Ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a clarion call
to make India clean (Swatch Bharat), there has been a
flurry of activities, both genuine and fraud, trying to heed to his call. Some
have honestly taken up the challenge to make India as clean as possible, but
some have taken up just to appease him. The other day “Mail Today” newspaper
showed a politician along with others, wielding the broom, trying to clean a
roadside pavement strewn with dry leaves. The funny part was that the leaves
were strewn minutes before the politician had come for the photo opportunity.
An alert photographer from this newspaper captured some officials overturning a
wheelbarrow full of dry leaves just before the politician was to arrive. The
leaves were then spread out on the road for the VIPs to do the needful.
This is not what Modi wants. If you have heard Modi speak on
television, he has passionately appealed to people to clean our roads, our
localities, our temples, et al ... Modi has appealed from the bottom of his
heart. Never in the history of Independent India has a Prime Minister appealed
so fervently to the people to keep their country neat and tidy. If you really
care for the country then you should keep it clean.
Talking of cleanliness, I want to tell you about a Mumbai
based gentleman by the name of Captain Anshul Rajvanshi who quit his relatively
lucrative job in the merchant navy to assist his wife Nupur with her company
Lighthouse Management Pvt Ltd. The company manufactures car bins. These are
potable small car bins that can be fitted aesthetically inside vehicles so that
the occupants can keep the environment clean by disposing of their garbage in
this small bin. I have personally met him several times and I must say I have
yet to see a person so dedicated to a cause. And the best part about Anshul is
that he always looks joyful and happy.
Anshul and his wife have been entrepreneurs since 2008. I
became an entrepreneur in 2009. As an entrepreneur I can say that he is working
his head off with his products and I can also vouch that selling his products
is not an easy thing. Not that the product is bad, it’s extremely innovative
and critical but it’s the Indian mindset that dampens the overall spirit of
cleanliness. Indian car companies spend hundreds and thousands of crores of
rupees on several CSR activities. Why cannot each and every one of them make it
mandatory for vehicle buyers to purchase this bin when they come to take
delivery of their vehicles? Why cannot such a fine product be displayed and
sold at every dealership and sales point of automobile companies? After all,
the products cost a few hundred rupees each.
Anshul and Nupur are just a whisker away from making it big
in their business. They deserve to become mighty successful. India is an
extremely dirty country and I squarely blame the rich as much as the poor, the
educated as much as the uneducated. Look around, how many of us have thrown
garbage out of their cars while driving? It could have been a banana peel, a
sweet wrapper, a small box, paper, tissue....Ideally each of these should have
landed in a car bin inside the car. I have seen
So many boys and girls from my fraternity (I am referring to
journalists, yes auto journalists!) throw stuff out of the cars they test
drive. On long drives and rides organised by car and bike companies I have seen
male journalists stopping by the side of the road to urinate. To my dismay I
have also seen expat staff accompanying these journalists also opening their flies
and standing next to trees. If we do not care about our own country why should
they?
I have not seen a single car that goes for a long drive
equipped with a car bin. I have seen trays at the rear seat with packets containing
biscuits, nuts, chips etc. There are cans of Coke and other such stuff. But I
have NEVER seen a car bin in
the car for these jokers to dispose their waste. As journalists we write and
criticise cars and people but seldom hold ourselves responsible for our own
flaws. I simply want to remind my
readers and all those who care to read this blog that we have a great Prime
Minister in Narendra Modi. No, I am not a BJP person at all. I have never met
Modi. But I have heard him on television and I am inspired by him. India has
got a great Prime Minister after a long, long time. Listen to him and try to
help him build this beautiful country of ours. As for Anshul Rajvanshi, look
out for his products in the market. Buy them and keep them in your cars. Keep
your roads clean. For God’s sake do something good before you all die!