India, Oct. 22 -- I travelled to Pune to attend a literature festival. I was struck by the cleanliness along the roads during the 45-minute drive to my destination. I sorely miss this in most of our cities. The heaps of waste thrown by us are not a pleasant sight. A friend had once observed that we are extremely conscious of individual hygiene but loose civic sense when it comes to maintaining the same outside our homes.
Most of the ladies in the household would keep a strict watch on the sweeping and dusting inside the entire house but will not think twice about throwing the dirt on the road outside. I often find discarded wrappers lying around in my tower lift and in the common areas of the society despite the availability of waste bins....