DON'T SLEEP KEEPING YOUR EYES OPEN. CALL TO ALL .

You must have seen on the streets of Chennai, workers cleaning up even midst heavy traffic. Risking their lives,  they work throughout the day. Our roads are filled with dirty water, pot holes, vehicles moving and parked, people crossing and running- unmindful of the dangers,vendors occupying the roads... the road users and abusers  are endless.

We also hear for the past 50 years that in Singapore a fine is levied on people who throw garbage or spit in public places. How long we are going to hear and walk on? 

Let me take -tackle  the issue in  this way. 

Almost all of us swear that the downtrodden people should be assisted and their education,social  and living conditions should improve. Well agreed. I add one more -their 'working conditions' must also improve. Who are going to assist me? 

All those, who are for the welfare of the suppressed and oppressed classes would stop dirtying the public places in any form. It is common knowledge that the rich of all castes and religions are not there on the roads doing the cleaning work. Knowing well that our men are in trouble, why should   we continue to be callous? 

How the garbage on roads grow? We throw paper bits, polythene covers, wrappers of lunch /tiffin, fruit skins, empty water sachets or cans, tetra packs of varieties of cold drinks and so on.
Please desist from doing so. Because our men are on duty. 

Forced Mourners

The worst practice followed  in this city is throwing flowers and garlands on roads as they  carry  a dead body in a procession to the burial/cremation ground.  Drunken revelers dance to the fast tunes and stop the traffic or slow the flow of traffic for hours.They gather all the garlands that decorated the dead body and keep throwing all around. Fire crackers are burst and the terrified kids and women shudder.  This novel  practice is unique to this part of the world alone. Many a times the flowers fall on the other road users and at times the garland they throw fall on the hapless drivers of buses, trucks  or bikers. Carrying a garland  around their shoulders that was there on a dead body a few seconds ago may  not be  liked by all!   It was not an honor bestowed on the road users and it was not mandated  either by the constitution or by custom and neither it was the last wish of the dead soul.

Yes, the roads are decorated for a while with colorful flowers for a while.  Apart from the ordeal  suffered by the road users there is one more cruel effect to this unique celebration. The conservancy workers have to clean the entire stretch-miles together- for hours. The colorful flowers are now dirty as they are soaked in rain and the workers have to struggle to clean up the mess created by the dead man's relatives and friends. 

" Pookkooda kaaindhaal kuppaithaan!" My friend wrote.     "Flowers too become trash when they dry up"