The Swachch Bharat Campaign, the Clean India campaign that I work with NDTV, is in its 5th year and we went to a prominent Govt Hospital, Cooper Hospital just within the region we live in in Juhu, to broadcast this event where we take up a location that has done interesting and laudable work towards this effort, and then review and have panel discussions ..
I initiated or rather coined an idea in one of my earlier campaign meets, that if each one us were to clean up 10 yards around the area we lived in, the city would be a better place to live in. That then became a tag line #Mere10Guz .. my 10 yards .. ‘mere’ is my, ‘guz’ is yard ..
In this meet I have suggested among the many other issues discussed – namely pollution and hygiene – that each one of us if we were to do just one act of cleaning up the environment , it would make a difference ; to make it a habit, just like brushing your teeth each morning ..
AND .. the other .. we all seem to have a habit of voicing that oft repeated sentence ..’its not my job’
I have suggested that we change this voice to ..’it IS my job’
And another .. that the worker, the term created for them during this campaign – SWACHCHAGRAHI .. they that work in all the cleaning up work, are the real heroes of the country .. they do all the menial work and they need to be honoured, decorated and lauded .. they are the true beneficiaries of any recognition that needs to be given towards the success of this programme ..
I voiced the same sentiment during the celebration of the India Free from Polio .. we worked hard for 8 years before we could achieve a Polio Free India, and when the Govt decided to celebrate the event in Delhi, with the Minister and dignitaries from the UN and the WHO, I told them that the only invitees in the audience should be the ‘workers’ that have laboured through very trying conditions, travelling through difficult terrain to go to each village individual to deliver those 2 drops of the vaccine to the children ..
The authorities listened to me and we got 2000 workers in the Stadium and they were complimented and honoured .. it was such a wonderful moment for them .. the worker works the hardest and is never recognised or given any credit .. they are the ones that make the campaign possible and successful .. they deserve all the laurels , not US .. we are just a face and a voice .. that is all .. but the worker is the REAL face and voice of this campaign ..
.. and then during the campaign discussions we have a surprise for me .. a bright student form my Alma Mater, Sherwood, who is a dynamic poet at this very young age .. he walks in and delivers poem after poem
, for the cause and the country .. so emotional and so inspiring and so wondrous .. so proud of him .. made me feel so good that I came from the same institution form where this lad studied .. I shall be putting up his rendition soon
with the renowned anchor and tele journalist Vikram Chandra, his Father an eminent bureaucrat, and I were together in Delhi University, and his Grand Father, a most eminent civil services personality, and at a time Governor of the State of Karnataka, a dear contemporary of my Father .. the world is truly small .. but never too small enough for that ‘selfie’ moment .. a MUST at every event !!
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