The Great Indian Litterbug

Cleanliness is godliness! Everyone must have heard it innumerable times during their childhood. There are loads of stories revolving around it in the moral science textbooks. This is the thought for the day that is written on the board or read out in the school assembly half of the time. Students who fail to maintain cleanliness in their surroundings are punished. But all these attempts to promote cleanliness go in vain. The moment one leaves school and enters college, all the preachings during school days are forgotten. One turns into a litterbug. They leave no place in their surroundings unlittered. They are allergic to cleanliness. Some find happiness and peace in an environment filled with litter. While some maintain the highest degree of cleanliness in their home, the rest of the world is a garbage bin for them. All that they do to clean their homes is take a broom, play with it and dump the rubbish in the neighbour’s home. Fights follow but the litterbugs don’t change their way.

Let’s take a look at the story of Mr. LitterBug who was sent down to Earth by the satan to do nothing but litter all around and fulfil the purpose of his life. Litterbug was going on a vacation. He would be spending a month or two in the beautiful corridors of the North East. He packed his bags to the fullest and started the journey to the North East on a bike. He was all equipped to litter on the road that led to the beautiful corridor of India. He probably thought that in case he gets lost, he can always return back to his home by following the trail of litter left behind. He must have studied in one of the premier institutions of the world and earned a doctorate in littering. Who else would get such great ideas? It took over twelve hours to enter the land of forest and beautiful hills. And along the path, he stopped frequently, took rest on the roadside, filled his stomach and threw the left over food, wrappers and covers on the road. He made the roads an ocean of rubbish. 

On the way, he also came across many historic monuments. He stopped over there too and scribbled his name and the names of his family members over ten generations. The world should never forget this great litterbug, he thought and he was successful too. The scribblings on the walls would remain there till the Earth itself perishes. 

The moment he entered the north eastern states, nature seemed to start weeping. It feared being disfigured. It wouldn’t take more than a week for the litterbug to transform the beautiful place into a bin of rubbish. It expressed its sorrow by shedding tears. The sky was covered with black clouds in a few minutes. A heavy downpour followed. Litterbug jumped in happiness. He shouldn’t put in too much effort to litter all over the place. The flowing water would make his task easier. But alas! The world needs to get rid of the litterbug. He was standing on the edge of a cliff, munching a packet of chips and looking around for the most beautiful place to throw the packet. His slipped down the rocks and that was the end of the litterbug.

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