India: Accomodate the Automysophobics and Amathophobics

Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. 

I wanted to call him and slap him around. But then he is not to be blamed. The whole nation has done it so far and doing it. Although, after what has been announced, it could have been avoided. I was walking towards a bus stand and the two minute walk made me think about "Clean India movement" very seriously. A man in front of me, who was walking, stopped for a moment, spitted in the middle of the pedestrian area and resumed his walking. My attention turned to the ground so as not to step on the crap that he has created. I was taken aback, when I noticed that the 200m of distance, which I had to walk till I reached the bus stand, was covered with a lot more of those spitting. It is not that we have not experienced this before. So far we have been doing this, but we need to realize our mistakes at least after somebody has started pointing at it. Is it not a shame, that the government has to tell us to keep our cities clean? Keeping every place clean is the duty of every citizen of this country. Even if we cannot clean it, at least we should have the basic courtesy of not making it dirty. What if somebody is getting a disease because of this? How do we know that it is not happening? 

India would become more than half clean, if we can make people stop spitting around like this.

I was thinking about this for a while when I wondered, maybe there is a lot of mistake on my part too. I should have questioned the act in the first place. I thought, probably, I am the problem. I just did not commit myself to keeping my city clean. If I had questioned the act, at least the next time he does something like that, he would think twice before doing it.

While I was deeply cursing myself about this, I was reminded of the ad campaign of Clean India. In the ad, for every act of dirtying, embarrassment will be gifted to the person by the people around in the form of sarcasm. It would make them realize his/her mistake then and there. I thought we can also create a campaign of this sort, in our city. A group of 10-12 friends can spread around in a place. Once an act of dirtying has been spotted, everybody can start clapping hands and come closer towards the person responsible for the act. This would be a decent way of telling that it is bad to do such an act. The next time he will think about this and refrain from doing. 

Recently, we all would have read about Ebola. The spread of the disease has affected many people already. There has been a stringent protocol set by doctors to curb the spreading. We can also avoid the spreading once we follow this standard protocol. However, the real complexity of the situation lies in finding out who has got the disease. Our health ministry has taken the efforts to seal the disease at the entrance itself by having special security checks for people coming from the epicenter countries. But let's say, in spite of the checks, we give a green card to an ebola patient in the country. The question is can India stop it from spreading, with still 600 million people defecating in the open? Are we not going to breed the disease ourselves by having a situation like this? We are not going to be surviving now without having proper sanitation. There is a tremendous urgency that we need to show to improve our sanitation. It just would be out of our hands, even before we realize that the disease is spreading. It is high time we act towards this by having proper infrastructure. 

The point here is sanitation, personal hygiene and a clean city are the basic requirements of any society. If we work together as a team, we can make it happen. After all, the government has given an opportunity for the people to change. We have this Metathesiophobia (Fear of changes) that we need to come out of. Once we accept to change, the change will start becoming evident. 

I recently read in a website, that Asia's cleanest village is in India. It is Mawlynnong village, Meghalaya. It is known as "God's own Garden." See we are already there. We can take this village up as our benchmark and change our cities. We can adopt their practices with open mind.

God's own Garden. Learn from the God village. 

A photo of an area of the village

I got out from the bus still thinking about these and in the process of thinking, I forgot to get the change back from the bus conductor. Lost Rs.12 in envisioning a Clean India. I wish India becomes Clean just for my loss. :P

By the way, Automysophobia is the Fear of being dirty and Amathophobia is the Fear of dust.

Let's make the whole country clean for the Automysophobics and the Amathophobics. Let's make it dust free.

-SATZ 

The Acid Test

On October 5th this year, I had a fire accident in my house. I've told the story to many people. Anyway, I will tell the story again. The accident would have been avoided. I'm 100% sure that at the end of this story everybody will ask me the same question. A very easy way to have avoided the accident. Let me tell the story first.

