|
Muck tale
October. A very auspicious month for all Indians. It is
jam-packed with festivals of every hue, that are celebrated—in
different ways and diverse styles—from Kashmir to Kerala. But it is
special for another reason.
Yes, you have guessed it—it’s the Gandhi month…The only time
(unfortunately!!!) when every Indian (I am hoping!) is reminded of
an exceptional human being named Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. No
diverse and colourful styles here—just the vision of the
bespectacled,dhoti-clad Mahatma. The man who steered clear of
grandeur and spotlights. The man who believed that our nation could
achieve greatness only after the basics had been set right.
And who had the
courage to publicly claim that ‘sanitation is more important than
independence’. Gobar Times has always aspired to adopt the
Gandhi style. So, this October we are celebrating his 137th birthday
by focussing our attention and yours…on the most fundamental aspect
of our everyday life—sanitation.
Spirit of in-sanitation
Why sanitation, did you ask? After all, there are so many
fascinating phases in the life and times of the Father of the Nation
we could have picked! Then why this particularly unsavoury subject
of toilets? Hey, before you folks begin to wrinkle up your noses, I
want you to read what Gandhi once had to say to a senior British
official who had not responded to his suggestions on the topic with
enough seriousness. “To me sanitation in a community like ours is
based upon common spiritual effort. The slightest irregularity in
sanitary life is a sign of spiritual poverty. It is a sign of
inattention, neglect of duty!”
Pretty strong views, right? Well the Prophet of peace felt even more
strongly about the disgraceful sanitary habits of his country men
and women. And said so, several times, in strident tones. “A sense
of national or social sanitation is not a virtue among us… I regard
this as a great vice which is responsible for the disgraceful state
of our villages and sacred rivers and for the diseases that spring
from insanitation”, he once declared.
|
 |
Hygiene hype?
Was he making a big deal of a trivial matter? Not really. You see,
Gandhi was an environmentalist of remarkable foresight and vision.
He was aware that toilets are the link between good and bad
environment. And most crucially, sanitation acts as a barrier
between humans and disease-carrying microorganisms (pathogens) that
thrive in human faeces and urine.
So, don’t you think toilets can actually be used as a yardstick to
gauge whether a society is progressive or hopelessly backward?
History has proved more than once that they can be! Now lets find
out how the Indian people—down the ages—have scored on this front. |
