LET’S begin with a confession. At some point, we’ve all done it — flung a toffee wrapper out of a car window, left a chai cup under a bench or pretended that the banana peel we dropped near a wall has now merged with the footpath forever. We’ve all whispered to ourselves, “Chalta hai. It’s not my problem.” But here’s the truth: It is our problem. Every gutkha packet we flick, every chips wrapper we abandon, every paan stain we leave behind is part of a collective betrayal. Not just of our environment, but of our dignity. We Indians are clean people. Obsessively so — at home. Our living rooms are temples of hygiene. Remote controls wear plastic jackets, and chappals are abandoned at the threshold like sinners at a temple door. But the moment we step outside, its amnesia.

 

Welcome to Public Space Amnesia — a curious condition where roads, parks, stations and monuments become someone else’s headache. But the street outside your home is not anyone’s home. It is your home, extended. And how we treat that public space reflects who we truly are. If there were Olympic medals for justifying litter, we’d sweep the podium. “No dustbin, yaar!” (So? You carried the snack 2 km; surely you can carry the wrapper 200m!) “What difference does one wrapper make?” (Ask the rats, the cows, the clogged drains, and your children.) “Everyone does it. Why should I be Gandhi?” (Because the country needs more doers, not excuse-makers.) Excuses are comfortable. Responsibility is uncomfortable. But progress never came from comfort. There is a dangerous National Habit of ‘Chalta Hai’. It is, perhaps, India’s most toxic comfort phrase. But this dangerous indifference isn’t harmless. It breeds apathy. It kills accountability. It normalises filth and desensitises our collective conscience. Let’s be clear, no nation became great on the back of ‘chalta hai’.

 

We don’t need more shrugging shoulders. We need more bending backs — people willing to pick up a wrapper instead of pointing fingers. We often ask, “How can I alone change anything?” Here’s how: 1. Pocket Your Trash: Carry a paper bag or ziplock pouch for litter. Bin it later. 2. Adopt Your 10 Metres: Wherever you are, treat 10 meters around you as your responsibility. 3. Pick Up One Wrapper a Day: Be One-Wrapper Warrior because small acts ripple. 4. Use Humour to Nudge Others: Let’s stop pretending the Government will magically clean up every street while we toss wrappers like rice at a wedding.

 

Yes, systems need improvement. Yes, municipal authorities must act. But transformation begins with one act — Yours. India doesn’t need more cleaners. It needs fewer litterers. It doesn’t need more people screaming “Yeh desh nahi sudhrega.” It needs people quietly bending down and saying, “Let me start.” The patriotism test isn’t just on August 15. Real patriotism doesn’t wear a flag on its chest once a year. It carries a wrapper in its pocket until it finds a dustbin. It doesn’t look away from trash, it picks it up. So the next time you’re tempted to say, “It’s not my problem,” pause. Look around. Take a breath. And say to yourself, “It is now.” (The author is Founder of “Everyone 100 metres Every Sunday” initiative.)