Doing our bit

We recently asked our tenants to move out because they had made a mess of our property. We initially got complaints from the neighbours, who were so sick and tired of the tenants that they managed to contact us directly.

Upon inspection it turned out that the people to whom we had rented out our flat had never cleaned it properly. This resulted in several pests making their home around the property. Also, they always seemed to throw the garbage out on the street right outside the apartment building and never thought of disposing it off in a more hygienic fashion.

We were alarmed as it had been just four months since these new occupants had taken up residence, after we had newly purchased the apartment for investment purposes.

However, this is nothing surprising or new. Unfortunately, most of us have a mindset that if a thing doesn’t belong to us, why should we care for it? And it doesn’t end there. Take our streets, parks, beaches and so on.

People leave their trash on picnic spots without the slightest concern for others. Young and adults alike throw litter out of their house/car windows without hesitation. Even the most prestigious of buildings are sure to have paan spit marks either on stairs or some other dark corner.

If our areas have an open ‘nullah’, it quickly becomes a favourite garbage dumping spot. If our area sweeper fails to appear, the rubbish is mostly left until the next day, when he would come and take it away.

If it rains, the government is abused over its inefficiency to resolve drainage issues. Not once do we think that it’s thanks to our irresponsibility that most of our drains are blocked by the garbage we threw on the streets.

Would we do the same within our houses? Of course not! That’s our personal space! Who does the city belong to then? With freedom comes great responsibility. We yearn for democracy — but when will we learn to do our bit?

Published in The Express Tribune, July 8th, 2010.