rather than blame the paan fans for spitting, we should blame unimaginative governance where there has been little thought, or rather progress since British times thanks to that “Steel Frame of India” also called bureaucracy. (and lately pig-headed politicians).

In a country with a large paan-eating population spitoons should be placed at frequent intervals on roads, but they dont exist at all.

And Indian cities are clean(er) to varying degrees – Kolkota and Mumbai are cesspools. The other metros arent – in General.

On a different note, I’ve always wondered why Indian cities on the large aren’t clean or kept clean. I’ve lived in three countries and I think it boils down to the attitudes of the people. I don’t think Indians in general share a consensus on keeping their streets clean.

SO many times- I’ve seethed at the paan-fans! It’s disgusting when they spit in public spaces and make no qualms about it! I think more that these garbage-disposal initiatives, a public education on cleaniless and spitting should be enforced.

Just check out the neighbourhood juice center-cum-bakery. more often than not it either has no dustbin, or an overflowing one.

So people who want to trash whatever it is they want to, dont have an alternative most of the time, but to carry it to their home or the nearest dustbin which could be more than a kilometre away!

And how many times can any one do that? your guess is as good as mine.

There was, if you remember, an arrangement of small dustbins on the footpaths of brigade road, but suddenly some wise-guy deigned it either did not serve a purpose or was to messy and hence no more dustbins!!

door-2-door collection is implemented well in some places and shoddily at others. IMO its a good system, cos it gets the user to put in his/her share of the work in say, segregating waste – and gets the waste out in an organised fashion.

That is one part of it – and I’d very glad if it was done in a professional manner as when it was started – but somewhere down the line the objective seems to have got lost – and its being done shoddily, at places.

The other, bigger part is waste disposal. BWSSB has a sewage treatment plant each at a couple of locations. But afaik there are no waste treatment plant or solutions.

A LOT of the kitchen waste can be used as manure(after composting) – but I see no evidence that it is done so. (that would have helped in afforestation of bangalore, but everyone is just happly cutting down trees!)

Most of the waste is just burnt – expelling toxic waste into the air, or just strewn around at certain places, which are far off from the city – but with current pace of development how far is it gonna go is anyone’s guess!

There is little thought on recycling too. And considering that a lot of plastic and paper can be recycled, it seems a colossal waste!

…let me try to drive in my point..

..I have lived 18 years of my life in Dhahran,KSA(Saudi) and i can vouch for the city’s cleanliness.The system in place was simple..Garbage Containers on the street corners and timely(..and perhaps this is the crucial point here) garbage “collection”.The Municipal Group that handled this had well-maintained Garbage trucks with that garbage compressing mechanism in place to get in as much of garbage as possible(…not the rather hapless trucks that i see chugging along in the streets here spewing exhaust rather profusely,ironic for an endeavor to clean the city up,huh?..) and the people working there had uniforms,gloves.. and weren’t treated like the way the “cleaning crew” here in the city are…its a very sorry sight to see these guys in their daily clothes and their bare hands scavenging for the garbage on the street corners/sides…

..as for the mentality of the people who live off the “excuse” that garbage cans arent present and have no qualms about flinging it into the far dark sides/corners(..as if that makes it better) of the road..i must demur..and my disagreement is not of the ‘fact’ that people dont do it..cause i must confess rather shamefully that,sometimes..i do it too!..and this was not the case 4 years back when i started livin in India..i had my scruples on not littering(…im not as bad as it sounds too…) the place n all and yeah,i know it all starts with u and all…but 4 years down the line ive lost those scruples i was talkin about…and i really think its not because my mentality metamorphosed over time “but” because of the inept systems in place for garbage disposal…

..let me put it this way, im walkin down the road and ive got this damn pepsi can with me, that i jus took the last sip from…i look around for some sort of a garbage can…and obviously i cant find it…and……ahhh,what the heck, chuck it to the dirtiest, most littered portion of the road(..which will eventually end up as a garbage pile..).It sounds bad, i know…but it is kinda true,right??

..next time im gonna chuck somethin,i’ll definitely think twice…i jus hope my determination doesnt wane down before the govt gets somethin in place..and i really think privatising is the best way..theres a sort of professionalism and more accountability in em,i suppose..

..ure cue..