Friedrich Nietzsche once said – “What separates two people most profoundly is a different sense and degree of cleanliness.”
Years back when I first stepped out of the country, I set foot in Paris – the city of love and romance. It was very exciting but sadly enough I couldn’t walk out of the airport and run to the Eiffel Tower as that time I was just transiting and was supposed to go to New York for a month.
But Paris had been on my mind the whole time and I had decided to take a stop-over on my way back to India. For us Indians after London, Paris holds an inexplicable amount of thrill and thus the simple me also wanted to see what the city of romance held in store. Most of all, it was the love of structures that was drawing me to it and I hoped that the month long stint in NYC ended soon so I could see Eiffel Tower and experience its beauty.
Travel the world, but do it responsibly! #ResponsibleTourism #Cleanliness #BetterWorld Click To TweetCleanliness difference – Taj vs Eiffel
After a month when I landed in Paris again I was on top of the world. The city had so much to offer. It was almost like walking into a live French film, so beautiful, so amazing.
My first touristy spot was the Eiffel obviously (Read about my visit here – The Electrifying Eiffel Tower). I was astounded by its sheer beauty and stunning looks. For me the tower represented grit, determination, perseverance and class. Yes, all of those adjectives bundled in one. The view from the top was breath-taking.
The river below, the football ground in view and the various other monuments that one could see in the background, it was all incredible. The place was unbelievably clean and I had a private moment of embarrassment just thinking of how people dirtied the place around the Taj Mahal. What a contrast it was – Agra and Paris. Honestly there was no comparison at all. My love for the Taj is undying, but there is no taking away the humiliation that we Indians cause by littering the whole place around it.
The cleanliness in Paris just stuck in my head and it kept making me feel pathetic about how cleanliness was a word that we didn’t recognise in our country at all. But that was 2003 and as they say the years gone by become part of history.
I studied at INSEAD – the Paris based Ivy League Business School, in 2011 and 2012. Though I visited Paris many times after 2003, my last visit was during graduation from School in 2012. And boy was that a shock for me. The beautiful, neat and clean city of Paris had turned into a garbage can and I was flabbergasted at what I saw. Not only that, even the French came across as more grumpy and unwilling to help. It was a complete jolt for me and I shuddered seeing what had become of that once wonderful place.
I went to the Eiffel Tower hoping that it would be as untouched and sparkling as it was when I set eyes on it the first time, but I was in for a huge disappointment. The place was littered and; guess what – people had thrown garbage even in the river Seine. They didn’t even spare the river. That was heart-breaking for me. Even the areas around the garbage bins were littered. How can people do that? It was incomprehensible.
Am sure that this wasn’t just the doing of the Parisians! The tourists were equally if not fully responsible for the mess called Paris. Well I didn’t need to assume because I was seeing the tourists throw things around everywhere. It reminded me of my train travel to my village in India during childhood days, when people used to eat fruits and throw the garbage under their feet; while my mother taught us to carry a bag to throw all the garbage into it.
Honestly, nothing had changed from those yesteryears to this day. Atleast those people in the train at that time had the benefit of doubt – they were illiterate. Imagine perfectly intelligent and educated people who travel the globe partaking in this nonsense. I sometimes wonder whether the same people do exactly the same thing in their own houses too.
Shame, isn’t it, to think that they have double standards. While they take pride in keeping their houses, offices, gardens and cars clean, they don’t hesitate to litter public places.
Responsible Tourism – Cleanliness first
I know there is a long list of things people need to do in order to become responsible tourists and ensure responsible tourism, but I think if people just make a small start by keeping the environment clean, mother nature will be thankful to say the least.
Just treat public places, tourist spots, monuments, gardens, temples, highways as your own and think of how you would feel if someone dirtied your own personal space, before throwing that empty plastic bottle in the river or that empty packet of Lays on the road or worse, the potty’d smelly diaper of your baby in the small space between the footpath and the road.
A small deed goes a long way and this little awareness will make the world a much better place to be in. Don’t you want your children to be proud of the clean and healthy world you leave for them? Just take a moment to think about it, won’t you buddy?
I am blogging for #ResponsibleTourism activity by Outlook Traveller in association with BlogAdda.
Featured Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay
That was sad reading about uncleanliness. I wish they were well looked after.
I wish so too In… 🙁
Lets hope for better responsible travelers 🙂
I have felt the same at Agra too 🙁
Let’s lead by example and then hope Teny 🙂
Very aptly written.
