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A phone call to the corporation office

About getting more trash bins in the city – I have been trying to make some phone calls and sending emails, none getting any response so far. But I didnt follow up on the calls. I was plain scared, to be honest.

And today I get a bit of free time after work. So I finally gathered enough guts and called up the corporation office. A friend had given this link -http://www.corporationoftrivandrum.in/grievance.htm

I had no idea whom to contact so I asked for the Corporation Engineer. He was not there and so the next designation I remembered was Council Secretary. I was feeling ice cold when I asked her how I can get more trash bins in the city. She asked “What?”. But she didnt yell at me. I asked again, this time adding “Who should I approach for this?” and she directed me to the Health Officer.

He didnt answer the phone yet. But I feel good enough to have taken the first step. I dont know if anything would come out of this but I have huge hopes. And there is no point in me telling do this, do that, when I am not ready to do so much as try to find out what could be done.

Will update on what happens after the next call. If anyone has a clear idea on whom to contact for this, please do let me know!

Telling kids what to do

In public places, kids who walk around licking their ice-sticks or chocolates have this habit of dropping the stick or chocolate-wrappers, as soon as they are done eating. Parents or guardians seem to make no note of this and ignore it entirely. And in worse cases take to doing it themselves, or telling the kids to drop it right there. In movie theaters, shoving plastic cups and wrappers under the seats are a common practice. If you come down to the canteens, there usually are big trash bins there to drop the waste.

But unfortunately all public places do not offer trash bins you could show kids. So until we have some sort of arrangements coming, we will have to revert to keeping all junk in person, in bags or brown papers till we get out and spot a bin.

Please take to telling your kids to not drop things as and where they feel like. If you start showing them the right practices at a young age, they are likely to follow those rules through life.

Against throwing things out of car

Throwing things out of cars has become a common practice here. People dont think twice before dumping all kinds of food waste, papers and bottles out on the roads.

First reason why this happens is there is no awareness or a sense of righteousness that makes them wonder if there is anything wrong in it. In future I hope kids would have a whole new subject at school on keeping your world clean. But those who already finished schools could only be made aware through strict regulations send through media so everyone knows. We will need the help of the law and the government for this. I’d like to leave this thread open for suggestions on what we, as common citizens can do about it.

Are public messages saying “Please dont throw out things from car on the streets. Keep your city clean” possible? In boards in big font. There is so much of space used for ads in roads… so this should be possible too – its to serve a good purpose.

Second reason is because people say they dont have a place to dump it all. Its quite easy to carry a big cover or packet to dump all your trash and keep it aside, or in the trunk until you find a garbage bin to dispose it. Please do that, since that can be done without depending on any higher authority, all by ourselves – its quite easy and possible. By a small effort from our side, we can do a lot for the place we live in.

Lets keep our cities clean

A short intro to the blog. I am starting this as a follow up on my attempts to keep city clean.

Problem is there has just been talks without actions of any sort so far. I dont know what I can achieve through the blog, but when its a community where people talk and comment, its likely to pull in more interest and when there are more people involved for any cause, actions are bound to follow. For the moment, I am taking up some threads I made in an orkut community started with the same intention: http://www.orkut.co.in/Main#Community.aspx?cmm=50968212

This blog is entirely dedicated to write ups on keeping the places around us clean, wherever we are. Its not about Trivandrum, or Kerala, or India. Its about keeping our little world clean. And removing the myth that we cant do anything about it. If we can clean a room in minutes, a house in hours, a compound in a couple of days, it is only a matter of time before we can keep our city clean. We dont have to take a broom and start from one end. If each of us did small things,  every individual doing his part, which wont take more than a moment’s time, there shall be a huge difference.

I hope everyone would join me in this, and make individual and combined efforts to have a clean city around us. See your city as your own little room, one that you wanted to see clean all the time. Where you wont throw waste papers and junk food on polished floors. Out cities are our rooms, our homes. Lets keep it clean.