Clean air just won't do! - Bangalore's Garbage bonfires

I'd like to express myself here on the topic of burning garbage, dried leaves or anything else on the streets or in your backyard. As I drove to work this morning, I had my windows rolled down to enjoy the crisp morning air. In less than a minute, I had to scurry to roll up the windows or risk inhaling some toxic gases and hyper-ventilate. The culprit as you can imagine was a heap of burning garbage that was conveniently heaped on the pavement.

A few curses were chanted in my head and I then let the feeling pass. A few kms down, another stream of thick white smoke coming from below a major city flyover near KR market in Bangalore. This fire had not only been polluting its immediate surrounding, but had rendered its ugly presence as far as I could see, creating a very unfriendly, chocking and disgusting smog in the morning air.

The sad part is that cops are all over the place, people are walking around the "bonfires" and life goes on as if nothing is wrong. Pedestrians and children on the streets have their noses covered with their sleeves, their pallus, handkerchieves and some even fanning the dirty air away from their noses as they walk. What a sad sight. What a risky situation.

I remember a few years ago, there was a law that was passed against burning dry leaves in the fall in Bangalore as we'd see our corporation housekeepers rake in the leaves and set them on fire. These fires would burn for hours and create such an unsavoury situation in the neighborhood that someone finally screamed hell. This feeling seems to have passed and now the many hundreds of local bonfires that burn daily, seem to have become acceptable to people in Bangalore.

We need to stop this. Again, my take is that we don't need parliament to discuss this and pass a bill to make this illegal. I think whether or not it is illegal, our common sense will dictate. Clearly, this is not done. Should we call the fire brigade everytime there is a fire burning that could pose a risk to the people in the area? Perhaps we should all start doing that and then somebody will start clamping down on these individuals who start these fires.

Do your part, I'm sure you love your city. Put out these fires. Talk to people. Make it happen. Every one of us can make a difference.