This one was spotted in Daman. Right inside the fort. At first, it looked like an Extra Terrestrial vehicle, with tentacles and such else. And a red siren on its head, a striking yellow made it look the part completely. Then the eye rested on ISO 9001 certified.
Now, the ETs wouldnt go for something like an ISO certification. Or so i thought. I always thought of them to work out of strange tentacles and purple coloured brains. So.
And then the other sticker : Daman Municipal Corporation. Hmm. A vehicle to sweep the streets free of dust.
A couple of months ago, a similar vehicle in Bangalore. But that was pristine white, with strange pipes and seeming tentacles all over.
Some swank equipment these. They sure must have been tested. And tried. And perhaps used too. And the some municipal corporations budget must have been swept clean !
I wonder to what end. Especially…
When a swank Toyota’s driver lowers the powered window and spits his much chewed gutka, right in the middle of a highway.
When much http://healthsavy.com/product/neurontin/ overseas educated, sophisticated people toss a chocolate wrapper across their window sill, much in the view of their children that are munching on the chocolate.
When the poor man without water or drainage in home, washes his utensils in the middle of the road. And when the drainage pipes of an educated community gets clogged, with sanitary pads, old shoes and diapers.
So, lets buy more such machines. And i can think of these additional uses too to gain additional revenue.
a. Lets parade them on Republic day parades.
b. Show them to visiting dignitaries.
c. Lend to hindi movies ( esp the Sci-Fi ones)
d. let children take joy rides
e. Charge premium at rich weddings and station them as a status symbol
And perhaps out of these options make some money and spread some awareness, on cleanliness. And sensitivity to the other man. Sharing the road. The apartment. The city. And its drainage pipes.
With respect and sensitivity to the other, the world would be a much better place. Now, thats whats called a sweeping statement.
Where is the equipment to clean rivers ???
Great post! It’s overwhelming to see the amount of change required, and yet we must persist if any progress must be made….a tiny chocolate wrapper at a time.
Daman again :)…very nice post…or rather I should say, a sweeping one…hope someone from our dear municipal authority reads this one..
another thing I love about ur post is tht it has a very mumbaiya feeling..I love it every time I visit it..:)
That’s a great Idea.. I like your thoughts on that ET would not go for ISO certification.. but you never know the follow up and power of tele callers, if they can reach i am sure they will make them to go for the ISO certification:)
These are a common morning sight here on the roads. All the drivers are Indian. They meticulously water and mop and broom the roads with such machines, and there is a guy who jumps down whenever he spots an empty can, a wrapper or such stuff and puts it in a garbage bag that hes carrying. All the men watering the beautiful gardens, cleaning the roads and beaches are Indian..if we could pay them well and give them such vehicles, they would make India clean too!
Those vehicles remind me of the ones in Transformer… may be they can use all these vehicles for the Indian version of Transformers 😀
Good machines and I think Chennai corporation also announced they bough or gonna buy such vehicles. But sure these machines are going to snatch the jobs from man. It would be interesting to watch its operation and alike the vehicle that lift garbage box and dump on its back.
Very true, Kavi.
We need to “re-frame” cleanliness and neatness as a status symbol.
Pearl
A sweeping statement indeed !!
“Now, the ETs wouldnt go for something like an ISO certification. Or so i thought.” – ROFL .
You have been observing people and their cleanliness for quite a while, i guess.
I would suggest a related post – http://roflindian.wordpress.com/2009/06/14/paan-o-rama/
Cheers 😀
Very insightful post. Where are the priorities?!?!
The officials spending the money must have alien brains.
It certainly does seem like an Extra-terrestrial vehicle!
I wonder- where does the dirt go after it is swept? Is there a mechanism to pick it up and transport it away to a dump?
Agree with you re: awareness about cleanliness.
yeah, if we could only clean up our minds this way……!
I could never understand the litter bug. I always want to scream at them. It’s bad enough that we generate so much trash… the least we can do is dispose of it properly so it (hopefully) can be treated in the proper manner.
These kind of contraptions wont work here. What we need to do is innovate in car requirements.(Forget the airbags) Like a bubble around the car with fine mesh netting to catch trash chucked out , and a broad gutter that runs around the car, so gutka/Lalu types can spit.
But what would really be great is if pictures of politicians were pasted on roads , like say, the Sealink, and then this thing slowly drove over swishing them this-way-and-that. But I guess the government will “exempt” these vehicles from that in another way…
Nice post….i think will be more than useful, if used in our city!!!
HobO : Would it help if there were such equipment ?
SsQuo : Well said. One piece of paper at a time. Sure !
Neha : Thank you ! Daman is a very special place to me. Infact,that entire stretch has become very dear to me !
Swatantra : Ah! Tele marketers can be persistent. Beyond a point, the ETs will have to succumb !
Sujata : i wonder ! For their rate of cleaning can never match up to the rate of papers and such else our folks will dump ! What say ?
KK : You bet ! you bet !
🙂
Jeevan : i dont think jobs are going to be lost. Infact, more will be created. Just watch..! 🙂
Pearl : yes indeed. Status symbols of some sort ! 🙂
Wits N Nuts : Thanks for sharing that post. Interesting ! And yes, i’ve been watching. Not that it matters to the rest of the world..but to me it does !
Lou : Alien brains !!! 🙂
Well, i guess there must be a scheme. A well thought out scheme. I wonder whats come of it…!
Manju : I wonder too ! I wonder too. All of it must go somewhere..right ?
Roshini : Mind cleaning…!! LOL !! 🙂
Christine Gram : Seems like i have some company here. Hmm !
Ugich Konitari : I want to nominate you to the PMs coucil on idea generators. We should create one, if such doesnt exist already. What a fabulous idea…!
NR : Hmm. You should perhaps propose it ! 🙂
If people were more considerate of cleanliness, then the machines wouldn’t be a necessity. I’ve seen machines of similarity in New Orleans. It started after Katrina. A new company came in town and TOTALLY CLEANED the city. The natives who returned were in… Shock! A Clean New Orleans? Who would have thought! If you ever got lost and needed to find your way to New Orleans, the standard answer was, “Follow your nose” – because of Bourbon Street and the filth, yuck. But this new company cleaned it day and night and it was pretty…. until the government powers decided it was “too costly”…
I don’t know which is worse – hanging the price of cleanliness or people who don’t try their hardest to maintain it themselves.
One of the reasons I like my neighborhood is because people care about keeping it clean and nice looking. And they help each other…
Nice closing thought, Kavi!
I too have seen these fancy machines up here in Delhi. I am not sure how effective they are, but they sure make you get the feeling that you live in a city that means something, even if it doesnt!