Tamil Nadu has so much to be proud of. A civilization of antiquity that is still alive and vibrant. A fascinating history, amazing culture, unique cuisine, ancient and articulate language, fantastic temples, beautiful landscapes - it has so much to be admired.
The people are cultured and proud of their country and state. Tamil pride is well known. We are also fiercely proud of being Indian.
What is puzzling is that we as a people have such profound lack of civic sense.In most parts of the world, the cleanliness of public spaces is considered an essential element of civilization. Even in India, the Indus Valley Civilization, the oldest evidence of urban civilization here, is renowned for the importance given to sanitation.
How the modern Indian nation state ended up being one of the most unclean countries in the world is indeed very surprising. Indians in general, as a civilized people, give great importance to the cleanliness of themselves and their immediate surroundings, but exhibit a callous disregard for the cleanliness of public spaces. We litter everywhere, spit everywhere, urinate against public walls and practice open defecation. We seem incapable of keeping public washrooms clean even in modern airports. This attribute is a unifying feature and is common to all Indians, the Tamilians being no exception.
Tamil and Indian nationalists who spend so much time extolling the greatness of their past, pay scant attention to the unclean state of their streets and open spaces. Strangely they are quite immune to the ridicule with which the rest of the world views their country.
The reasons for this apathy is hard to fathom. Is it poverty? Tamil Nadu is one of the more prosperous states in India and poorer societies in the world have managed to maintain cleaner cities and villages. Is it lack of education? Again Tamil Nadu is one of the more literate states. It has to be cultural. The society just does not value cleanliness. It is not part of the culture.
If society really desires it, it can be achieved in a democratic state as elected officials have to respond to the voters needs in the end, no matter how corrupt and dysfunctional they are. It is too easy to blame poor governance. Poor governance in a democracy reflects ineffectual and impotent citizens.
But change we must. Tamil Nadu and India have to change and change very fast. Enough being the laughing stock of the world. And change we can. There are plenty of success stories when you look hard enough. These have to nurtured, grown and spread.
Individual citizens have to change their ways. Awareness has to be increased at every level. No society will ever have enough resources to police and penalize when the majority err. Change has to begin from the individual level. Education is key. Every form of media, social and traditional has to be leveraged to spread awareness.
As individuals buy in, they in turn will convince their immediate social networks such as families, relatives, friends, neighbours, employees, colleagues, fellow workers, students, patients etc. The message will spread in concentric circles, like waves emanating from a stone dropped in water. Individuals and small groups will act as catalysts of change.
As the awareness spreads the change will take hold in smaller social units such as streets, apartment complexes, residential neighbourhoods, workplaces, offices, schools, health care institutions, malls,places of worship, small villages, hamlets etc., and the concentric circles of change will merge. Larger units of change such as towns, cities and regions will follow.
As the culture changes, the percentage of the population that values clean public spaces will increase and reach a critical mass.
When the critical mass is achieved society will reach a tipping point and further change will be quite rapid and dramatic.The critical mass need not be the majority, but soon after the critical mass is achieved, the majority will change. Society in general will acquire a collective consciousness about general cleanliness that will be hard to reverse. We would have crossed the Rubicon and achieved a point of no return which will transform society. Then, the minority who will not change, the isolated pockets, can be identified, prosecuted, penalized and punished.
The path to the tipping point will be hard and uphill. Dedicated individuals will have to work hard, with conviction and persistence. Once it is reached, the path becomes downhill and easy.
The revolution would be complete.
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