At around 3pm on Sunday, October 5th this year, my mom had kept oil on the gas stove. She forgot that she kept it closed and went to take the clothes from the clothesline at the backyard. When she came back it got overheated. As soon as she got the lid open, the oil got fire. I was nearby and I saw the fire raise up to a 1 feet level. I saw the cylinder underneath the pan and panic struck me. Immediately, all that I wanted to do is take the oil pan as far away as possible from the cylinder. Here is where the problem started. I yanked the pan out of the stove to take it to a distance. As soon as I did that, the fire became huge and came till my face. I was forced to close my eyes. I didn't even realize that the fire burnt my hair. As soon as my eyes closed, I lost control of what was in my hands. Hot oil. One part of the oil fell on my right forefinger and thumb. I put the pan down and started to run. I fell on the oil that already lay on floor. I managed to get up but my right palm was literally burning. I kept my right palm in running water. I saw the skin on the right forefinger change colour. Burning sensation was at its extreme. My mom was crying. I was consoling her that nothing happened. I started to get worried about whether the regulator was switched off or not. I told the others to check whether there was still fire or everything was ok. I was immediately rushed to hospital, thanks to the neighbors. The burning was still on. They gave me a sedative but the pain overcame it and I was not able to get sleep. They gave me pain killer. It had no effect. The burning was like 20 needles pricking your right palm. I had oil poured on to my legs but there was no pain because I was not able to bear the pain on my right palm. After sometime, my right palm became almost 1.5 times the normal palm. The doctor consoled me that the burning had not gone till the nerves and the bones. They gave me one more pain killer but I did not get any sleep because of the pain. Everything happened in seconds and was not able to control anything that happened. 

Now, you will certainly have a question for me. "Why didn't you switch of the stove and the flame would have subsided because of the lack of heat?" I've answered many people that I did not get the thought at that moment. The chemicals to the brain got locked and all I had in mind was the image of the 1 feet height fire and the cylinder beneath it. But yeah, that would have been the simpler solution. 

I had to undergo an operation and I tell you they gave me local anesthesia during the operation but it did not have effect until they gave me another strong sedative. The doctor was cutting my old skin near my fingers and the pain was just unimaginable. I learnt the real meaning of the word EXCRUCIATING. My palm was operated and covered with a sheet called colagen on the affected areas. The next 25 days were painful indeed. Now it is getting cured but my forefinger and thumb doesn't seem like it will get back to the normal state. It is going to take at least 1 month more from now if it is to get cured. 

Yesterday, I was changing TV channels and I came to a stop when I saw Satyamev Jayate.  The topic Aamir was discussing was on Acid attacks on women. There was a lady called Laxmi who was a victim of acid attack and she was being interviewed. She told what happened to her and this was her story.

It happened when she was studying in 7th standard. A boy was following her for a very long time, even though she told him that she had no interest in him. The boy kept on messaging her for 10-12 months. Suddenly, one day he had sent her rude messages. The girl clearly told him again that she did not like him. 

One day when she was walking on the road, a girl and a boy were following her.  The boy came to her and told her "If you don't like me, neither do I." The boy had some bottle in his hand and he poured the contents on to Laxmi's face. Laxmi did not realize that it was acid. She fell unconscious and had nobody to help her. When she woke up she felt her face was heavy and she didn't know what to do next. She was hit by two cars and she was literally pleading those car drivers to help her but nobody came forward. Finally she was taken to the hospital and 19 buckets of water were poured on her. She saw the skin of her hand melt in front of her eyes. She expressed that after so many operations she did not have her face back. The boy was arrested for his crime but he was left after the punishment. Laxmi told Aamir that the convicted man got married after coming out of jail.

Now, after I heard this it was a shock. Firstly, I can understand what she had to go through, as I have felt what burning can do to you. When burning itself is like that, think about acid attacks? Secondly, how can the parents of the other girl's family give their daughter to such a man. Do they even think?

Laxmi expressed that even in court, the convicted man and his wife saw her as though she had committed the crime. What in the earth have they got to feel very good about the act?  Why did the boy do such an act in the first place? What joy did he get in giving the girl what she had gone through? It was indeed a very cowardly act. 

He did not have to go through the pain for doing the crime but the victim had to suffer the unbearable. What law do we have to compensate what the girl suffered? Why is there an imbalance in a society of the 21st century? What do we teach the boys about the girls in school? What do the parents teach the boys? 

Above all, the will of the girl to survive is what is keeping her alive today. If she had thought about her face she could have committed suicide. She on the other hand is fighting against acid attacks on women in an organisation called Save our Life. I take a lot of confidence from her to live my life. We need to do a serious search for safety in this country. What happened to Laxmi can happen to any of you or your relations tomorrow for such filthy reasons. I can only wish that one day the men of our country give the due respect that a woman of our country deserves.

Until then, Women, Beware of the Acid Test.

-SATZ