Calcutta CleanUp Campaign Day 2 !!!

1 Comment / Calcutta We Love / By

We managed to pull off another day for the Calcutta CleanUp Campaign!!!

 

In our jihad against the dirt and pollution of our city another small milestone has been reached as we worked in two teams. One being a very large celebrity-laden-Rehan-led-massive-numbers-boasting team that worked on removing poll banners, signboards and graffiti from the Park Circus – Beck Bagan area. And the other being our small unit of around 15 people. 
I call this a milestone coz this is what we need to do. Split and work. And at the same time maintaining close communication at all times, so we know and work towards the same goals. 
We met at 6am outside the Currency building – which was once a grand palatial structure built in the Italian style boasting of beautiful tile-work and lovely sunlight-filtering-coloured-glass-windows.  Built as an office for the Agra and Masterman’s Bank and later moving on to becoming the Reserve Bank of India and then only the Currency Office of RBI. It has beautifully ornamented huge wrought iron doors which boast proudly that they were made in Bristol, England. 
When we started off we seemed pretty clueless, 
a. because our brother Mudar was not there to show us the way and
b. because removing poll graffiti was an easier job than cleaning little things that go unnoticed everyday. 
Though we’d carried 2 brooms, pliers, gloves and were armed for an attack on the garbage and would not go undeterred. Most heartwarming was the enthusiasm of the 5 new set people who were not there the last time, Ankit, Prateek, Kunal, Priyanka and Dana. Though the ‘little dynamo’ – thats what I lovingly refer to our workhorse Dana – seemed to have known from the very beginning that she would attack the posters stuck on walls and electric poles. Along with the other femme fatales Sneha and Priyanka, all four sides of the BBD Bag were clean of posters. Not only were they ripped apart but the walls were washed with water and made to look cleaner than what they may have looked in ages. 
The school boys, diligent as ever, after having walked from school to Dalhousie with ladders, attacked the pavement with the brooms, got rid of plastic and jute ropes tied to trees, poles and side railings. The most fun part for them was to rid the area of illegally placed advertisements tied or nailed to trees and poles and one such that they took out in front of the GPO was the crowning glory of the day for them. 
The boys also dismantled a huge flex ad attached to temporarily erected bamboo structure for the fear that if they don’t take it down completely somebody else may use it and take it down they did. Ved had a field day with breaking all illegally placed temporary advertisement gates outside shops and was cheerfully helped on by the others. 
We were all delighted to bump into Bonani and Pradeep and their bunch of kids from La Martiniere cleaning the posters stuck on GPO building walls and those wonderful pillars. 
After the cleanup session we headed to Dacres Lane, that famous food street of the Dalhousie Square area, tucked behind the Great Eastern Hotel, and had our fill of toast and omlette. 
List of jihadis for the day, (for the uninitiated, jihad also jehad ( ) n. Islam. An individual’s striving for self-perfection.)
Ankit Chordia 9831002640 ankitchordia@gmail.com
Prateek Saraf 9831165200 prateeksaraf@hotmail.com
Kunal Lunawat 9830215237 kunal_lunawat@hotmail.com
Joy Ghosh joyiscool2008@gmail.com – 98311 88456
Akash Dasgupta 
Diptarshi Sen dixn95@yahoo.co.in – 99033 17182
Sourodeep Biswas sourodeep.biswas@rediffmail.com – 94333 38947
Alankar Das vomi123est@gmail.com – 98364 70907
Dipro Basu diprobasu@gmail.com – 98310 46413
Dana Roy 9831437314 danaroy@gmail.com
Sneha Tiwary snehatiwari@hotmail.com
Ved Agarwal emailved@gmail.com
Priyanka Tusnial
Pritish Shah
We hope to be able to do another round of cleanups on Wednesday next and then Sunday again. And we hope to have the co-operation of all those who’ve been kind enough to help so far. 
Here’s hoping that this goes out to many Calcuttans and that we end up creating a multitude of small task forces, making sure things happen in their localities.
Here’s Cheers from a Happy Calcuttan.
————————-
Explorer Ifte
+91.9830184030

In our jihad against the dirt and pollution of our city another small milestone has been reached as we worked in two teams. One being a very large celebrity-laden-Rehan-led-massive-numbers-boasting team that worked on removing poll banners, signboards and graffiti from the Park Circus – Beck Bagan area. And the other being our small unit of around 15 people. 

