Tuesday, May 21, 2019

A praiseworthy cleanup drive by Silver County Road Residents, Harlur, Let us create the Change

Bangalore has become synonymous with polluted lakes, dirty surroundings, roads full of trash and potholes. The citizens are bearing the burnt. But here is something which every citizen should do and take inspiration from. This would set an example of being a proactive, socially responsible citizen actively contributing to the betterment of the environment.
I am myself a resident of the silver county road, Harlur, south Bangalore. The silver county road residents group( Silver County Live Wire) took up a really inspiring cleanup drive of the silver county road recently. This area consists of 4-5 small to medium sized lakes. The road was a nightmare for motorists and bikers in the rainy season. The absence of street lights would add to the inconvenience of the residents and commuters of this area.
But the residents' group acted very promptly. The cleanup drive took meticulous planning. Hats off to the people leading the group for the efforts and perfect planning!

We are good at planning, budgeting and execution :D

It began from raising funds for the cause. The total cost of lifting the garbage and dumping was about 25000( total of 15 trucks and 1 JCB was required each day and the cost of dumping each truckload was around 700). The campaign was planned on every Sunday and would require sufficient funds.
The team planned a social media campaign for raising funds and every resident contributed a small but considerable amount to it.

Inspiration from Genext: :)

The kids of Sobha Cinnamon Saffron were the real inspiration for all the elders. They showed the utmost dedication and honesty. They collected around 22000 by selling lemonade and actually visiting people door to door. Kudos to their efforts.

Leaders make the difference :D

The group leaders were busy spreading the word about the cleanup drive on social media to get more volunteers. They also made accessories like gloves, masks available for the volunteers.
The cleanup drive took place for total 4 Sundays. Those 4 Sunday mornings were mornings full of inspiration, dedication, collaboration and team efforts.

Work for the community by the community

This drive was organised by the community for the community. The best thing about living in a community is that you get to learn and share really great things. This cleanup drive was a classic example of dedicated team efforts working selflessly for the community.
The efforts are bearing fruits. The surroundings are clean. The people want to maintain that cleanliness because they have cleaned the surroundings themselves. They are creating awareness about it too.

Let us smile bright with the new lights :D

The area is getting street lights too. The poles are already in place. We are looking forward to a well lit Silver County Road :)

Nothing stops us!

On 19th May 2019, BBMP didn't do arrangements for sending the tractors. But when people were determined nothing could stop them. The tractors were arranged by the people.
These kinds of group activities need to attract more attention. The silver county lives wire group is seeking support for creating a better surrounding and neighbourhood for the residents. Their efforts are also for making the commute safe for everyone. They are driven by passion, social responsibility to protect the nature around. Many people supported them directly or indirectly. But they need more support.

Let us do it ourselves before telling others:
They are an inspiration for all Bangaloreans. It takes courage to come on roads for actually cleaning the roads. They have begun. Now it is everyone's responsibility to take this forward. They need more support in all respects for future work.
Let's do our share...

The link for the fundraising page is as follows


The great work is illustrated in a creative video on YouTube. Do have a look


Let us do our bit for livable and green surroundings. After all, it is for our greener future where we would breathe fresh air, enjoy the clean neighbouring lakes.

Lessons learnt are:

Being together for such a noble is the biggest strength of this activity. The site is very soothing and satisfying for the volunteers. This is the foundation for many such successful drives in future.
Let us strive for better results in the future. Let us collaborate, cooperate and achieve greener and cleaner environment. 









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Humanity... The most noble religion

The idea of this post came to my mind after reading an article.
I'm personally being brought up in very liberal religious environment and hence my thoughts are in sync with my upbringing. But as a educated, alert and well aware individual I seriously started thinking about the world around and the religions complications involved.
The most threatening 'Terrorism' is probably an outcome of religious differences and extremism. The lives lost because of terrorism cannot be brought back. In my opinion nothing is more precious than a life , no religion is big enough than a life.

Some people might think that I'm only considering extreme cases. But giving it a serious thought, on what basis a  person's religion is decided? Probably by birth, which is not really in control of the person. People differentiate and make groups based on religions and caste. But then the question comes, why do we want to be a part of a community if we want to be a part of all these differences. I live in a gated community in a cosmopolitan city for last 6 months. I consider last six months of my life really very fruitful in this regard. I learnt a lot from people of different castes, communities and religions who are a part of this community. I never differentiated on the basis of caste, religion etc but I adapted myself to mingle with such people in last 6 months. And I can say it is a pleasure to know them and be with them.
People are ready to get married in different faiths and religions. But still some of them are not flexible enough to go beyond these boundaries on personal level. These boundaries are probably created by our older generations but it is a high time we break them.
A person is more defined by his own virtues and good deeds than his religion or caste.
There are examples of people of different religions helping each other in crisis even during communal riots. Those should be the highlights and examples for other people. Humanity is way above any religion. Helping an individual irrespective of his religion is something that should be praised here.
The question is when would the people grow up and stop being Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Jew or Christians? We are humans above all and everyone has all rights to live a life on their own terms.
So are you with me on this? What do you appreciate more. Humanity and acceptance or maintaining differences based on religion, caste and such things?