Blog
Care for those, who clean for you
Every morning in newspapers all across the country, a small news item routinely appears: ‘Sweeper dies in manhole’, or ‘Sewerage worker drowns in septic tank’. The story is given a different headline every day, as the journalists play with words. Most readers do not bother to read the item, which is often just an official report stating the bald facts. I too was guilty of skimming over the items for many years of my life.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Human beings shrink from any kind of contact with garbage. We are paranoid about stepping on shit even accidentally, with our shoes on. If it does happen, we rush to wash the offending substance off the soles of our shoes. We carry sanitizers, wash hands ‘n’ number of times a day just to keep contamination away from us. The very sight of garbage trucks on the road makes us drive faster to get away from the stench.
Can we even begin to comprehend the experience that thousands of men and women go through every day of their lives cleaning up after us, no matter where we are? Local municipal corporation works like a circulation system. It is like a breathing process, we breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. That CO2 has to be recycled continuously. We all are aware what happened when Delhi sanitation workers went on strike.
Sanitation workers are generally invisible in the society, until we are angry or upset with something related to their job. In today’s fast life we are on the go all time and thus prefer “use and throw” items. We know there is someone on the other end who will take care of your leftovers.
They are the guardians of public health. They have a lethargic routine. Daily exposed to all kind of diseases. But they are their every morning, risking their lives to make your lives safer and cleaner. Lets be humane to them.
Take a moment out of your busy daily routine to thank these people for what they do. Introduce your kids to them as people who make sure you and your familyare healthy. Let us acknowledge their work.