Keeping our Country clean is Our responsibility...

"Hi.. I'm XYZ", said the young man as he seated himself in the center seat of a rather crowded international airline. I responded with a tired but enthused "Hi". I was returning from a rather stressful business trip and the first leg of the Journey was equally bad, but I was returning "Home", that was reason enough to be cheerful. I was fortunate to get the aisle seat but traded it for the middle seat (yes!! sometimes I act like a Saint! ), on sensing the extreme discomfort of the rather tall young man. I don’t know if that was the right thing to do, but the act somehow acted as an ice-breaker and started off a rather long conversation.

Normally all I do in International flights is dive into a book or into deep sleep! The conversation irritated me, but I had to live up to my Saintly introduction. I was told that this young man was a resident of London and a doctor. He had been living in London for the last 12 years, and was an Indian by birth. In the next hour he had told me all about his family, his kids, his house and work, pausing only to take a sip of scotch now and then. I listened half-heartedly until he began comparing India with London. He spoke of London as being a place of educated well mannered people, not to mention the cleanliness of the surroundings and the superb infrastructure. He spoke at length of the clean cities in the world, of Singapore banning chewing gum from their Country with the intention of keeping the Country clean, he spoke about the heavy fines for littering and said that similar things should be done in India too. I began losing interest at the constant babble, and hoped he would sleep soon, and he did sleep for the last 3 hours of the flight.

On alighting at Bangalore international airport, we parted ways, but I kept noticing how he sulked and stared at the airport (this was the old HAL Airport), not forgetting to mention that the airport was not at all up to international standards. As he walked to the immigration Q he picked up a toffee from his coat pocket and threw the wrapper on the floor! This was followed by the incorrectly filled immigration forms which hit the floor too! I walked up to him and said" Would you dare to do that in London, doctor? Keeping the Country clean is everyone's responsibility. If an educated person like you can do this, what do you expect from a poor illiterate man, who worries about nothing but his next meal?" Saying this I picked up the toffee wrapper and the forms that lay on the ground and put them in the dust bin (the ‘Saint’ in me was really at its best!). I will never forget the look of shame in the young doctor's eyes!!