We generally keep our houses spotlessly clean but are reluctant to put a foot outside the door to clean up because it is ‘common area’. The result: clean flats but dirty staircases, banisters and railings. Our streets and lanes are among the dirtiest in the world.
PM Narendra Modi kick-started his cleanliness drive’ Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ on Oct 2 with 3 million govt employees and school children wielding the broom. Nearly 3.5 lakh volunteers of the Dera Sacha Sauda from Haryana, Gujarat and other states arrived with brooms in Mumbai on Oct 28 to clean up the city. During the Mohurram sermons, the religious head of the Dawoodi Bohras, Syedna Saifuddin exhorted the faithfully to participate in the PM’s cleanliness drive. Sikhs have a long-standing tradition of performing Kar Seva –voluntary physical service at the Golden Temple. This service has now been extended to cover all community projects.
In my parish in Orlem, Malad, Mumbai, the municipal Christian cemetery needs some cleaning up. One hour per month of voluntary community service can transform this cemetery into a beautiful garden (there are no tomb stones, only pure soil). Beautiful flowering plants, planted on graves by grieving family members, die within weeks for want of watering. Regular cleaning, planting of shady trees, gardening and watering by parishioners as a form of community service can transform the cemetery into a lush and beautiful place, clean and green. Similarly, other parishes across the nation will not have to look far for community cleaning up opportunities.
Prof Robert Castellino, Mumbai
