A big dustbin



Do we have any garbage management plans in this country? I am wondering whether the effort that I put up in locating a dustbin for my trash is worth it. Does the garbage thrown in the  dustbin and thrown on a railway track end up at the same place. In this case that place is railway track of course. I have seen so many  instances when the sweeper on the railway station empties the bin on the tracks itself.



We Indians have a very poor sense of cleanliness. For us, it means keeping our immediate surrounding clean. Few minutes ago a woman sitting on the berth above me cleaned her seat, put all that garbage in a polythene and just dropped it below. It seems as if other person's right to neat and clean surroundings is oblivious to them.



To certain extent all of us are party to these crimes. There is always a  place in the neighbourhood where all the garbage is thrown. That way our homes are clean but what about our surroundings.

In the foreign countries that I have visited, garbage is separated by each individual into the disposable and non-disposable groups. Some other countries have very high rate of recycling of non-disposable waste. I would love to see something like this in India as well. I feel such a guilt in throwing a paper and a broken bulb in the same bin. With the population that we have, we may soon turn this country into a big waste land.

Gilli-danda

Few days ago when I was in Tagore Garden in Delhi, I saw a group of  young children playing gilli-danda. I watched them for sometime and was able to deduce some of the rules of the game after watching them
play for sometime.



It was such a pleasant surprise watching them  play the game. It definitely reminded me of some of the games I played during my childhood like 'sitoliya' and few others whose name I can't even recall now.

A dinner at fort

Not many things can beat the charm of a fort at night. I was in Jodhpur this weekend. The two of us went to the Mehrangarh fort at night and had dinner at the roof of one of the Mahals with nothing but candles and yellow light at distance to alight the surroundings.

The restaurant – Chokelao - serves only Rajasthani thali in the main course. For starters there are few other options. The service is not the best in the world. In fact for the first 10 minutes, the 2 of us were left waiting at the roof. A vegetarian thali costs around Rs 600, a bit on the higher side for a place like Jodhpur but still reasonable in comparison to the expensive restaurants in Delhi and Gurgaon.

 

But if you consider the view that the place has to offer, I would consider it a very good bargain. From the elevation of the fort which is itself built on a hill, you can see the lights of Jodhpur in one direction only to be matched by the majestic walls and the roof top of the fort on the other. When visiting just remember to take a good camera to capture the pics of the fort at night. I am sure you would not be disappointed by what the place has to offer.