Garbage

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There is a parking lot for Garbage trucks which is called Yaan Griha. Every morning when I walk back from Yoga, the whole cross section of five roads is surrounded by the garbage trucks. They are parked in a circle around the traffic island, a circle of orange and green. I think the cab is orange in colour where the driver and the garbage collector sit. The attendance of these employees of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation or BMC, takes place at 8am. They are in a bright orange uniform of shirt and pants. The gloves which some garbage collectors wear is green in colour. Every morning the cleaners are cleaning the cab of the truck. The area where they sit i.e. the front go the truck is sparkling. The windshield is shining in the sun after a good rub with water and newspaper. There is a new napkin placed on the driver's back rest. Some cabs light incense sticks or Agarbattis. Some cabs have put a small garland of fresh flowers on the God's idol. Most  vehicles in India have a small idol of God. It could be any religion and any God one believes in. After the daily attendance sheet is filled out, these cabs are ready to move to clean up the city garbage. The truck is operated by the driver, the cleaner has to get down and fix the garbage bin to the truck to empty the garbage in the truck. At a big garbage collection point, I see the cleaners removing all plastic bottles from the garbage. This is recycling and making a little money at the same time. He will sell the bottles to a raddi waala or pasti waala or puraana newspaper waala. Each truck has a huge stuffed toy tucked somewhere at the back. May be this large stuffed teddy bear acts like a scare crow. The orange uniform is almost fluorescent and definitely not made of cotton. The pants look like Jodhpurs. All trucks have Swacchh Mumbai, Harit Mumbai, written on it. It is in Marathi and it means "Clean Mumbai and Green Mumbai". The rate at which the construction mafia has taken over Mumbai, this seems like an illusion.

Lot of these people, the garbage cleaners, left for Shirdi yesterday. Shirdi is a famous pilgrimage site about 250km from Mumbai. This is called 'Sai Baba ki Paalki'. Pilgrims walk for ten days to reach Shirdi on the last day of Chaitra Navratra. Their food and accommodation in tents and Dharamshaala is arranged enroute. One tempo traveller which is like a mini truck travels with their belongings, water, medicines and a few chairs. All were wearing crisp new white Kurta Pajama. Lot of Bhajan/hymns, Arti, Dhol, dancing and cracker bursting, happens to start the journey. The people walking, do not train for months or follow a strict protein rich diet. Its belief in the higher source or the Divine or complete trust in God and themselves which make them endure this journey in this heat. This is total surrender to the divine in an easy way. For this pilgrimage, they do not attend motivational classes, wear special running shoes by big brands and nor do they keep updating their status on Facebook. It looked more fun than the Mumbai Marathon. But we urban educated people want to work hard to succeed and then gloat over our achievements.

Mom says," Parul, don't crinkle your nose when you see garbage or filth or get the stench which is prevalent in Mumbai". She learnt in her astrology class that garbage is the form of Rahu Devta. Rahu is one of the Navgraha or the nine planets in the Astrological science/ Vedic Astrology. So if you can't worship it, you can keep a flower on it. She said "if it bothers you, chant Shri Rahavay Namah". It is created by us human beings. " Can I really respect the waste we human beings create? Can I be okay with all the waste/filth/ garbage around me? It does not mean, Don't clean it. It just means "Don't criticise it". I am touched by this aspect of  Indian mythology. Am sure when these things were written, plastic did not exist and all the garbage was eco friendly. Are we willing to look at all the filth in our lives like this?

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