Ab Montu Bolega- The Power of Voice to Clean India!!!

Cleanliness is next to Godliness. We all know this and we have been told this golden truth in our childhood days. Till then why do we clean our home but throw the garbage over the street? Why to we smoke the cigarette and throw the leftover bud on the street? Why do we throw the plastic packets of snacks from the window of a running bus? Why do we urinate on footpath walls or defecate on rail lines? These are only a few example how we are making our country dirty. There are many more of such offenses. Many western foreigners look down at our country only because we keep it so dirty. Let us raise voice and make our country clean. After all a clean country can give birth to healthy citizens.

I am tired of seeing my neighbors throwing plastic packets and other domestic waste products not only on the neighborhood streets but also into the drain. How disgusting! On throwing garbage into the drain it gets blocked, spilling its dirty contents over the lanes. It can spread diseases to local people. I have already talked with the local club to arrange a monthly meetings regarding the same. In the meeting we shall discuss about right ways of dumping waste materials of our houses and what are the ill effects those result from careless throwing of garbage. May be it will be a good idea to keep an award like “Environment's friend of the month” which will be awarded randomly to persons who'll be spotted working towards the cause.

Another issue which bothers me is the urination and defecation at inappropriate places! I had blogged on open defecation hazards. That was more due to lack of knowledge and resources in rural population. But urinating shamelessly on public places is unforgivable and usually committed by educated population. Alas it is more shameful! I do not know exactly what more I can do to solve open defecation problem other than trying to educate people, as I live in a city. But regarding the shameless urination habit I will take a tough stand. Whenever I'll spot a person urinating in public space I will take a mobile photo of the person and threaten him to post it in internet if I find him repeating the same act again. If my time permits I'll go for detailed counseling of that person so that he won't dare to piss in open ever again.

Only we can make or break the hygiene of India and being good citizens I believe we should work together for making it a cleaner and better country. We should not only preach but also practice and set example before wrong doers. We can form social groups to discuss, plan and sort out cleanliness issues. Let us raise voice for making our country clean.

This is an entry for #AbMontuBolega campaign organized by Reckitt Benckiser India Limited in association with Indiblogger! This campaign believes in the power of voice to clean India. This campaign wants us to raise our voices against unhygienic issues, dirty systems and greedy authorities to make a difference. I salute such an inspiring campaign. For more details visit the campaign website, Facebook and Twitter page!

Couples need to bring back the touch!!!

It was their 3^rd marriage anniversary. Like every other day Rita woke up at 5:30 in the morning to prepare Rahul's office tiffin. There was some expectation from her side as a caring housewife to be wished “happy anniversary” by her man but from deep within she was afraid. The reason for her hidden fear was her experiences so far with Rahul in last three years. He had always managed to forget their anniversary dates and her birthday too. His excuse has always been his weak memory. Rita is a very soft natured woman and she hardly demands or even stands up for anything. So, it always ended up with a “sorry darling, it won't happen again” type of casual apology.

In the breakfast table they had some random talks regarding house bills and newspaper but nothing close to their anniversary crept up. He left with a routine bye. Rita's eyes were wet but silent as always. In the middle of the day she got call from her maternal house and also from her friends. They seemed more excited in her marriage anniversary than she herself was! She thanked all of them dryly and struggled the whole day to keep Rahul and his indifference out of her mind. Obviously she didn't forgive him.

Rahul returns late at night, sometimes after ten. It was one such day. There was not even a single call from him in the entire day. Rita kept his dinner covered on the table and went to bed early, perhaps to avenge against her husband's whole act of insincerity. Rahul keeps a duplicate key to their apartment. She was pretending to sleep and following Rahul's footsteps with attentive ears. She sensed him approaching towards the bed. Her heart beats increased. He caressed her locks and planted a kiss on her cheek. “Did you think I forgot our anniversary darling like every other year?”, he spoke softly near her ear. She got up from the bed in excitation. She didn't know how to react to this unexpected moment. There were drops of tear in her eyes. Rahul embraced her tightly. Their anniversary took a new colour!

Written for http://www.pblskin.com/ and #BringBackTheTouch

Let us Stop Open Defecation in our country!!!

It is a great matter of relief for us that reputed company like Unilever Foundation and Domex have joined hands with Unicef to help improve access to basic sanitation for millions of people in India where open defecation is one of the biggest challenge to health! About 597 million people defecate in open and open defecation makes them susceptible to the attack various disease causing microbial organisms like bacteria, amoeba and viruses. Due to weak body functions children like Babli are more prone to these diseases. Shockingly fact sheets suggest that 20% of death of children under 14 years of age are due to improper sanitation and poor hygiene! It is more scary to know that in such scenario, less than 6% of rural children in India under 6 years of age use toilet facilities which allows us to deduce that rest 94% defecate in open fields! Let us spread awareness of the health hazards of open defecation and add up to the noble Domex Initiative.

As I mentioned before, more than 94% of village kids like Babli are defecating in open, they are subjected to dangerous bacterial, viral and worm infections. Diarrhea and worm infection being two common diseases affecting school going children, 443 million school days are lost every year! Not only education is affected. Ill health causes malnutrition and stunting to these affected children. We can feel the gravity of this social health problem by the data that 215,000 children under five years of age die from diarrhea alone every year and India has highest number of under-5 death globally! It is time to act my friends. Let us save our future generation from the curse of this age old habit of open defecation. Let us work together to give them a better future, a healthier tomorrow, a hygienic country to grow.

Millennium development goal aims at basic sanitation, toilets, latrines and hand wash and at our current rate of progress facts suggest we would be able to cover just 67% of the target goal. So, we need to focus more and speed up improvement on sanitation sector in our country. CATS (community approaches to total sanitation) programs by Unicef focus on advocating demands for sanitation at the community level. We can volunteer in CATS by educating the community about the scenario of open defecation in our country so that open defecators stop defecating in open out of a sense of responsibility and concern, not merely for temporary eyewash. Mass media must be involved to bring about a greater turnover on our effort. We can take peaceful goodnight sleep when Open Defecation Free status is achieved, the day when each and every Indian family would use its own toilet facility and no Babli has to fall sick by defecating in the open.

Let us act. You can bring about the change in the lives of millions of kids, thereby showing your support for the Domex Initiative. All you need to do is “click” on the “Contribute Tab” on www.domex.in and Domex will contribute Rs.5 on your behalf to eradicate open defecation, thereby helping kids like Babli live a dignified life.

Image Source: https://www.indiblogger.in/happyhours/toilet-for-babli/