Saturday, November 15, 2008

Littering, Part Deux

As the lyad increases and the exams inch ever closer the posts dry up.. Anyway a significant 'breakthrough' if I might put it like that in my 'fight' against littering if I might put it like that..

The commute back from college recently has been tiring with the two hours of football it follows and the 15-20 minute wait for the bus at the 8B bus stand. Well on Friday I didn't have to wait, found a nice empty bus waiting for me at the stand so I got my preferred window seat near the door. This is not important. The guy who ended up sitting next to me apparently felt an urge to eat some chips and bought a packet from the guy who sells Roy Co. chips everyday at the Bus stand. This is sort of important. As soon as he opened the packet, thoughts began to race in my head and I started thinking about the politest way to tell the guy ( who seemed good-natured enough ) NOT to throw the packet on the road when he was done with it. So 15 minutes and 4 stoppages later I see him finish the packet and as he is about to throw it ..

Me : Sir, ekta request kortey pari ? Packet ta please rastaye felben na, amake diye din, ami pore fele debo.

Guy : * a blank stare on his face with his left hand still near the window *

Me : Ei packet e diye din, emniteo nongra achhe ( I had my football in that packet )

Guy : "ekhane diye debo?"

Me : Hain.

Guy : * drops it without another word *

Me : Thanks.

Felt good... Hopefully he was freaked out enough to repeat the incident to his folks at home. My folks reckon I was lucky not to get beat up.

End of story, more weirdness later..

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Well,if i were that guy,i certainly would have been astonished a little-but not certainly annoyed,bcoz i would have realized that gairik here,the strange guy who asked for the packet,was somebody who cared about keeping his city clean
Actually when i think personally,i can't be that much cleanliness-friendly myself,i loiter much-and seldom care for the wastepaper bin if its far away-sorry gd,forgive me and several other of my partners in crime
someone can think u r a freak,but deep down inside i know that u r supporting a damn good cause
P.S:a girl can slap you if she thinks u r flirting with her

anirban said...

well i support ur cause,gd....not only that....but think about the disgusting scenes of people spitting their hearts out at the streets,these people should be jailed or fined at least..as happens in any civilized city...nothing weird about it....actually its good to see a fellow thinking similar to me...but i never had the courage to ask a man to refrain from spitting.

Saswata said...

well done man....a true gandhigiri kind of a thing!!! nxt time i hv chips i'll thnk of u...

Smart Primate said...

Atta boy... good going...
finally mustered up the courage, didn't you?

P.S.I would like to meet someone who beats you up for accepting a piece of garbage.

ad libber said...

You know, I could kill to do what you did. Stranger paranoia however always wins and I usually end up picking up after someone throws stuff and then stuffing my bag with them (Dustbins not being a thing every road is lined with in this city)

But very plucky of you. Very plucky indeed.

Sauvik said...

yeah..you really are very lucky..kal khete partis..jodio..lokta surely bhebechhe "e kon sample-er pallay porlam!!ki arbit pagol!!"
anyways..great going..akdin amar cigarette pack ta bari niye jash due to the same reason?what say? ;)

Anne--Words are all I have to take your Heart away said...

Well,I too wholeheartedly support your noble cause,and am myself a true follower.
I believe that in order to bring a considerable change in the society,we always need a leader.
This has happened now and again and still happens daily.
It is only when there is a leader,at least one person For a cause,do the other people around him/her sit up and take notice and fight For the cause.
Even in an evening concert,it is only when one person starts applauding does all the others present, follow him.
Hence it is quite evident,that similarly,in this case, we badly need local leaders,like you,who genuinely want Kolkata(and gradually India)to become a cleaner,greener and a much better place to live in.
I am sure that once the young India (represented by us),become concerned about this,would there be a profound change in the attitude of the our people towards our motherland.
I would love to suggest that you should not only carry on the good job that u are doing,but also start creating some awareness among your friends,so that they shed their indifference and start supporting you in your noble venture.
I would request all of those who are reading this,to spare a thought,and act according to what they think is fair,just and important.
I would leave the final decision upto their Conscience.