"OUR COUNTRY INDIA LOOKS DIRTY "
FOR
DR VIRENDRA SWARUP MEMORIAL PUBLIC SCHOOL
RISHI TRIPATHI
A stroll down a street or by- lane in the city comes to mind, and the very thought strikes nightmarish images of filth and stench. The offensive of littered garbage, overflowing sewage, defaced walls, hordes of people easing in and out of water-logged areas, dot our city and country. The pride in our country gets a setback every time the stench of garbage dumps makes it impossible to breathe.
We claim to be a progressing nation. Are these the marks of progress? I agree that we have taken strident steps in the fields of science and technology, in exports and indigenous materials, but a contrast to these are the degressing scenes of pollutants and filth. A dirty looking country can neither claim to be a great nation, nor can it hope to earn a position of respect in the eyes, hearts, minds and souls of both, its countrymen and foreigners.
Every Indian's pride, and one of the Seven Wonders of the World , The Taj Mahal, even has not been able to remain unharmed by the pitiful sanitary conditions prevailing in the country. The channels of river Yamuna, flowing behind the Taj, have become a dumping ground for all kinds of garbage and sewage waste. The result being that tourists visiting the famed monument with great expectations forever associate its image in their memories with the unbearable stench they were exposed to on their visit.
Some days back, while surfing through the channels on television, I came across a famous travel programme on National Geographic. What forced me to stop was a familiar scene on the TV screen. The hostess was showing the viewers around Mumbai, and the entire world was watching a view of the dhobhi ghats with their overflowing sewage and heaps of garbage. I felt relieved when the scene changed to show a miraculously clean street of the same city. But the relief was short-lived, as soon the reason for the cleanliness was revealed. Tiles printed with pictures of Gods and Goddesses had been placed at equal distances on the walls to spare it from the ignominy of becoming a public urinal or spittoon.
It was, let me tell you, a joyous occasion when our family and friends from England were to visit us. We practically laid out the red carpet in their welcome. But the next day, as we were proudly showing them the beautiful JK temple, we came crass a man relieving himself in full public view, just outside the boundary wall. Although not a word was spoken, but the same question arose in every mind –‘Is India a public washroom?'
The list of evidences in favor of today's motion is endless. Although time does not permit me to speak much, I would like to remind my opponents who are singing praises of the motherland about an experience which all of us shared this very morning. On our way to our host school this morning, most of us had to cross the Govind Nagar Bridge . It was a scene that I can only recount with a sense of shame. The sights of rotting wastes, the transformation of the railway tracks into public relieving grounds tell the story of India 's filth in full. With the recollection of that horror that I can see imprinted on each of your faces, I am sure that my point has been proved.
In the end, I can only say that-
“It is because nations tend to stupidity and baseness,
That mankind moves so slowly;
it is because individuals have a capacity for better things,
That it moves at all.”
Thank you.