Trash in India

I returned from India yesterday with many thoughts on the country, its people, and where it is headed. I went home to Mumbai, and traveled around Delhi, Agra, Jaipur and Goa. I saw incredibly beautiful sights in Humayun's Tomb, the Taj Mahal, and Gandhiji's home, and at the same time poverty, inequality, and trash...a lot of trash. India is truly a fascinating country - I still have not figured out how it functions, but it does, in incredible ways, and the consequences of how it functions result in copious amounts of "visible" trash as I like to call it. I am pretty sure that the US produces more trash than India, but most of it is invisible.

Over the next few weeks, I will try to develop theses on trash in India. I will try to explain the problem in the context of its attitude, history, culture, demographics, landscape and natural resources. I have seen litter and trash in the most beautiful premises on Earth, and in places that you would hope people would want to keep "clean."

But as I gather and coalesce my thoughts, here are some pictures for you to mull over...

A park at Chandni Chowk in Delhi

On our way to Jama Masjid in Delhi

Outside Grant Road station in Mumbai

A sidewalk in Ghatkopar, Mumbai

A view from the top of Ramniranjan Jhunjhunwala College (my college), Ghatkopar (West), Mumbai