Littering

As many of you probably already know, littering is a big problem in India. In order for the streets and sidewalks to be cleaned up, there has to be a huge culture change. It is perfectly normal for someone to walk down the street, open a candybar and throw the wrapper on the ground without blinking an eye. Sindhu was telling me that one of the girls on her bus did the very exact thing and she told her to pick up the wrapper off the ground. This is a young girl who lived in the US and moved here only a year back. I really really hope that Sindhu and Rushil don't pick up the littering trait after years of living here. Just the other day on the street, in front of a doctor's office, I had two banana peels to throw and I asked a security guard if there was a garbage can and he told me to throw the peels in the drainage. I said I wouldn't do that and then he pointed me to a garbage can a few yards away. Why didn't he just point me to it in the first place? It seems to me that everyone ensures that their small corner is clean without caring about the surroundings. Shopkeepers sweep their floors and throw the debris off to the side away from their store but they don't collect the dirt and throw it in a trash can. India has come a long way, at least now there are garbage cans on the streets and garbage is picked up daily at many locations. But, there is still a very long way to go and each one of us who lives here should be play some part in the cleanup.