It was a bright and sunny Thaipusam day. You’re out and about with your best pals, checking out the ongoing celebrations. The procession of colorfully decorated Kavadis and devotees carrying milk pots was a scene not to be missed. From young children to elderly people, everyone was there. Music from the instruments played by a group of young Indian men beats the blaring speakers of a stall selling Tamil music CDs. People began to gather around the group, enjoying the music, some even dancing. You’ve been walking for a while now and the hot weather was really getting to you. Beads of sweat roll down your back while you literally push yourself through the crowd to keep up with your friends. You stop beside a stall selling vadai and scan the street for a source to quench your ever increasing thirst. A female voice calls out to you,
“Vadai venumma pa? (Do you want some vadai?”).
You turn and smile tiredly while shaking your head at the middle aged woman who was flipping delicious looking, almost golden vadais in a wok full of scorching hot oil. The heat from the wok was making you sweat even more. Suddenly an elbow jabs sharply into your left ribs causing you to almost bump into the hot wok. You turn and swear at your friend for jabbing you, who in return grins at you while pointing at a stall nearby. Finally! A stall selling ice cold drinks! You half walk and half run to stall, almost tripping over a plastic water bottle in the process.
Despite the crowd at the stall, you manage to grab a can of Coke, pay the guy at the counter and squeeze yourself out from the crowd back to your friends. You pop the can open, take a few big gulps continuously, pause shortly with an “Aaaahhh…” and continue gulping down more.
One of your friends immediately grabs the can saying
“Wey, give me some lah!”
You take a few more gulps and give the can up with a satisfied grin. Your friends take turns to drink and the can comes back to you empty. You protest.
“Oi, empty ready lah! Why give back to me?! Idiot…”
Playfully you throw the empty can at the friend nearest to you. He ducks reflexively and the can misses his shoulders by just a few inches. It falls onto the road, bounces noisily a few times and rolls off to the curb. He laughs at you and says
“Just miss la bang…”
Another friend says “Eh come la, let’s keep moving. More stalls ahead.”
You continue walking with your friends.
The above is a very common scene. There are many others alike, only with a different story line. The endings is always the same; reckless littering. It doesn’t matter if it’s done with conscious or not. What matters is the aftermath of it. I should have taken a picture of what I saw on Sunday morning at Jalan Raja Musa Aziz (the road in front of DR Park). It was horrible. Rubbish was strewn across the entire road. Even the plants on the road dividers doubled as rubbish ‘hot spots’ or ‘dustbins’.
Yes, we have Majlis Bandaraya to clean them up. In fact, there were already a few of the workers around starting the cleaning works when I drove past. But why? Why dirty something first and then clean it when you can opt to just keep it clean in the first place. I was in Batu Caves the night before and it was no different there. Newspapers, plastic bags, cans, bottles and god knows what else were thrown everywhere. Wasn’t there enough dustbins provided? Or is it because the people just don’t care? Not aware?
We Malaysians have the world famous Twin Towers, we have commuters, we have big cities like KL and Penang, we have so many ‘high-techness’ in our country. But what’s the point of having all that when we are lacking the basics? When we’re lacking the cores of living? Does being clean only apply to the boundaries of our homes?
I’m not picking on Indians or Thaipusam. It could be Hari Raya or CNY Open House. It could be Merdeka Day celebration or your school’s Sport’s Day. Your company’s Family Day. It also could be a vacation with your family or something as simple as a trip to the mamak stall nearby. Does the rules of being clean changes the moment we step out of the house?
Does the word public mean - it’s not mine, I can use it, but I don’t have to care about it? You don’t have to sweep the streets to show that you care. Just don’t litter. You don’t have to carry a ‘berus jamban’ or Toilet Duck with you and wash every public toilet you use. A simple flush would do. These are the small big things that really matters. It makes a significant difference.
I know I contribute towards making that difference. Do you?
