I had a piece of paper protecting my
laptop screen from keyboard marks. It fell on the street and got
dirty. So, yesterday Abha and I went to a dress maker to get a
fabric replacement in the shape of a pillow case that exactly fit the
screen part. When I close it, a piece of cotton replaces the
original cloth and it is fancy too boot. It cost 3 dollars (150 RS)
for the cloth, a square meter of cotton. And 6 dollars (300) to make
6 screen shields, or laptop hats, as they could be described. Abha
facilitated this transaction for me.
Walking with Abha (and I think she is
typical of people from this area) is down right dangerous. I tried
to keep up and at first stayed between her and traffic. I could feel
the wind from the cars passing me (fast) and if I scratched my head,
I'm sure I would have lost the elbow sticking out. To cross, she did
it half at a time, waiting in the middle for her chance. I waited my
turn to cross in the least dangerous way.
When I could keep up and carry on a
conversation, I asked her about how the garbage worked in New Delhi.
I asked because we were walking by a horribly smelly garbage way
station, a concrete area with 1 meter high walls on 3 sides, like
stalls at a home center containing mulch or gravel. She said the
people picking through the garbage sorted it into classes like paper,
glass, plastic, compost, etc. I asked if it was their job, and she
said yes. I asked if they got paid to do it and she said they get to
sell the garbage, then looked at me like: you don't get to sell it
and get paid too, silly man.
To get to this way station, trash needs
to be collected. This is another group of people, starting with
sweepers.
Public trash cans are few and far between.
Drop whatever, wherever you are. This creates a boon for the guild
of sweepers if such a guild exists. Another fact that makes
sweepers necessary is that New Delhi is dusty. Sweepers manage the
dust and trash. First you have to have a broom that looks like a
sheave of wheat, whose handle bound at the stocky side with tape.
You bend over and sweep things away with it.
The inside sweepers
follow the sweep with a squeegee covered with a wet rag. This
happens everywhere inside, in the metro, in the public areas of a
building, in the offices, front sidewalks and in our hospital room. Sweep, squeegee,
dry. This cycle happens every 15 to 30 minutes in public areas.
Over and over the sweepers work trying unsuccessfully to keep it all
spic and span. People are always bringing in fresh dust and it is
evident 5 minutes after a cleaning.
The inside trash is frequently swept
outside. Not here in the hospital, but in the small shops, outside
vendors, etc, etc. That's when the outside sweeper takes over. They
sweep stuff anywhere outside their turf. If onto the street, then it
passes onto the street sweeper. But it is just as likely to land in
front of the shop next door. Their sweeper either sends it back or
moves it along. Eventually it piles up, usually close to the curb.
Inside and outside sweepers look like they are paid – many are
uniformed and take their task seriously. I can't tell who pays the
ones collecting the piles near the curb in 2 wheeled carts using 2
pieces of cardboard for whisk broom and dustpan - a generally random looking group of people. Maybe the way
station sorters buy it from them.
Thus there is little need for
public trash cans. Drop your stuff on the ground and it disappears.
So much so that everybody takes it for granted – trash just
disappears. In fact I'm not sure it was worth your time to read this
when every other person in Delhi doesn't give it a second thought
except when stuck too close to the malodorous way station.
No comments:
Post a Comment