Monday, October 08, 2007

The Garbage Dump

About five minutes's distance from my flat, on the right side of this really crowded road set amongst ghettos, is this garbage dump by a pukur, a pond as they call in bangla. It is beautiful.

I have never seen such beauty in a garbage dump ever before, but believe me, everytime I pass by this heap of waste, I see such a unique snapshot of life.

It's such an intriguing cacophony of life. Two or three tame ducks waddle about it sometimes, but one white broiler, with his bright red head plume and a spotted little shabby grey hen as his companion are the permanant residents of this dump. Also there are a few gay crows hopping about and a particularly strange grey cloured dog. He always sleeps on some side or the other of the dump.

Sometimes there are pieces of brightly coloured tatters of cloth lying about. And sometimes, a steady ring of smoke fumes out of a recently burned heap on the corner of the dump. On the whole, it's a grey and brown color combination I see in the piles of papers, rotting leaves. It's beautiful, if you will believe me...

Gauri Gharpure,
October 8, 2007




6 comments:

Sameera Ansari said...

That is a wonderful expression.Not all in this world have the gift to see beyond what appears to the eyes.Keep it up :)

Unknown said...
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Unknown said...

As they say one should read between the lines.. here u have seen beyond the obvious.. thats an excellent and beautiful description of something that most of the mortals would label as filthy.. keep it going..

संजय said...

this's not d reponsibility of munisipility only to keep a city or any other place clean.so most of us should be aware with this fact

Malay Maniar said...

You have given a paradigm for "Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder". I have also observed that such an observation depends a lot on your state of mind too. If you are really happy, you will find positive aspects in everything you see.
Also one needs to reflect on another point which makes beauty subjective - prejudices. Think about it, what we feel as beautiful or not (in normal circumstances) has a root somewhere in our upbringing.
Your observation displays your will to transcend some accepted norms, and I greatly admire thinking out of the box. Kuddos to you!
To end it, I would like to debate whether simply appreciating beauty as an act is enough or should it be accompanied by some action to justify its value? Think about it...

Jadedism said...

Would be worthwhile to capture the beauty with a click.

Beauty like purpose at times lies hidden in dark deep filthy dumps too!