A Life Full of Trash But no Cash

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A Life Full of Trash But no Cash



R Swaminathan



A search for a roof starts with a 2 BHK apartment to accommodate a nuclear family
and guests including parents; but a
few years later, the place seems to be uninhabitable, and a change becomes
absolutely necessary all because the
three-decade family has accumulated huge luggage that is mere junk. The electronic
waste problem is assuming
incredibly high proportions not only for the nation but also for the individual family.

The love for gadgets and appliances grows even as the family becomes bigger and
prosperous. Some of them become scrap
due to wear and tear and when spares are not available or when it cannot be
serviced. Sleeker models with latest
features replace the old faithfuls. Ask any couple who have lived in a metro for
over 10 years about the useless wares
they have with them. The list will invariably start with the mixie, followed by the
VCR and MP3 players, tape
recorder, two-in-one radio, transistors of various sizes, grinder (old stone model),
boxes of cassettes, etc.

No one wants to discard electronic waste perhaps because it will fetch a measly sum
when sold as scrap or because the
absence of it will leave an empty space on the shelves. Those who have become
computer savvy in recent times have
monitors lying packed in a corner, and even some peripherals quite obsolete now. The
LCD monitor and other hardware of
the PC will be new. Usually the first acquisition is a showpiece and the count of
junk starts from the portico and
extends all the way to the kitchen and balcony.

The kitchen loft is full with all the old utensils, given right from the time of
marriage (but never used), the old
water purifier (it is still there because you get only `1,000 and that too in
exchange for a new model costing about
`10,000), a vacuum cleaner from the '80s and a wooden crate or iron trunk full of
dolls (marriage sentiment again!).
Coming to the balcony, you find a heap of plastic trash of all hues and varieties
and empty containers of cosmetics
adorning the rack. Your heart breaks because you are offered just `2 per kilo for
the plastic and cassettes.

You end up calling the pest controller because of the legacy that is lying with you.
Anyone picking a quarrel with his
better half over things to get rid of is simply told he deserved to be dumped in the
Bay of Bengal. If you are a brave
heart, you will take a peek into her almirah full of clothes, most of them never
revealed to even the man of the house
because he would curtail further spending on those items.

It is a naked truth that no family even cares to dispose of the inners and
undergarments, storing them for a rainy
day. So you can imagine why you have to look for a bigger place to live --- not
because your family has grown in size
but simply because there is no room to keep your trash. “What is this life if full
of trash but no scope to convert
into cash?”, I wrote a verse, reminded of the poem  Leisure by William Henry Davies.

A lurking danger in an ATM

A lurking danger in an ATM with glass panes above on the first floor.

There are a lot of freak accidents possible in Chennai and the threat can be lurking in maanja thread and even in a glass pane of a bank branch which houses an ATM on the ground floor. For example, we have the Indian Bank branch in Royapettah on Gaudiya Math Road. A few guys were waiting outside the Royapettah branch of Indian Bank on last Saturday (March 31, 2012) at 11 a.m. and there was a customer (a lady) spending unusually long time to do her work inside even as  the to-be victim of the day waited with two others on the road outside the ATM patiently for his turn. Suddenly, there was a sound signalling breaking of a glass pane. Pushed with great force, it sputtered and crashed on people below and injured only one person badly in the head.
A member of staff of the branch on the first floor pushed the window pane outside to let air in because there was a power cut at that time. The glass pane broke into small pieces quite unexpectedly and there was a shower of glass on those below including a member of stafff and a member of public. The bag the latter carried was filled with glass pieces of all sizes, all small ones only.Thank God.

The window glass pane which you see in IT companies on the sides to give a rich look broke into small pieces in the air and a shower hit the head of the member of public who started bleeding and crying for aid. Deep cuts in the head and bruises all over the body and blood gushing out of the head injuries prompted a bank staff to rush the victim to Isabel hospital for first aid and the bank shelled out nearly Rs 2000 to dress the wounds and for first aid. Two stitches were put to arrest the blood flow.The victim with blood gushing out was advised a shower in a nearby parlour or even a tonsure to get rid of possible glass pieces on the scalp by the duty doctor in the casualty department!

Tablets were prescribed for the victim who took an auto and returned home. He has been advised dressing on alternate days for ten days before the stitches are removed. Luckily, the glass pane broke into small pieces in the air before coming down. If it had come down as a small plate, the victim would have been no more to tell the story to any one.That the staff in the minor OT in the same hospital were very courteous during the first dressing is another positive story about people who vowed to serve patients.But on Wednesday when the victim went to the same Isabel hospital for a dressing of the wounds, he was kept waiting outside the mini operation theatre where all the rooms had been occupied by doctors to attend to their regular patients. As the ATM glass victim had no doctor connected with the treatment having been attended by the casualty ward duty doctor, he was made to wait indefinitely. He lost his patience after two hours and moved on to Ashwini Soundara Nursing Home on Kasturi Rangan Road where  he got the dressing down in five minutes for the same fee of Rs 50. When he went to the bank to look for the manager, he was not there and was still on leave. The staff who came with him to the hospital on Saturday was however there and was profusely thanked for the timely care he showed to the bleeding victim. The victim decided not to pester the bank further with bills for dressing or removing the sutures and his travel expenses any longer. He hoped to recover fully within a few days.

A piece of advice  here for banks: do not have glass panes which open outside just at the entrance to any ATM in front of the branch. Like Many other bank ATMs, this Royapettah Indian Bank ATM machine has also been badly positioned in the sense, there is no curtain or poster behind the glass and one can see the customer collecting all this money from the road. Ideally, many ATMs face the road and the customer draws money showing his back to those outside. This is absolutely safe for the public. Hope all banks will take proper steps to ensure total safety at the ATMs very soon.

Banks should not take on rent premises which have no setback space in the front and  locate an ATM there. The security person can become a casualty any day any time, and the cash in the branch may not be enough to compensate his poor family, due to the negligence of the bank staff impelled to open the window when there is a power failure.

Please write on your FB page hidden threats to citizens so that places which the people frequent are made safe from at least this angle, if not others about which read  now and then in the media.