Let’s pledge to spruce up our surroundings
Igo for my morning walk religiously to the lush and sprawling college campus near my house in Amritsar. Seeing enthusiastic students in sporting gear running, jumping, boxing and playing football under the close watch of their coaches is contagious.
Their vibrancy and zeal trigger a surge of energy that drives me to strive harder to keep fit.
The ambience and environment of the campus is such that it may easily qualify as world class. Of late, the college authorities have started providing milk and bananas to the budding sportspersons early in the morning to supplement their routine diet. So far so good but it’s disappointing to see the players littering the ground with empty packets and banana peels after gulping down their quota of milk and having the fruit.
Uninvited guests in the form of stray dogs are quick to invade the playground to savour whatever little is left in the pouches, converting the green patch of paradise into a total mess.
The same ground the athletes bow to before going in for their daily practice is defiled due to utter insensitivity.
Though the college authorities do their bit to maintain the campus and the sweepers clean up the mess later in the day, their efforts always seem to fall short because of the callous attitude of the youngsters.
Going back to my days of schooling at Sainik School, Kapurthala, in the late ’70s, I vividly remember there was a day earmarked to put in an hour of shram-daan (voluntary service) every week. Every student took part in this weekly event all through the year. We used to cut wild grass, level playing fields, scrub window panes, clean greasy tables and chairs of the mess besides doing a bit of gardening.
Shram-daan infused the value of dignity of labour among the students and sensitised towards keeping the surroundings spic and span. Apart from the weekly shram-daan, we would take turns to broom the floor of our dormitories.
The latest example of shramdaan was set by Japan at the football World Cup in Russia in July. When Japan was ousted from the tournament, they made it a point to leave their dressing room spotless and squeaky clean. This act of theirs got them worldwide attention and acclaim.
Today, when garbage is being generated at a fast pace and our streets and public places are littered with filth, it’s high time we followed the tradition of shram-daan voluntarily to spruce up our surroundings.
On Gandhi Jayanti, this may prove to be a right step in the right direction. We need to collectively take the responsibility of keeping our cities and villages clean ourselves instead of shifting the onus to the authorities as we tend to do.
Entrepreneur JRD Tata aptly said, “Cleanliness is the hallmark of perfect standards and the best quality inspector is the conscience.”
THE SAME GROUND THE ATHLETES BOW TO BEFORE GOING IN FOR THEIR DAILY PRACTICE IS DEFILED DUE TO INSENSITIVITY