Beautiful old buildings, so much history, so many fortunes built and destroyed here. And of course, the red walls, red not due to paint, but red due to millions of my fellow countrymen (yes, MEN only) spitting 'paan' (betel leaf with tobacco and other stuff) all over them. Standing there for 5 minutes I counted (yes, counted to satisfy those statistically minded people) 27 different individuals spitting on a single 100 meter stretch of wall. And these were people with nice watches, fancy phones, good clothes, and gold chains (hope this signifies that they were at least school educated working professionals). And this was on a Saturday afternoon! I wonder what it would be on a regular office day in the morning... no wonder those walls are red!
And then I thought, this is the case across all cities in India where people eat 'paan'. Compare this part of Mumbai to the major areas of Bangalore tells an interesting story. The Bangalore area is cleaner. Maybe the municipal commission there is more professional (although I doubt it) or the people there litter less (they don't). But what IS less there the number of 'paan' shops. A LOT lesser. Which means lesser number of people chewing it. And that means lesser red spit marks. And while no Singapore (which I have seen only in photos), Bangalore is a lot cleaner than Mumbai. Population size and density aside.
Unfortunately, most Indians think of spitting on the road as their birth right, protected by the constitution, and given to them as a privilege by the gods. So, our country will continue to remain a filthy dirty one till we ban the 'paan' completely! It wont clean up the country all at once, at least it will be a BIG start!!
