Right from a young age, we've been taught this well known adage, 'Cleanliness is next to Godliness. And we've beaten the hell out of it with speeches and essays, paintings and collages. It is one of those things every Indian of my generation has definitely heard if not spoken, written or drawn about it.
Many years later, as a grown up, my travels take me to different places within and outside India. And it is here that you get to experience the presence or absence of this 'Godliness' we expressed so much in our childhood. While squalor is a common sight in some places in India, we have today reached a stage where some places are able to maintain a spic and span image... well, at least most of the time because despite having an army of cleaning staff deployed, you manage to sight an eyesore of garbage strewn around in these places as well.
It made me wonder what prompts people to dirty such a beautiful places: malls, heritage sites, airports, toilets. Our immediate reaction of course is that Indians just don't know how to keep things clean. However, I consider that derogatory to my own sentiments on cleanliness. On the contrary I think it is extremely "anti-Indian" of anyone to dirty public places, vandalize public property and not maintain the level of cleanliness they would expect from the place.
When you think about it all begins in the mind and the mind will not aspire to be clean if being clean doesn't earn them affiliation or not being clean doesn't result in ostracism. Being a citizen is a more recent mindset for us compared to the long history of abdicating that role to kings and law enforcers. Hence driving the thinking that of 'Being Clean' rather than merely speaking of cleanliness brings the responsibility on all of us. That's when we clean the toilet seats and search for garbage bins to throw rubbish and generally take it personally if someone does something to dirty the public place.
If you subscribe to my sentiments, I would urge you to wear your 'Cleanliness badge' with pride and tell off people as anti-Indian if they are damaging or dirtying public property. Maybe then we will begin to witness the godliness of cleanliness around us.
