My first Cleanliness Drive Volunteering
Today I had the experience of participating in a cleanliness drive. It was at the Sao Jacinto Island in South Goa. I had gone there reluctantly, more so as a supporter, rather than an enthusiast of such drives. Well, I have my own take on such events, but I made an analogy of such cleanliness drives with pride parades for the LGBTQIA, and thought, “Ok, Why not? Let us see what they are all about” . So, around 6:30am we reached the venue for the cleanliness drive.
Honestly, I had not expected that Jacinto Island bridge would be littered with garbage. Every time I visited there, I have found it clean. Today was Sunday, and it was weekend since Friday, so people might have come there and hence, the extensive litter. So, my first thought was, “Alright, this place does not seem clean today”. The organizer gave us gloves and bags to collect the non-biodegradable wastes (glass, plastic, rubber, synthetic items).
I set out to do my part in the drive, and I was curious. From reluctance to support to curiosity. As I started I began to notice that there were a lot of beer bottle-beverage lids, water bottle covers which were littered around the place. These were quite high in number and because of lying there for a long time had even got stuck in the ground and found a place.
While picking the garbage, I realized that smallest of plastic wrappers (toffee, chocolates, gutkas, biscuits, chips) had contributed to the maximum bridge-side garbage. At that moment I realized that these are very small in size but at a collective level led to enormous garbage. I understood the meaning of, “बूँद-बूँद से घड़ा भरता है “ (Little things eventually create big things).
The next thing that caught my attention during this reflective and meditative experience were shreds of beer bottles and whisky bottles. I was surprised to see that after drinking most of the people had decided to leave them in shreds after breaking rather than just keeping them as it is. It is easier to pick up a whole bottle which is intact than collecting the shreds and cleaning the place. Even then, there are so many glass shreds that are simply left that way, and can often hurt the animals, and even humans walking barefoot. I was asking myself, “Why would anyone do that?”. No amount of justification made any sense to me. I still do not understand.
Another most common garbage items we picked up were cigarette butts and I am sure they are still lying there in tons, because it is impossible to collect all of them in 2–3 hours of cleanliness drive. The same analogy applies to those for plastic wrappers discussed above. People smoke, but simply discard the remaining part carelessly not thinking that that little decision to simply throw the butt has LARGE repercussions.
During the entire drive, I was intentional in trying to understand how not to contribute to environmental garbage. I learnt it in several ways. The little things add up, be it throwing the smallest of items or deciding to instead, dispose off in bins, or in their absence, carrying them home and then disposing off. Then I also thought there should be something called as “Responsible Entertainment”.
Let’s be honest, all of us like visiting places and having fun with friends, families and loved ones. And that often involves eating and in some cases drinking and smoking. All these are alright, but one must not contaminate the vessel of the tourist place by discarding the covers of food, beverages, and cigarette packs carelessly. If every family or group can take care of this, the places will not need any such cleanliness drives and the place will remain clean and soothing.
Throughout the drive, Mahatma Gandhiji’s quote was in my mind, “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others”. As I collected the garbage on the bridge, people passed by, vehicles passed by, pedestrians passed by, I felt like a faceless humble person. There is a certain humility in bending down and cleaning the mess that you see around you.
I felt like I was find myself as I was losing myself in the process of picking up each item on the roadside and I was thoroughly gaining peace out of it. It did not matter who was beside, or along, what mattered was that I had a bag, a pair of gloves and a task to accomplish while meditating on the act throughout.
We were a team of 10 volunteers for today’s clean-up drive and we collected 80kg of non-biodegradable waste from Sao Jacinto Island today. There is much more lying out there, in the hidden bushes, underneath the sand, and stuck in all the corners of the place. The place is far from being perfectly clean, but it is definitely cleaner than we found when we arrived there. Moreover, being part of this drive has made me even more conscious of how not to contribute to public littering and be responsible in every decision linked to disposing garbage in public places.
I would like to thank the organizers for this drive and I wish them all the best in their future endeavors.
