{"id":578,"date":"2010-12-20T16:32:23","date_gmt":"2010-12-20T11:02:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/e.amritapuri.org\/abc\/?p=578"},"modified":"2010-12-20T16:39:20","modified_gmt":"2010-12-20T11:09:20","slug":"where-has-the-old-collectorate-gone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/e.amritapuri.org\/abc\/archives\/578","title":{"rendered":"Where has the old Collectorate gone?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Imagine the wonder – \u00a0Bring in an army of 1,240 committed volunteers, hundreds of brooms and brushes and four hours later, one asks, \u201cWhat is this spic and span Collectorate standing in all beauty, wearing a fragrance of refreshing cleanliness?\u00a0 Where has the old Collectorate gone?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Collectorate is in Ernakulam –\u00a0 one of the biggest govt. office complexes and frequented daily by many citizens.\u00a0 It occupies an area of about 12 acres, including a big office complex of 5 floors and is enveloped by thick growth of bushes and trees with lots of small and huge objects strewn around, heavily littered with all kinds of garbage. \u00a0A clean and beautiful Collectorate would serve as a finest example of a clean and beautiful India. \u00a0And the AmalaBharatam Campaign was up for the task.<\/p>\n

AmalaBharatam Campaign (ABC) is envisioned as a public platform to kindle awareness in the hearts and minds of people and to usher in a new era of cleanliness and hygiene throughout the length and breadth of India.<\/p>\n

4th<\/sup> Sunday, Clean Sunday<\/a><\/em> is a project under ABC designed to realize our dreams of a clean and beautiful India. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Through it, the Public is invited to join together to clean their own premises and serve as an inspiration to others.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Nov 28th<\/sup> was to be ABC\u2019s very first 4th<\/sup> Sunday, Clean Sunday. <\/em>And the setting was the Collectorate for the sevaks of Ernakulam. <\/em>It turned out to be a major event, beyond all expectations.<\/p>\n

The Logistics and Planning<\/strong><\/p>\n

This was a very finely tuned operation, which went off with clock like precision. For about a week prior, dozens of Amma\u2019s disciples and members of ABC toiled for long hours, planning and organizing this gigantic operation of unprecedented proportions. Lots of help was provided by the sanitation department as well as the forward-looking Collector Beena who was immensely supportive. <\/strong><\/p>\n

The goal<\/strong><\/p>\n

The overall purpose of AmalaBharatam Campaign\u00a0 is to clean, beautify and green.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 For the Collectorate property, the challenges were multifold:<\/p>\n

a)\u00a0 To clean up the entire land of about 5.25 lakh square feet square foot by square foot. Mow the grass, pick up garbage, and remove all objects. Plant saplings once the area has been cleaned. \u00a0Sort the waste and put in bags to be buried in pits.<\/p>\n

b) To thoroughly clean tens of thousands of square feet of building –\u00a0 including dozens of rooms, halls, toilets, etc\u2026<\/p>\n

c) Clean the public area including roads and wasteland heavily littered with trash.<\/p>\n

The program began at sharp 7.30 AM with the group from (Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences) AIMS.\u00a0 They consisted of students, professors, and staff from all the various departments.<\/p>\n

After all the volunteers took the \u201cAmalaBharatam\u201d oath, the program <\/em>was inaugurated by Dr. Beena the Collector of Ernakulam District. Taking a broom in their hands, Collector Beena and Mayor Tony initiated the first cleaning by collecting the garbage. The early morning crisp breeze was fragrant with the anticipation and joy of the students.<\/p>\n

Each of the six AIMS groups took up the station allotted to them.\u00a0 Their uniforms of gloves and masks were worn. Tools were taken up. \u00a0Simultaneously, 1240 pairs of hands started working.<\/p>\n

As the mercury started rising, the decibel level rose. \u00a0A JCB, earth-moving machine roared into action.\u00a0\u00a0 Pickup trucks started plying furiously, busy collecting and dumping trash. \u00a0Small groups started singing. There are rib-splitting jokes all around. Brushes were scrubbing the wet soapy corridor making a sound like western music. \u00a0It is a veritable carnival.<\/p>\n

The work started with the ceiling fans on the top floor. \u00a0Every inch was cleaned and scrubbed.\u00a0 Even the shelves were dusted and wiped clean. Unwanted books, stationery, and dumped furniture lying around were unceremoniously removed cleaned and disposed off. \u00a0All the office in-charges of the concerned departments were there to assist and point out areas in need.<\/p>\n

Even the toilets and the public urinals were not spared the meticulous touch.\u00a0 One cleaning group also had to deal with a snake climbing one of the office walls!<\/p>\n

The roads you see in the photographs were not taken in Singapore. \u00a0They are our own Ernakulam roads, just looking dainty and elegant after the Midas touch of ABC! \u00a0\u00a0All the rubble and the heaps of earth, pebbles, stones, and boulders had been removed.<\/p>\n

From all parts of the campus, the ubiquitous plastic, organic and metallic waste, paper and what not, were cleared, sorted, and stuffed into trash bags of different colors and disposed off.<\/p>\n

During the cleanup, there was another surprise in store. While clearing the grounds of the tall dense, growth of bushes in order to plant saplings, what did they encounter? \u00a0A couple of four wheeled vehicles, which had been buried for years in the growth!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The whole program was to end at 11.30 AM, but that was not to be. You had to see it to believe it! \u00a0The ABC organizers had not foreseen the additional drove of devotees coming forward to participate. \u00a0Just as AIMS was wrapping up, 250 newcomers came with renewed enthusiasm, stretching the cleanup till the last minutes of 7.30 PM.<\/p>\n

Having accomplished their mission, the army was now boarding more than dozen buses back to AIMS.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 After twelve hours, the curtain fell on the marathon show at 7.30PM.<\/p>\n

Tired though they were, the rafters of the buses were echoing with songs and joyous laughter of the students. Their garments were drenched in sweat and muscles were aching for little rest, but their eyes were glistening with pride. For they were no amateurs – in the field of selfless service they were veterans! They had done it many times before. Proud of being Indian, they the inveterate messengers of Amma \u2013 they are the very future of India. They knew their commitment to ABC, and its new brainchild \u201c4th<\/sup> Sunday, Clean Sunday\u201d.<\/p>\n

May this act set a new precedent inundating the heart and consciousness of all true Indians.<\/p>\n

– Janardana Krishna<\/p>\nngg_shortcode_0_placeholder\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Imagine the wonder – \u00a0Bring in an army of 1,240 committed volunteers, hundreds of brooms and brushes and four hours later, one asks, \u201cWhat is this spic and span Collectorate standing in all beauty, wearing a fragrance of refreshing cleanliness?\u00a0 Where has the old Collectorate gone?\u201d The Collectorate is in Ernakulam –\u00a0 one of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1,12],"tags":[22],"class_list":["post-578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-clean","category-photos","tag-ernakulam"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5vfgG-9k","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/e.amritapuri.org\/abc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/e.amritapuri.org\/abc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/e.amritapuri.org\/abc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e.amritapuri.org\/abc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e.amritapuri.org\/abc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/e.amritapuri.org\/abc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/e.amritapuri.org\/abc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e.amritapuri.org\/abc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e.amritapuri.org\/abc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}