Of squalor and living

The following is the content i sent to 2 newspapers for their letter to the Editor column. It did not get published, but nevertheless was worth the try to air my views.

Sir, As a Post-graduate student, born and brought up in the city of Bangalore, it really saddens me to the plight at which, the supposedly called ‘City of Gardens’ is leaving its inhabitants reeling in a cloud of dust, stink and garbage. Most of which are seen on a daily basis on the way from and to college. I have been seeing a line of mini garbage collection vans filled up clumsily and left unattended, raising a stink on the road just before S.G.I.T & O Centre behind Nimhans in Byrasandra. What’s amazing and appalling at the same time is that even though the whole road reeks of the decomposing material, there are vendors still selling their wares and food items on that stretch, with no other option for survival.

Though we pride ourselves as the ‘City of Start-up’s’, it’s really high time that the citizens as well as authorities buck up and clean up after ourselves, cause let’s face it – we are so used to seeing this daily squalor that we have accepted it as a part and parcel of our daily lives. This has to change, not just for good will, but for our own sakes, because frankly we become the reason for our own existential problems and have to be mature enough to own up to the blame instead of passing the buck on to others.

Meghana Ravichandran