“Aji look plastic bag!”

Wow Dinga, Little Po, Anna Shetty and I were returning home from a morning at the club. One of the games we play on the way home is to count cars/trees/taxis – anything really to keep the boys occupied and gainfully engaged and distract them from throwing up as Wow Dinga is motion sick. This time Wow Dinga decided to point out plastic bags. He excitedly pointed out 12 plastic bags till we reached home and promptly announced that they should all be banned and the users punished.

Our State Government has decided to impose a ban on plastics particularly plastic bags.  The irresponsible disposal of plastic has led to blocked drains which in turn has created havoc on Mumbai’s roads during the monsoon. Every year the roads are flooded and precious lives and manhours are lost in dealing with a situation that could have been avoided. Finally, the authorities have decided to impose a strict ban on plastic bags that do not meet the required thickness etc etc.

The best way to educate a population is to teach the child.

When I was growing up, it was commonplace to have people spit on the road, throw paper wrappers, banana peels and other garbage out of their car windows. People happily disposed off empty cans of beer, bottles of aerated water and what not.

The factories emanated black smoke and let out harmful effluents into the sea and rivers. In other words, pollution was a word unheard of.

Gradually, however, people began realising the error of their ways, and we were told in school to bin the trash. When passengers in the car began rolling down their windows to toss out that crushed bit of paper, we, as children held that hand and told the person to throw it in the bin.

A whole generation thus was converted to binning their trash.

Re-interpreting the Three R’s

Last week, I was amazed to hear Wow Dinga  humming a song that completely floored me.

Was I hearing right? It was all about  reducing, recycling and  reusing a new interpretation of the Three R’s .

I was happy seeing this remarkable change from the apathy of Earth Day two decades ago

Perhaps there is hope for us after all and even though the climate has changed drastically, my great grandchildren may still be able to have mangoes in the month of May.

Do you think the ban on plastic will make a difference to pollution?