Minefields in Sri Lanka

Walking on roads and pavements in Sri Lanka, especially Colombo, specifically (for me) Maradana, is similar to walking on a minefield. I have never walked on a land hiding mines that would tear my body apart when stepped on. I’ve been lucky (for now). But minefields seem a little less hazardous than our roads and pavements, if movies portray minefields as they really are. In movies, you’ll see how if you walk into a minefield, retracing your steps could get you back to safe land in one piece. However, retracing your steps on roads and pavements won’t work because by then, there would already be spit, shit, cigarette butts or garbage where there was none before.

Question: why do you think the roads and pavements are garbage dumps?

Thanks to the presidential election that is just a few weeks away, everyone is talking about the faults of politicians and accusing them of crime and corruption. We talk as if we are saints. And yet, how many of us feel no guilt or shame when throwing paper, wrappers, food and various other things not into a garbage bin but on to the roads and pavements?

I’ve seen adults telling their kids to throw whatever garbage out of the vehicle window. What kind of an example are parents setting? Travel in a bus, and you’ll see people throwing the skin of peanuts or rata cadju on the floor of the bus or out of the window. Toffee wrappers, paper and bus tickets litter the bus floors and the roads. People throw cigarette butts on the road.

Garbage, recycle what you can and burn the rest. Or wait for the garbage truck, and if these don’t function well in your area, take your garbage to the public bins that are honestly not hard to find. Do not dump them at the sides of roads, empty lands or other people’s gardens. While the country is much cleaner than it used to be, it’s shocking that people still don’t know what to do with the garbage that is a result of their lifestyle and way of living.

Now to something that I find more disgusting than spoilt food, polythene and paper that litter the roads.

There was a time when our kind were covered in fur, and found the discovery of fire to be the most important discovery in the world. Since then, we have gone from living in caves, to huts to mansions. We have gone from walking around naked, to wearing edible clothes or those that are as expensive as a palace. Most of us use mobile phones and are connected to each other online. We would think these developments in technology are an indication of our own progression. However, sadly, while we know how to drive, text, go up and down elevators, we still don’t seem to be able to stop ourselves from spitting on the road.

People are disgusting. We believe animals lack intelligence because they shit everywhere. We laugh at certain communities for shitting in public. And yet, we can’t even hold our spit in, we can’t spit our phlegm into a drain or go to a washroom. There are all these organizations protesting against tobacco usage and alcohol consumption. But can we forget smoking in public and focus on something that is even more disgusting? Having to dodge blobs of spit, phlegm and betel juice is terrible and not something you can always successfully do.

So people, please grow up and be considerate. There is no use in a government spending millions to beautify a city or country, if the citizens can’t maintain it. Stop treating roads and pavements as garbage dumps and toilets. Be responsible. Be considerate.