Plastic Preaching

Plastic ban has come into effect in Maharashtra. When I was leaving for my vacation it was on the anvil.  I saw with a keen eye how much plastic and paper is used all over Europe. And everything is packaged. Shops, stores n boutiques do not give you cloth bags. The office crowd is buying plastic packed ready to eat food and sitting in the park enjoying their salads n food in lovely one time use plastic containers. The disposal system is excellent so there is no litter seen anywhere. The garbage collectors are hunting through garbage cans for beer bottles. They get one euro or ten Kroners per bottle. The beggars are there at railway stations in Paris, major shopping streets in Oslo, Stockholm and Paris. The beggars collect the alcohol bottles. All beggars have their own cell phones, a suitcase and a huge plastic sac. All people who drink alcohol, do not put the bottles in the dustbin but leave it in the grass in the park for the beggars to collect. They feel they are doing their bit of charity like this. Keep seeing bottles on my way to Yoga, also kept under trees. I thought the guys are too drunk or scared to take the bottle home, so they leave it by the sidewalk. Never explored the charity angle to it. 

Sidewalk was a restaurant in NCPA. National Centre for Performing Arts is a theatre at the end of Nariman Point where the land ends and the sea begins. It is a little uppity and I have watched a few plays there.  The restaurant also felt like that. It had world cuisine with different kitchens. It was the first restaurant in Mumbai, where every hour the staff would break into a dance. In Bali, in an amazing cafe, the staff would sing something in Balinese which said Welcome and enjoy our food. They said it with lot of joy and excitement. Realised that joy and excitement are also created and come with practice. 

Schools are the biggest culprit of plastic. They teach only half truths. They tell kids to plant trees and take care of the environment. They sell you so many text books and notebooks. All schools have their own printed notebooks with the school's name.They are ruled, chequered , inter leaf, double line, four lined, plain, for drawing, Graphs and Practicals. One academic year, my child used 8 notebooks for Maths alone. After that, I stopped looking at the huge number of notebooks we have to buy plus the unlimited supply of A4 sized blank sheets and A3 sized ruled ones. Apart from this, a student needs chart paper, coloured project books and some more. Paper is used for all school events and decorations. Till this stage, it is fine. Now there is a need to buy ice cream spoons , plastic decoration material for all projects and art work. Stickers are made of plastic, then Googly eyes is made of plastic and more such innane things are asked by all schools all the time. If you dare to ask them why then they will say that the board gives us the syllabus and we have to do accordingly. Board means the Government. So randomly all blame is put on the government . We know some crooks designed our syllabus and have completely fed us with lies where we have no pride in our Nation. But can I not take a stand and tell my children what is good for the environment? Our kids' school taught the kids  about Arvind Kejriwal and his greatness for 3 consecutive years in General Knowledge . They said Barkha Dutt is the best journalist when Nira Radia tapes were happening . What kind of General Knowledge is this? 

Coming to plastic, it is all about plastic tiffin boxes, stationary boxes, water bottles, bags which are synthetic and so on. Where will I teach the child plastic is bad when the teether which is given to an infant is made of plastic and so are the milk bottles. The plastic cannot be removed from life but Schools need to reduce the usage in projects. Every note book has a plastic cover. This was unheard of in our times in school. Look at the plastic, the school is generating. I am not shifting the onus on to the school. I am saying the children are influenced by the teachers, so it cannot be just talk when the actions are the opposite. 

I did not have any Tupperware containers or boxes. It is a big status symbol to use Tupperware boxes in your kitchen as it is expensive and good quality . I did buy a lot of Tupperware water bottles. Steel bottles were heavy for the toddler. When I came to know the harm plastic is causing then I switched to glass jars for groceries. Now how many ever glass jars I buy, it is not enough. Same for the fridge containers, glass is heavy to store and cannot be used in the freezer. I have bought steel jars too the traditional ones which I used to abhor . The reason was that I could not see the groceries/ snacks  as in how much is left and what needs to be replenished. 

By the way, the NGOs approach schools and ask for the school kids for certain time and on certain days to hold placards. This NGO thing is one dirty business. Here they are objecting to having the Metro in the Western suburbs of Mumbai where trees will be cut. Every school is given a notice of how many kids will be needed for the protest. The schools cannot refuse  as there is a subtle pressure on them.  No one thinks of the commute which will help the poor and the people staying in the far off suburbs. They are the ones who risk their lives by hanging out of the over crowded local trains. When this government wants to help the population, the rich spoilt people who run the NGOs play spoil sport. Will they cancel one air travel to a business meeting and use a train to go to Delhi and Chennai? Then why are people objecting if travel becomes easier for the poor. The real rich hardly ever use public transport like a local train. They all have the chauffeur driven cars or they Uber it. I have nothing against rich people but this NGO variety need to look beyond themselves and remove their blinkers. Social work is become a big thing to show off. You want your comforts but do not want others to have them. And then they talk about being fair to all. 

The plastic ban does not touch the big corporations, big stores where every good is packaged in plastic. It only impacts the vendors using low quality plastic. I went to buy Dosa Atta to Matunga Central as the home made Dosa batter was not tasting good. On reaching, the shopkeeper said get your own container. He said they have stopped packing the Dosa batter in plastic bags. All the snacks shops are selling everything in plastic bags. Cannot understand this law and its timing to implement it in the monsoon. The joke is that the BMC inspectors who are fining people for carrying plastic are themselves carrying the receipt book in a plastic bag to protect it from the rains.