 

I call this a milestone coz this is what we need to do. Split and work. And at the same time maintaining close communication at all times, so we know and work towards the same goals. 

 

We met at 6am outside the Currency building – which was once a grand palatial structure built in the Italian style boasting of beautiful tile-work and lovely sunlight-filtering-coloured-glass-windows.  Built as an office for the Agra and Masterman’s Bank and later moving on to becoming the Reserve Bank of India and then only the Currency Office of RBI. It has beautifully ornamented huge wrought iron doors which boast proudly that they were made in Bristol, England. 

 

When we started off we seemed pretty clueless, 

a. because our brother Mudar was not there to show us the way and

b. because removing poll graffiti was an easier job than cleaning little things that go unnoticed everyday. 

 

Though we’d carried 2 brooms, pliers, gloves and were armed for an attack on the garbage and would not go undeterred. Most heartwarming was the enthusiasm of the 5 new set people who were not there the last time, Ankit, Prateek, Kunal, Priyanka and Dana. Though the ‘little dynamo’ – thats what I lovingly refer to our workhorse Dana – seemed to have known from the very beginning that she would attack the posters stuck on walls and electric poles. Along with the other femme fatales Sneha and Priyanka, all four sides of the BBD Bag were clean of posters. Not only were they ripped apart but the walls were washed with water and made to look cleaner than what they may have looked in ages. 

 

The school boys, diligent as ever, after having walked from school to Dalhousie with ladders, attacked the pavement with the brooms, got rid of plastic and jute ropes tied to trees, poles and side railings. The most fun part for them was to rid the area of illegally placed advertisements tied or nailed to trees and poles and one such that they took out in front of the GPO was the crowning glory of the day for them. 

 

The boys also dismantled a huge flex ad attached to temporarily erected bamboo structure for the fear that if they don’t take it down completely somebody else may use it and take it down they did. Ved had a field day with breaking all illegally placed temporary advertisement gates outside shops and was cheerfully helped on by the others. 

 

We were all delighted to bump into Bonani and Pradeep and their bunch of kids from La Martiniere cleaning the posters stuck on GPO building walls and those wonderful pillars. 

 

After the cleanup session we headed to Dacres Lane, that famous food street of the Dalhousie Square area, tucked behind the Great Eastern Hotel, and had our fill of toast and omlette. 

 

List of jihadis for the day, (for the uninitiated, jihad also jehad ( ) n. Islam. An individual’s striving for self-perfection.)

Ankit Chordia 9831002640 ankitchordia@gmail.com

Prateek Saraf 9831165200 prateeksaraf@hotmail.com

Kunal Lunawat 9830215237 kunal_lunawat@hotmail.com

Joy Ghosh joyiscool2008@gmail.com – 98311 88456

Akash Dasgupta 

Diptarshi Sen dixn95@yahoo.co.in – 99033 17182

Sourodeep Biswas sourodeep.biswas@rediffmail.com – 94333 38947

Alankar Das vomi123est@gmail.com – 98364 70907

Dipro Basu diprobasu@gmail.com – 98310 46413

Dana Roy 9831437314 danaroy@gmail.com

Sneha Tiwary snehatiwari@hotmail.com

Ved Agarwal emailved@gmail.com

Priyanka Tusnial

Pritish Shah

We hope to be able to do another round of cleanups on Wednesday next and then Sunday again. And we hope to have the co-operation of all those who’ve been kind enough to help so far. 

 

Here’s hoping that this goes out to many Calcuttans and that we end up creating a multitude of small task forces, making sure things happen in their localities.

 

Here’s Cheers from a Happy Calcuttan.

————————-

Explorer Ifte

+91.9830184030

1 thought on “Calcutta CleanUp Campaign Day 2 !!!”

Leave a Reply

Scroll to Top