The day we would start treating our surrounding as we treat our homes and start feeling responsible for it’s well being would be the day we would stop littering and start keeping our mohallas, our cities and our countries clean.
So true… thanks Aniruddha 🙂
so agree…that is what is so striking in parks and gardens in bangalore, really famous ones too especially for people who have traveled far..swatch bharat too needsa lot gearing up. — Ruchi ( spell and charm)
Hey Ruchi – welcome to Drishti 🙂
Oh talking about parks, I remember the dog poop all over… when will we learn…
How Apt! I had the same feeling when I went to finish my Business Degree in Singapore, and my Fashion Diploma in London, I was more than just impressed by the lovely environment there, I’ve seen even the tourists being responsible in these cities. I’m honestly tiered of telling my neighbours to keep their surroundings clean. They look at me like I’m this anti-social element, who is asking them to do impossible tasks.
Hello and welcome to Drishti 🙂
LOL.. I can totally envisage the looks of your neighbours as I have encountered such looks on many occasions. In fact I have picked up a few fights as well… oh well… 🙁
Hope to see you here often 🙂
We all direly need to strive towards being responsible travelers and treating the journey as our own homes to keep it clean. A well written article dear 🙂
You bet Maitreni. Thank you my dear 🙂
Thanks, Archana, for driving us in this direction. It’s indeed a serious issue worldwide.
Thanks Ravish 🙂 It is a very serious issue indeed!
I think this is due to lack of the ‘sense of belonging’ for the .No one wants to live in a dirty house but they litter freely everywhere they go ,I have seen people doing this even in hospitals . Education or no education it is the same;what about those who deliberately spoil heritage sites writing on them . Many historical places in India are full with names of couple .I always wonder what do they think ? Do they think Writing their names on historical monuments is the same as writing their names in history .
Hahaha, now that is something I have never ever understood. I really don’t know what those crazy people think. Perhaps you are right… I think they want to make themselves immortal… LOL
Thanks Sadhvi… and I do hope people like us can make a positive difference in this regard.. 🙂
This is terrible. Indeed, it makes me mad that the tourists care nothing to maintain the cleanliness of the place they visit. I have often seen people tossing plastic bottles, wrappers etc. casually. Really terrible.
Let’s hope things change Rachna.
Thanks for stopping by 🙂
Such a powerful message through this post as we as blogger has the right to affect positively.
Thank you Chaitali… I do hope it makes a difference.. 🙂
A little effort from the tourists can make a big difference..the indifference makes me angry!
Absolutely Mani.. the indifference makes me very angry too… and sometimes it’s not just the indifference, but sheer illiterate behaviour too!
I guess everyone in India should learn from this. We Indians are stubborn to a fault for all the wrong reasons, while when it comes to doing the right thing, we’d actually stand against it. For example, the religion would not allow Ganga to stay clean, while they consider Ganga to be holy. Who dumps garbage in their holiest place?
Oh yes… time we woke up to our own idiosyncrasies…
Thanks for stopping by buddy 🙂
I had been to Agra this August and I must say, I was too disappointed seeing heaps of garbage over the roads. In fact, I was looking for a clean spot in the city but sadly I couldn’t find any. How bad it is to not be sincere when it comes to the care of our own country.
I agree completely Simran and I do hope this mentality changes for the better… 🙂
I hope this powerful post of yours makes a big difference to our mentality. Tackling with garbage is becoming Herculean with absolutely no civic sense from the citizens.
Oh yes.. it’s truly a Herculean task and let’s hope for the better….
Thanks for stopping by Sunita 🙂
The right point of Responsible Tourism, Archana! Every one has a specific role to play here!
But everyone should understand that too sir… guess that it the big issue right now… 🙁
it is funny i must say .. because in my travels back to india I have seen that people especially INDIANS at heathrow airport are so clean , if they buy a sweet they will throw the wrapper in the bin and the SAME person once they land in delhi , will throw the wrapper on the ROAD..
its in OUR DNA to be like that when we are in the country .. I think there should be a rule if we find anyone a FINE issued , here I got a fine book and its 60pounds 🙂
keeps everyone in check when it comes to money
Bikram’s
Whoa! Now that’s an eye opener when you mentioned that in Paris you saw garbage all around. I have generally heard Indians littering in India but not when they go abroad since they are worried about the rules and regulations. But it’s really sad that tourists end up going and spoil a place without a care in the world. No one really cares how such actions would affect our future generations 🙁