Symbolic Act

The much-touted Cleanliness Drive initiated by Srichand Arora (ref post of October 7) proved literally a washout. The entire Garden, including the walkways, had already been swept and scrubbed clean in our absence with no trace of any litter anywhere. The early morning dew on the neatly cropped grass glistened in the mellow sunshine, the red and white flowers on the hedges smiled and as Jagmohan Papneja pointed out, even the China Hut had been given a fresh coat of paint. Never before had the Garden looked so beautiful.
Clearly, there was nothing left for us to sweep. And in any case, no brooms were brought, much to Monthi Serrao’s relief. As our treasurer, she had been dreading the prospect of dipping into the Club’s finances just to purchase brooms. Still, for effect, she made an issue of nobody carrying any broom. “Where are the jhaadus?” she demanded. “Why don’t I see you people carrying jhaadus today?”
Arora however, was determined to set an example on cleanliness and went around the Garden, carefully picking up pieces of scrap with his bare hands – forgotten plastic, food wrappers and dry leaves that had accumulated overnight. There was of course, not much to collect, but this was viewed as a symbolic act and the message went out loud and clear: Keep your surroundings clean.
No wonder this man commands such a huge fan following and is held in high regard by one and all.
Harish Wadhwa:
Arora-ji was simply searching for his lost mobile in the bushes and not cleaning up!!! LOL