Had been to my friend’s place recently. And she had a rather funny (some might find it revolting) account to narrate! Just throws light on some basic facilities or the lack of them in India.
My friend has this habit of shifting her place often. Mostly it’s attributed to the fact that one or other of her room mates kick her out :D
Jokes apart, but this is a real painful business and having gone through that whole processing of moving in and settling down, I can empathize! I had gone over to her place to pick her up for yet another session of loafing around in the city’s malls. She wasn’t ready yet so I settled with a cup of coffee. She looked rather anxious and kept on peeping outside the window on every sound that came from the street. I was intrigued. I asked her if she was expecting someone and if I had dropped in at the exactly wrong moment. She said ‘Hell no, you got it all wrong. I am expecting someone alright, but not what you think’. ‘So who is this VIP?’; I asked, curiosity you see, I should have been named cat! ‘the kachrawala’ she declared. I couldn’t say if I found that scandalous or amusing! She hurried on with a quick explanation, spotting the look on my face and the cup that was all set to drop, ‘I need to dispose this garbage that’s piling up at my place and I can’t find a way to do it!’
I said, ‘So, what’s the big deal? Go throw it off at some dustbin in your street’
She shot me a look as if I thought she was dumb enough not to think of it (may be it was lady-where-have-you-been-these-days, I couldn’t exactly put my finger on it!)
‘It’s not that simple’, she said. I couldn’t understand, what could be so complicated in disposing domestic waste???!
She then narrated a series of events and by the end of it I was convinced, that even a trivial thing as this could cause you worries when you are new to a place.
For the past few weeks she had lived in this place, she had tried and invented new ways of garbage disposal! The first day she looked around to find a dustbin, nope, not a single one in sight. She asked the neighbour, the lady said that there would be a van that would come in every morning and that’s how these people got rid of it. Fine, that sounds simple. She waited and waited the next morning, no sight of any van coming in. time for office and she had to bolt out to catch the last bus. Come weekend and she knew, she had to nail the van this time! Nope , no van. She asked the neighbour again she said ‘adhu eppa varumnu solla mudiyadhu ma, but it will come for sure’ periya super star!
Finally on Sunday morning she had a whistle sound and quite some movement in the neighbourhood, curious she rushed out to find out what was happening and Voila, the Van!
The man told her that they would blow the whistle anytime they are around, that way people would know. ‘Good’ she thought. That solves one problem. The next week however, she had not heard any whistle the whole of Saturday. Finally when she did, she rushed out with the dustbin only to find out that it was a couple of kids playing with a whistle! Uugggggghhhh! She could have died then! Then followed a vain and pathetic effort to carry it to the main road and toss it in the ‘unofficial’ dustbin. But the dogs in the street trailed behind her making life all the more embarrassing. Now she has to get rid of it, not knowing how and where.
Well that’s where I come in, I know the place quite well, in fact I used to live 2 blocks away until recently. And there’s a ‘drop’ point right there :)
But how do we get it till there?
‘like this’ she said, lifting a Westside shopping bag.
My jaw dropped ‘That’s the garbage!!!!’
‘Yeah, perfectly disguised in layers of shopping bags. Tell me I am a genius’
Whatever! ‘here you can take this we can walk to that place’
I almost shrieked out ‘I’d rather not! Not with a plethora of stray dogs chasing me…!’
She said ‘so much for a friend in need. Now what???’
That’s it. I wanted it finished.
I said we’d hire an auto to the mall and on the way get rid of the packet. She said ‘Brilliant!’. We managed to pull it off, with me trying hard not to look at the expression in the Autowala’s face. All this wouldn’t have been there if only there was a proper means of disposing waste. All it takes is ample dustbins for every mohalla if not every gali!

Posted by Sat at 10:16 AM
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