On a humid Sunday morning, at around 9.30 am, close to 30 people were struggling to clean a poster and spit ridden wall after drenching it with water. The stench of urine from a nearby public toilet was unbearable, and the only saviour was the face mask they were wearing.
With their feet in the muck and equipment that were the bare minimum – old rectangular plates, tattered wire brushes, some brooms and baskets to carry garbage- each of them could be seen utilizing all of their strength to scrape off the layers of posters on that shabby disfigured wall that was also home to a thick layer of dirt, fungus, cobwebs and loose edges of chips of old paint buried under layers of glued paper.
On the other corner, some workers of the Municipal Corporation were helping this team gather and move the garbage on to the vans and clearing grounds for the paint buckets to be brought in and the artwork to start on the walls. This morning, that had begun with digging, moving rocks, scraping walls and collecting garbage, drew to a close at its 5th hour with the gorgeous red and white Warli designs painted across it. The repulsive stretch was now turned into a beautiful sight. This wasn’t one unique Sunday though; it was the story of the lives of a group of dedicated people from Bhopal every single Sunday since the January of 2014.
By profession, Mrs Kalpana Kekre had been a caterer for years. But, motivated by consistent inspiration from the stories of the original garbage-miracle-workers from Bangalore – a group that called themselves “The Ugly Indians”, a Facebook group and a few other like-minded people, led her to be one of the first six to get out on the road and start cleaning the city. Dressed in her staple saree and maroon apron, the 54-year-old leader of the pack is usually seen among college going 20-year-olds.
From just six people, the team has come a long way. Today it has grown to over 200 active volunteers, most of whom were initially just onlookers. Mrs Kekre says that the most important reason for this growth has been consistency. In its 148th week now, the team has not missed even one task day. Ask this group of people who work or study throughout the week about forgoing their much-hyped “Sunday morning sleep” by arriving for clean ups as early as 6.30 am, and they would laugh it off and tell you how this has usually been the best part of their entire week.
Aman Mewara is one such volunteer – a 22-year-old studying civil engineering. He is one of the main artists of the group. His reason for joining came in an instant when he learnt that this was a citizens’ group. It appealed to him that each member came with just one major hope and motivation – that they would be able to pay back to the city they take so much from every day. The members of the team contribute 50 rupees per month to get the materials and equipment. Sometimes they get a little help with the paints from the Municipal Corporation and other equipment from well-wishers, but largely the citizen’s group is self-sustaining and takes no donations in the form of money from anywhere. For Mewara, it is an immense sense of pride to watch his art painted all over the city and to be a part of a group that comes with a noble purpose. His story has been an inspiration for friends and family and a ray of hope for people who previously refused to believe that India could ever be a cleaner country.
While on some days the group is quick to clean out dry waste, on other days, they find their shoes buried in layers of old rotting vegetables or layers of plastic for which they have to use shovels to work. With fondness, team-member Namdev narrates a similar story when his entire focus was on trying not to vomit during the clean-up because of the unbearable stench of the accumulated mixture of dry and wet waste. Today the same spot in Saket Nagar is a place of pride where people enjoy their walks, children love to play around, and people stop by for selfies in front of the wall paintings.
India is infamous for the heaps of garbage. On 2nd October 2014, the Prime Minister of the country proposed that every citizen should devote 100 hours in the year towards cleaning and this marked the commencement of the “Swachha Bharat” or Clean India Campaign.
Many people got on to the streets to mark an enthusiastic start to the initiative, and social media was flooded with pictures of everyone from celebrities to ministers, the rich as well as the poor, with brooms in their hands. For some, it was a one-time activity and for others just an erratic attempt that fizzled over time seeing almost no change in their surroundings. With a massive budget allotted for the same at the Centre and a tax introduced for the common man, many people mistakenly believed that it is the Government’s responsibility to make the change because the public was doing their part by paying for it.
This left only a few groups like this one in Bhopal to do the job consist…
