I love walking down the street and seeing faces and drama and happiness and sadness and dirt and cleanliness.

Yesterday I was hurrying to catch my office bus when I noticed the huge trees on the 100ft road in Indira Nagar getting a trimming. When I say huge trees and trimming… I want you to imagine the magnitude. Thank God, it was just a grooming business that happened and not a complete destruction of the being that has seen more generations pass by than any human. I was wondering what it would feel like to get on top of those trees and do the task of chopping it off.

All said & done, who clears the mess that was left behind. This blog is not about cutting or planting trees. Today I write about the people whose life keeps haunting me since the day I started working in Chennai. My job there required me to start to office by 6.50am…when the city was just waking up and prepare for the bright day ahead.

My hostel was just around the normally very busy area of Adayar where people of all working class flock together. The few minutes I wait for the first bus to go to my office will remain ever green in my memories. The bus stop was just opposite to a Hindu temple and adjacent to a mosque. The heart melting music from the temple and the verses read in the Dharga failed to impress me over the other sound that fell as music to my ears.

It was the sound of the brooms of the street sweepers. I bet no one is as dedicated and patient like these people who do this not very pleasing job. Of course, they have taken up this job for feeding their family. In their hardship, I saw the gods I failed to see in any of the holy places.

The area I’m talking about has lots of petty food joints and Biriyani centers. With no proper garbage disposal system, the road corners become the major dumping zone for all the wastages. The stink & the mess would make anyone to puke if they stay there for more than few minutes. The workers I saw every morning cleaning up these mass looked more pious to me than Mother Teresa. But by the end of the day, it is back to square one.

In Bengalooru too, I push myself to work in the IT sector after having a glimpse of these divine beings every morning. Few of the regular cleaners see me almost everyday as I rush to work and know me too, that we smile at each other and move on.

After knowing the life of these people, I vow to myself every now & then not to litter & pollute my surroundings… but habits die hard. My attempts to store the biscuit/ chocolate wrappers, bus tickets, etc until I find a garbage bin have failed 50% of the times. I know am not a perfect citizen… but am still trying to help stop pollution. I wish you would too :)

Certainly this is a duty, not a sin. "Cleanliness is indeed next to godliness."