Back home on the peace walk

The last day in Mandi, last day of ‚arriving time‘ back in India, I went to a river beach behind the market area. I see a man, bringing a bag full of rubbish, emptying it right there. I was a bit to far away to say something. I roam around there a bit. So beautiful with the big stones and sand in between. None of the close by houses have a restaurant or cafe. It seems, that people don’t realize the beauty and holiday relaxing apporunities of the closed nature in there city. Also more rubbish lays around the beach area. I sit down a bit. The water level of the river has been 4 to 5 meter higher in the last Monsun season. It’s recognisable in the trees at the river bed…. lots of bags and clothes and other rubbish are hanging there,  thrown in the river from other people further up.
A empty rice sack just ten meters away from me, invites me to do some trash collection. It’s always worth to do pick something up. If 10 people think like this, or even one person does a few times, the difference is visable or at least to feel. And Mother Earth is always greatful for it. After some very short time, a excited man come running towards me. He is a physiotherapist  and his mother saw me trashpicking. He is so happy, that I am doing this and reports, that a big group of people, about 200, organised Mandi, are doing trashpicking and cleaning up the city once a mounth. The government of India is supporting and actually supervising a ‚clean up India‘ project, which is officially specially announced these days in honour of Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birthday. The goal is to clean up all India, educate people, initiate or better cultivate more the recycle opportunities, who are already existing, for that separate trash in glas, metal, paper, plastic and other categories. For now people can earn money by delivering recyclable trash to specific collecting places…. and so on. The exited man, now my friend, has informed one of the city instructures to do an interview with me. Meanwhile we are collecting rubbish from the beach side.
I think it’s a treasure,  to collect trash, because every time I bow down to pick something up, I bow down to Mother Earth to honour her.

The next day, sitting in the bus, I get to know, that every newspaper in Mandi printed a article about me, …. about this foreigner coming to Mandi, has nothing else to do, then picking up trash, can that be a example and inspiration to others?

After a while of driving in this bus, coming closer to the starting point of the peace walk (after the Germany break) (it’s actually a gab, which I had to leave because of Visa issues) the bus drives on a route, which I have walked last year, partly together with Aparna, I feel so supergood.

It’s so good to be back home – back home on the Peace Walk.