Raju.G.Mendez
Waste management that looms large in society, a hard nut to crack still, demands change of our approach to the community values of sanitation at large.
We should be highly proud of being abundantly blessed by the immediate surroundings,adorned by the piles of garbage, of endless, can’t but say, often ‘eye catchy and ‘colorful’, throwaways, irrationally spilled across, wherever we feel convenient, or finding a permanent ‘favorite’ cesspits, or yet another ‘Vilappilsala'(used to be an authorized area for recycling the waste in Thiruvananthapuram)reaffirming anonymity, and which is no more conceived an unnatural or anti-natural or no less than, anti-human ‘modus operandi’.
Where have we lost our sense of sanitation to keep our public and private premises neat and tidy by doing away with or recycling the unwanted properties after use in nature friendly ways?
Or does this cruelty stems from the callousness of our mindset,or an escapism from our own sense of hubris and averice for total control over the natural ecosystems?
Apparently, this mindset of ours,is clearly portrayed by atleast the way we behave indisriminately being insensitive to the impending danger,that is hidden from our immediate attention until and unless exposed to stinking and other ills emanating from our ‘ever cherished’ proliferating waste depositories. Or evidently, the shell of negligence to hide ourselves in the ‘confined homes’ meant only for our personal hygiene and cleanliness,we are instinctively inclined to passing buck for finding a solution, in terms of the fast growing,consumer oriented,time constricted life style;on the shoulders of the government,not to say,which has already been and still fumbling in darkness having no sense of direction in this regard.
We often tend to discard the fact that everything we use has an imminent waste attached to it, in forms different though, and it’s gone up to all time success too.! The outcome of it all is that,environmental pollution will take us to the cemetry ahead of times, without waiting for our ‘kind’ permission.
A Day before last day, in the capital city of Keral, adjucent to Central Railway station a poor young man, Mr Joy,employed by the station authority,while on his strenuous effort to discharge such a harduous task of removing the debris,long been dumbed in the Amayizhanjan thodu, owing to our ‘most benevolent involuntary hard work and united effort’ cropped up from indisciplined,reckless,and callous nature; was swayed away and even after the rescue team’s uninterruped effort to bring back Mr.Joy,untill this moment past two days of his missing,no sighn of his physical presence, has been ditected. The pity is that his ailing mother still awaits his coming back with a broken heart and eyes swollen with tears of hope still. And that is the greatness and value of motherhood.This reminds us even more of the gravity of the situation.Just imagine how brutal we are! If that soul of Mr. Joy,were one of our family members,or known to us through any means? Then the level of empathy and the intensity of pain it brings about, would have been much far higher than we can imagine.
How can we well be more aware of this mostrous effect of our behaviour? Although this question has been resonating relentlessly in our minds,till date we have only chosen to rely on the ostentatious splurge of goverments and related local bodies,for a better far sighted solution,but unluckily, everything went in vain.
This lesson should teach us that as a means of reconciliation and reperation for our own sin,we ourselves have to kick start, acting unchallengingly,from the individual level to make the situation under control. But easier said than done. Isnt it?
But it is not going to be a Himalayan task if we have strong will-power. The absence of a deep conviction about the irretrievable aftermaths of our attitude toward managing wastes in the proper way, it can at somepoint of our life,visit us serving no prior notice, may be fatally,into our ardent desire for extended longevity!.
