There is something about a hill vacation, traveling across narrow winding roads upwards, landscape dotted with lush green terrain tantalising water streams, foggy foothills, chirping birds and the buzzing sound of insects and clean air. But now contrast this with Insightly scenes of rubbish by the roadside – Styrofoam, plastic wrappers, bags and bottles and more. The garbage keeps growing competing with the hills and becomes a monstrous man- made objects that speak volumes about our use – and- throw culture and our complete lack of consideration for the environment. Just a few showers have exposed the filthy garbage littered around in Kodagu. It is heartening to see organisations such as CLEAN COORG INITIATIVE (CCI) which is a voluntary group comprising of locals from all walks of life who have come together with the intention of raising awareness on the need to protect and preserve Kodagu from the peril of modern age – garbage. The team is at the forefront of addressing this menace from many years. Kodagu proudly contributes lowest in population for the state of Karnataka, contributes least in crime rate unfortunately, we don’t top the chart in cleanliness and health though Kodagu has its own cultural, demographic and geographical value to it. It is more distressing to find more plastics than shrubs on our road sides. It doesn’t look like this local authorities/ panchayat are doing much to save our stretch. I wonder what it takes to sensitise Indians about saving their own land. The most effective way to end the garbage menace is by controlling tourism and the mushrooming home stays. The more the home stays the more the garbage. The other problem is the lack of rather the absence of the system of garbage management in our panchayats. Gonikoppa is one of the worst kept towns in Coorg. All the garbage from the town was dumped to the water body called Keere pole. Many of The CCI team who came together in a day long operation which led to about 1.8 tonnes of waste cleared at Keere pole. Many kudos to the workers for working tirelessly under such gruesome conditions. Isn’t this a wakeup call? They do this not out of arrogance, but out of frustration. They Don’t have a problem of our tourists eating, but leaving us with plates and bottles. They team clean because they are outsiders/ tourists. They do it because they dirty our home. They clean and clean and clean without any help from our government. They don’t need money publicly. They just want to keep our home clean. Every citizen in every place in this country needs to stand up to keeping it clean and safe. May we all learn from them. They are effectively driving the message to the people who don’t even know the basics about cleanliness. High time we became more aware of our environment and kept it clean. Everyone wants to enjoy the natural beauty of Kodagu, but it is disappointing to see that people climb 4000 feet to reach the top of Thadiandamole, enjoy the beauty and leave their thrash behind for someone to pick. We have been worshipping nature and we will always be. It our duty to respect nature, and none is stopping us to witness the beauty and enjoy the nature. We dump all the garbage in the locality and wonder why we are sick, we build a toilet on a wetland and wonder why there is filth in our bedroom, we build a structure next to a sensitive cliff and wonder why there is landslide, we encroach a river bed and wonder why there is flash flood, we want to live in an elephant corridor and wonder why there is wildlife in our backyard. This is truly the predictability of our stupidity. Cleaning up River Cauvery by various groups in Kodagu is not a solution. People who pollute the river should be fined heavily and slapped with criminal cases. Time to hit where it matters most. Mother Cauvery is blessed to have the people as her children who work selflessly to protect and keep her clean. If only the people take an oath to protect her, cleanse her and embrace her. Our water bodies will flow cleaner than ever. These types of initiatives to keep the eco system of Kodagu clean without plastic should be supported by all the residents of Kodagu. Unfortunately, a large percentage of Indians are ignorant of civic etiquette. Most disappointing fact is that outsiders with their depressing, monotonous, bored city lives drive to Kodagu with their only source of entertainment which is to drink beer, eat junk and throw bottles all over the place. Dear tourists, you visit this land because it is beautiful, please help us to keep it that way, so you can come again. We can protect this beautiful home of ours. For ourselves and for generations to come. Hats off to the CCI team for their awesome example of hard work, commitment and determination because good deeds done selflessly are a rarity. They are non – communal, non-political in the business and they stand by what they do. The team always stood up for our land, for our home. Nothing in this world is more important than our land that we call home.
Kodandera Mamatha Subbaiah
Well said Mamatha kodandera..