattered in black paint, with slogans disfiguring the walls ! Shameful for any civil society but who cares! It is a free country and one need not worry and do things that one likes with scant concern for breaking laws , if ever prosecuted!

The list keeps growing! We litter bugs could easily put anyone to shame in matching our record ! Thankfully these have not yet entered the ‘Guinness Book of World Records’ or else we would have won hands down! Hope some day we would be able to see the true colors of a sparkling nation!

 PS: This is my post for the Indiblogger/The  Times of India Group sponsored ‘The Great Indan Litterbug’  promotion campaign (http://greatindian.timesofindia.com/.)

24 comments:

  1. A strong condemnation & denunciation of Indians and their utterly careless,indifferent & nauseous habits causing inconvenience to fellow humans and irreparable environmental disasters ! This piece is surely a prize winner.

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  2. Cleanliness- need of the hour. Good one Rahul.

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  3. I have to hear the song that you have mentioned. Your post reminds me of ISBT, which was pathetic when I commuted. It's way better now. We need stricter rules.

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    1. Did you finally manage tohear it? Things are improving but very slowly:(

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  4. Indeed so right .. WHAT I hate most is that the same people follow the rules when they come ot a foreign country .. why cant they d othat same in their own nation

    I hope good sense prevails

    Bikram's

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  5. Truly! High time we colored our country in it's true colors - loved the post, sir.

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  6. Thanks a lot Arti for that kind comment!

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  7. I still remember the day I felt some hot liquid falling on my forehead when I walked past a bus. I lifted my head and saw a man with paan in his mouth peeping out from the bus's window. This was at Mathura. I can still feel it. But this habit is mostly in the Northern India. South Indians don't eat paan that much compared to them.

    Littering by our people when they are outside their country is NIL. Maybe dictatorship is good for us.

    Very colourful post.

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    1. Disgusting! Hope people learn to have some civic sense! Thanks a lot Sandhya!

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  8. I think we have improved much better than before... but at same time i feel this generation that quite depend on gadgets hardly look out for change.

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  9. 'Safai Abhiyaan',started by the PM is showing great results. Hope it becomes a habit by the people.

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    1. Absolutely Ushaji! Cleanliness and hygiene are so important!

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  10. To change India, we all have to change ourselves first.

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  11. Thanks Ashwini! Yes things are changing for better!

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  12. Nice use of 'Color' to convey the need to improve ourselves. I hope we do not become more colorful.

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  13. Wonderfully expressed, Rahulji.
    Totally agree. Wish we all pay regard to the original colours & maintain them for a Swachh Bharat :)

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