‘We blame our lifestyles for leaving us no time to observe our environment and do something in that sphere,’ says Aishwarya. Team Viva reports
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has always maintained her distance from the digital social media platforms, as she believes that people now days are constantly looking in their smatphones and they don’t even have time to look at each other, let alone clean their surroundings. “We are prone to making excuses. We blame our lifestyles for leaving us no time to observe our environment and do something in that sphere,” said Aishwarya. The actress, among other celebrities was in the capital for an event to promote cleanliness. Urging people to come out and initiate cleanliness of their surroundings, she added, “every step counts.”
While referring to a proverb, she read in her keynote, “With India producing three million tones of garbage everyday, godliness could well be leaving our lands.” The actress was hopeful though. “We are on a track of changing the picture. And our Prime Minister took that initiative towards cleanliness two years ago by launching Swacch Bharat Abhiyan,” she concluded.
Adnan Sami, who recently drew flak on a micro-blogging account for congratulating Indian soldiers on their surgical strikes across the line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir, also participated in promoting the same cause. The singer was at ease while answering the questions asked to him for his reaction on the surgical strikes. “What I expressed came out of my heart and I pardon those who criticised me,” he said. Not naming anyone directly, Sami expressed his displeasure on the Pakistani artists for keeping numb on the terrorist attacks. Speaking on the subject of clean environment, he said, “We first need to get rid of the idea of koi aur kar lega. If we aren’t taking the responsibility, we shouldn’t expect anyone else to do it.”
Making a comparison between garbage and terrorism, Sami had an apt explanation to it. “If the garbage from my neighbour’s house flows into my house then I’ll complain once or twice and wait for him to do the rightful. If even then he doesn’t act to it, I will enter his house and do it myself,” he explained. “Because you couldn’t clean the garbage, I had to enter your house and clean it,” he added.
Joining for the cause were other celebrities from the Indian Film industry. Kailash Kher, Arijit Singh, Rekha Bhardwaj, Ankit Tiwari, Himesh Reshammiya, to name a few. Sufi singer, Rekha Bharwaj said that she felt disgusted by the privileged class’ apathy towards cleanliness. “I see people sitting in lavish cars, dumping chips packets at the traffic signal. You go to jogger’s park, you will see jogger’s throwing juice cans everywhere. Education doesn’t guarantee civic sense and awareness,” she said.
The ambassador of Swacch Bharat initiative himself, Kailash Kher spoke about the importance of the privileged class lending a helping hand to educate the needy, those who may not be aware or educated of the health hazard uncleanliness causes. He said that, “Germs and bacteria don’t go on strike. We should always try and keep our surroundings clean and put sense in those who litter here and there.” He added, “Common sense is lacking for developing a civic sense.”