Members of the group dump trash from the plot into a garbage van. (Left) Planting in the newly-made flowerbed (Saradindu Chaudhury)

My first reaction was “Yuck!” I was bent down on a garbage heap and my fingers were preparing to pick up a soggy, squished, inside-out orange that was stinking revoltingly.

Mustard Seeds Kolkata, a township-based group that works for art, environment and education, was cleaning an empty plot at DA 28 that had turned into a garbage dump, and I had volunteered to help. The first clean-up was on Earth Day-eve and several students had chipped in but on April 27 it would just be Maura Hurley, the American-born founder of the group who lives in Sector I, Ruam Mukherjee, an MBA student of CA Block, and I.

Digging deep

The orange was unappetising but then nobody said this would be easy. I was about to dump it in an empty cement bag that Maura had brought along, but she stopped me. “This is organic waste and is good for the soil,” she said and buried it instead into a corner of the plot where we would be creating a flowerbed later.

The most ubiquitous component of our trash was plastic bags. They were everywhere, containing dried-up puja flowers, vegetable and fruit peels, shoes, lingerie and other things that had rotted beyond recognition. Many bags had got buried under rubble and we had to wrestle them out of the ground. Maura was using a spade to loosen stubborn mounds.

There were lots of gutka, candy and bread wrappers, empty medicine bottles, earthen tea cups, mattresses, a tubelight and even a commode! Sanitary pads and adult diapers lay in the open, attracting flies. There were a lot of thermocol packages too that we learnt were dangerous. Birds mistake thermocol bubbles to be food and the toxic chemicals in them harm the winged creatures.

We had started working at 6am and by 6.10 I had started glancing at my watch. It was hot and the work was laborious. But looking at my partners, I couldn’t give up. Maura had brought gloves for everyone but I tore mine pulling a plastic bag out of some thorns. Maura was bleeding from her ankles and elbows.

I knew we would get dirty so I had put on the worn-out clothes that I used on Holi last month but had forgotten to wear sneakers. My sandals could not save me from ant attacks. We also had to be careful to avoid parthenium bushes.

We, the people

Our work drew curious passersby. Initially it was morning walkers, then residents heading to CA Market and finally people headed to work. Their puzzled looks led to queries like “What are you doing? Are you cleaning your plot before you build a house here?”

My partners explained that they had no connection with this plot and that it was chosen at random. Instead of pledging to protect the environment on Earth Day they were walking the talk. “This is why their country is so clean,” said an auto driver, when told Maura was an American.

While everyone encouraged the effort, they were very sceptical of its maintenance. “What is the point? You clean it today, they’ll dirty it tomorrow,” said a driver of a nearby house, Rabi Dutta. “Salt Lake-er lok poisha-ey borolok, shobhab-ey chhotolok.”

Raja Mondal, a labourer, absent-mindedly threw the packet of gutka on the ground even as he blamed the society for littering. He quickly apologised but pointed out that there was no dustbin around either.

Minutes after Suchitra Rani Das, a domestic help, praised our efforts, she returned with a black plastic bag full of household waste and dumped it in the rear corner of the very plot that we were cleaning! When challenged, she said she was helpless. “The garbage collectors will come later but I’m done with my work in this neighbouring house. The two senior citizens in the house will not be able to carry the trash out and if I leave it outside the house crows will peck at it and make a mess,” she said.

The garbage collectors were a helpful lot. In between their rounds of the block, they swept the portions of the plot that we had cleaned. “The municipality has us clean empty plots once a week but people litter indiscriminately,” said garbage collector Hoshni Pandit. “If we catch them red-handed they say it’s a free country and that it’s the councillor’s job to clean up.”

Another garbage collector Harapada Mondal says he burns all the plastic that he finds in empty plots but Ruam told him how harmful this was. “The gases that result from burning plastic can lead to cancer,” she told him.

The immediate neighbours of the plot we were cleaning were happy. “The bushes grow wild and the garbage piles up to breeds mosquitoes in monsoon,” said Shikha Pal of DA 29. Those who stood and watched for a long time cleared out as soon as I asked them to come and help. They said they were busy. “It’s all right,” smiled Maura. “Just keep the place around your own house clean. That will be help enough.”

A DA Block resident, Jahar Lal Majumdar, was inspired. “I too had cleaned this plot on my own before and watching you girls toil so hard, I promise to maintain it.”

Job to do

We worked till 10am but the plot was far from clean. We had, however, managed to create two flowerbeds where there were hillocks of garbage four hours ago. Hopefully the plants would discourage people from littering now. Much as I felt encouraged by passersby, I received the most genuine gestures of gratitude from birds, who immediately started coming to the flowerbeds.

We had filled up 10 gunny bags with trash, which we took to the vat opposite Vidyasagar Niketan and dumped.

There are still two more days of work left before this plot becomes trash-free. Before leaving, Maura ple-dged to be back next week. So did we.

Anyone interested to give us a hand is welcome. The next clean-up will happen on Sunday, from 6am to 8am. The plot, DA 28, lies on the main road between Vidyasagar Island and CA Island.

saltlake@abpmail.com