Monday, March 5, 2007

Garbage out of a car window!

On my way back home today, was trailing a shiny new Innova with white shirt-dhoti types inside - near the Aiyappa Temple just before Agara Juntcion. Looked pretty decent until one of them rolled down the window and smack...flew a banana peel outside splat on the road. How I really wished I could tell them something. Not angrily of course, since that beats the purpose and is bound to get into a 'who-are-you-to-tell-me-that?' loop.

Was wondering if we can come up with a more subtle but effective way to tell such folks the kind of nuisance they are causing. How about a simple placard (to be kept handy) and fit it to the window as you try and drive adjacent/ past these folks?

Would that distract you from driving? Is that manageable? We could look at having a simple sentence, "Please do not throw garbage on the road out of your car. PLEASE!" fixed on the back of the sun-control vinyl boards with that suction pads...those things that you get in traffic signals. So, when you see someone treating Bangalore roads like a dustbin, just pick up this thing and stick to your driver-side window till you pass these blokes. How does that sound?

Given some feedback/ momentum, I can try and get a vendor to brand these messages and give it out as a gift to random people.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Improving traffic conditions would be a good example of modernising v/s westernising.

I wish we would prioritize copying traffic order from developed countries over copying consumerism and greed :)

Consumerism and Greed are great too and I love indulging in them, just that they are lower in priority than a stress free commute.

manuscrypts said...

uhuh, dont think gandhigiri would be a good model here... a banana peel on the innova windscreen has a better chance... my point is, if i am concerned about littering, i wouldnt wait for someone to tell me to stop doing it.. it doesnt take a 140+ IQ to know that littering is bad...

Karthik S said...

manuscrypts:
The problem is people take it for granted even obvious things like not throwing litter out of the cars on the road, or crossing a road divider to overtake etc.

The point of the blog is to do something different/ dramatic to make sure they get the message. Its a different thing that such off-beat ideas may not help in changing the city - but consider your effort worth it even if one is ashamed/ embarrassed.