Lessons from Arlington: What Japanese fans taught us about cleanliness

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

This is the scene after the Japan-Netherlands World Cup football match at Arlington, Texas, that ended in a draw. Winning and losing are part of the game, but here the Japanese spectators and supporters emerge clear winners. After the match was over, Japanese fans watching the game started collecting garbage and leftovers. Within minutes, they had cleaned the entire stadium.

This did not happen for the first time. The Japanese do it diligently whether they are at home or abroad, and it is not a staged event for them. They did it away from self-serving cameras.

Now look at what is happening in our own sacred zones in the Himalayas, where tourists are thronging to escape the oppressive heat of the plains. We do not want to learn from the cleanliness of the Himalayas; instead, we bring our ugliness there. Activists in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh are cleaning mountains and rivers, requesting tourists not to leave plastic bags, bottles, wrappers and other waste behind when they leave, but nobody bothers. Our gods must be appeased even if it means vitiating and polluting our holiest locations. Will these selfie tourists learn a few lessons from the extraordinary traits of the Japanese people? All of this must be part of our personality and not merely an event to be posted on social media.

The photographs were posted by FIFA on its social media platforms.

A big salute to the Japanese people and their sense of national identity — one that does not emerge from obscene sloganeering and vulgar displays, but from the pure and selfless practice of doing things that actually make their identity far more powerful. There is a lot to learn from them.

The making of a self-made woman: How eighty sheep changed everything for Kalawati Ninama

By Vikas Meshram* About forty-two kilometres from Rajasthan's Banswara district, in the tribal heartland of Ghatol block, lies the small village of Ubapana. This is where Kalawati Ninama, her husband Dhulji, and their four children make their home. Their days unfold much like those of their neighbours—bustling mornings, long hours of farm labour through the afternoon, and evenings spent tending livestock. For this family, farming and livestock were once simply a means of putting food on the table. Today, they have become the sturdy foundation of something far greater: genuine self-sufficiency.

India has spent billions on skilling. Where are the jobs?

By Vikas Gupta India loves the photograph of a certificate ceremony. A minister on a stage. A banner bearing the word “skill.” Young people holding folders that promise a future. It is a reassuring image because it tells us the problem has a manageable answer: train the young, make them job-ready, and work will follow.

BAPS, the Eiffel Tower and the curious silence on secularism

By Rajiv Shah I was a little surprised to see how some of those whom I respect for taking a firm stand on patriarchal issues reacted to the manner in which they responded to the recent incident in Paris, in which women employees of the Eiffel Tower were asked to remain "invisible" on September 5 when 100 BAPS sadhus visited one of the world's top tourist destinations.

Counterview

Search This Blog