Lessons for Bengaluru: Excrete well, express well…live healthy & happy

But these should be brought out in the right way, not by hurting anyone else.
Illustration | Sourav Roy
Illustration | Sourav Roy

BENGALURU: Many years ago, I read something that made me “ROFL” (“roll on the floor laughing”, a term not in use then as social media hadn’t made its entry). It was really hilarious. It was about body parts staking claim to be the ‘Boss’.

It was called “Who should be the boss?” It goes like this, but when I reproduce the piece, written by a certain ‘Anonymous’, I would like to play it safe by replacing a particular word for the sake of decency.

Here goes: “When God created the body, all organs of the body argued over who should be the Boss. The brain said it controls all parts of the body, and so it should be the Boss. The eyes said the body would be in the dark without them, and so they should be the Boss. The heart said it pumps and circulates blood, so it should be the Boss. The stomach said it digests foods, so it should be the Boss. The legs said they take the body wherever, and so they should be the Boss. And when the anus applied for the job, all the organs of the body started laughing at it. The anus got very angry and went on an indefinite strike. After a few days, the brain got rusty, the eyes got foggy, the heart got lazy, the stomach got dirty, and the legs got wobbly. In the end, they unanimously accepted it, and the anus became the Boss.”

What made me ROFL all those years ago, set me thinking now — about the importance of excretion in the physical domain … and of expression of feelings and thoughts in the mental domain.

It is a crucial factor that keeps the body and mind healthy. We are all too familiar with the physical relief experienced through excretion. But feelings kept in the mind — dealing with hate, love, jealousy, envy, bitterness and a whole range of feelings — for long without bringing them out, can fester, adversely impacting us and our relationships. Expressing them can be an equally relieving experience.

But these should be brought out in the right way, not by hurting anyone else. Just as we discourage open defecation or urination because of its harmful effects, mental expressions put out erratically or aggressively can do a lot of damage.

The same can be — or rather, has to be — applied on a larger scale citywide. Just like excretion and expression is important for the health and happiness of the individual, so is waste management and disposal for the city.

Like in Mr Anonymous’ story above, if the waste disposal system stops working everything else starts falling apart. So now we know who — or what — actually is the city’s boss! The faster our Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) realises that, the better for a city which is the capital of a state that is going all out to woo foreign investment and bring business to thrive here.

There is an old Goan saying: “Agta to tagta!” Translated, it means “One who excretes well, lives well!”
Extending this along with the political concept of ‘Organic Theory of State’ (which envisions the state as an organism and equates its functions with those of human body parts/organs, just like ‘Mr Anonymous’ has attempted to do), proper and regular waste disposal will keep Namma Bengaluru happier than she is.

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