A community gathering at Yelahanka New Town on November 21 to discuss waste disposal and composting solutions.
Waking up to this morning’s newspapers was a pleasant experience. Mandur has shut down 10 days before the deadline. Any person who has visited a landfill and can empathise with the people’s woes will receive this news with immense relief laced with happiness.
It is said that humans refuse to evolve until and unless they stand on the brink. But so long as we have a chance to push others to the brink—just as we did with the people of Mavallipura and Mandur since the turn of the millennium—we will be happy to hang around like bystanders to a crisis we created with impunity.
Nalini Shekar of Hasiru Dala makes an appeal to lead a life free from landfills.
So, what is the way forward? Are we going to evolve or let the city stew in its own garbage? Are we going to take charge and solve the problem or blame it on the government or corrupt bureaucracy? The coming few weeks and months will put these questions to rest and hopefully, with valid answers.
But to evolve, we need to first accept that there is a crisis (a gigantic one, actually) and only then will we start asking the right questions. The right questions lead to right answers.
Yesterday, at a community event organised by Corporator Geetha in Yelahanka New Town, Nalini Shekar of Hasiru Dala and I could sense a great deal of concern and healthy agitation in the minds of the people gathered to find solutions.
The packed hall threw at us quite a few questions and most of them concerning kitchen waste composting. Nalini (www.hasirudala.in) put them at ease by demonstrating a simple composting solution. As we made an appeal to the men and women to deal with this issue at source and lead a life free from landfills, the audience listened with unwavering attention.
Representatives from various apartment complexes who are willing to walk the green path but do not have practical questions at hand had queries on dry waste and sanitary waste disposal as well. As we went on listing the available solutions, for a moment, it seemed like a wonderful beginning has been made.
The only question is how long will these people persist.
ENDLESSLY GREEN 