CHENNAI: It was a breezy evening on a weekend, with families and couples taking a stroll on the Elliot’s Beach, enjoying the waves. Suddenly, a group of youngsters popped up from nowhere and start performing, taking the crowd completely by surprise. Locking and popping for a few minutes, the flash mob went back to normal in a while, as if nothing had happened. The flash mob, sponsored by Radio One, was intended to pull crowds on Saturday to register for a clean-up campaign. The performers gave the nationally popular Swachch Bharath campaign some local flavour, by dancing to the tunes of Sorgam Enbadhu Namakku from Kamal Haasan’s Nammavar, with broomsticks and other such props. The flash mob definitely turned heads, as many people voluntarily gathered to get themselves registered, jumping on the ‘clean the city’ bandwagon of SPAAAK, a self-funded NGO which came up with the initiative Vaanga Perukalam. The NGO organises weekly clean-up programmes in and around the city.
SPAAAK has already carried out this initiative, cleaning garbage from Besant Nagar 21st Cross Street and other areas. The volunteers say that they are planning to take it up in 20 different places, in tandem with the PM’s Swachch Bharath campaign. With the support of the Corporation of Chennai, the volunteers are all set to guide people interested in the clean up drive, to take a picture of the place and upload it on Facebook and other social media, and subsequently meet up in groups. After the cleaning is done, they have planned to plant saplings in those areas to prevent further dumping of garbage. The event was held to promote the campaign and invite volunteers for registration.
(To volunteer for the campaign, contact 9942100000)