I am fortunate to live near the beach, in Thiruvanmiyur, a blessing that most inhabitants of our colony take for granted. Recently, however, the local citizen's association has become very active and is getting involved in various civic issues concerning our locality. On January 2nd, they had called for volunteers to come and clean the beach which was covered with a lot of debris washed up by the sea. I was not in town for that occasion, but this Sunday (Jan 25th), I joined a number of volunteers to clean the beach again. This was to be an ongoing activity, as cleaning is never a one-time job.
Armed with gloves and huge garbage bags, we met at the beach at 6 in the morning and soon spread out, our eyes open for every bit of plastic, every piece of paper. The local fishermen watched us bemused, as they went about their morning routine. Barely three weeks had passed since the beach had been cleaned, and I am still amazed at the amount of garbage we picked over the next two hours!
Paper, crushed plastic cups , broken beer bottles, gutka packets, plastic sachets, straws - what came to mind was the careless and callous attitude we have towards public spaces. These were not thrown there by the local fishermen; rather they were left behind by the people who came from far and near to enjoy the fresh air and the sea. Families on picnics, or lovers looking for some privacy, all use the beach, but the least we can do is to leave the place as clean as it was when we came in. This lack of civic sense is something that alarms me, but there is still hope.
While I was picking up the junk, a middle-aged man from the nearby apartment sauntered by on his morning walk. He had not been aware of the beach cleaning activity, but the moment he understood what we were doing, he pitched in and did his bit of collecting. Not only that, he seemed determined to come again. Slowly, I am sure as awareness rises, we will feel collective responsibility for our shared public spaces,and will take care to keep them clean and beautiful. Till then, I suppose, we will have to spend a Sunday morning every month cleaning up the beach.
(Photo courtesy: chennai.metblogs.com/2007/10/15/thiruvanmiyur-beach/)
2 comments:
Dear Meena - if only the people in each locality take such initiatives, what a beautiful and clean place India would be!
Vvisiting your blog again after a long time - when are you going to continue writing? Eagerly waiting to see more of such posts. ..... Latha Pradeep
Thank you Latha:)) However, it's a sad fact that the beach gets dirty in no time after a clean-up because people who visit the beach do not bother to put waste in the bins or carry it with them. They just litter the beach, and then complain that it's dirty!
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