Myth #1 – 'All of India is Dirty'

When you say you live in India 🌴, people often wrinkle their noses, as if they’ve just stepped into a cow pat 🐄.

And they ask:— So… they say it’s really dirty there? How do you even live like that? 🤔

It’s hard not to respond with a question of your own: Can you even imagine what a country with 1.4 billion people 🌏👥 actually looks like?

🤯 India Through the Lens of Math (and a Bit of Karma)

• Area of Russia — 17.1 million km² 🇷🇺

• Area of India — 3.3 million km² 🇮🇳

➡️ India is 5 times smaller by territory.

• Population of Russia — 140 million 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦

• Population of India — over 1.4 billion 👥

➡️ India is 10 times more populous.

Now imagine a Russia with ten times more people and five times less land.That’s 50 times the population density 📈.So here’s the question: where do you put the trash, the people, and the patience? 🗑️🤷‍♂️And yet, India somehow manages. 🙌

It’s also worth remembering: India isn’t just one country, but more like many countries under one flag.Each state has its own culture, language, development level, and attitude toward cleanliness.We’ll mostly be speaking about Kerala — so keep in mind:What’s true here might not be true elsewhere, and vice versa.

🪴 Kerala: Green, Not Sterile

Yes, waste exists in Kerala — as it does everywhere.

But it depends on time, place, and context 📆.

🌞 In the off-season, the streets are quite clean.

Locals clean in front of their homes not because they’re told to, but out of long-standing habit.

In villages, people sweep with coconut brooms once or even twice daily. 🧹🥥🍃

No signs. No fines.

Still, waste is a real issue — and local governments are working on it. 🛠️

🏛️ What’s Being Done Officially?

Here are some key initiatives:

• 🌿 Suchitwa Mission

• ♻️ Clean Kerala Company

• 🚛 Haritha Karma Sena

In some areas of Trivandrum and Kochi, things work like clockwork: colored bins, waste separation, recycling, composting 🌈. But in our panchayat (village council), garbage is picked up once a month — and only one type, usually plastic 🧴.

What about paper?

Glass?

Food waste?

👉 Burn, store, or pray to Ganesha 🐘🙏

🏡 How Do We Handle It?

We store recyclables in a second kitchen (yes, really), then drop them off at a sorting center about once a month.

For food scraps, we use a home composter. After 30 days, microbes turn it all into nutrient-rich soil 🌱🌸.

📦 Locals Throw Out Almost Nothing

Keralites buy only what they need: a handful of rice 🍚, a couple of tomatoes 🍅, a coconut 🥥, some spices 🌶️ — all in cloth or paper bags.Their system is simple:

• 🥗 Food waste goes to compost or a pit

• 🧴 Plastics and metals are stored until pick-up every 1–2 months

• 🔥 Paper and dry leaves are burned

Yes, there are exceptions. Some dump food waste in bushes or the ocean.But we’ve seen the same thing in Moscow apartment stairwells — daily.

📅 Waste Is Seasonal (and Tourist-Driven)

For most of the year, Kerala is clean.

But during tourist season, things get messier 🧳.

Main culprits? Tourists from other parts of India — and occasionally from Europe or Russia. We've literally heard this:

“Just toss it in the bushes. The monsoon will wash it away!” 🌧️

And then it ends up in the ocean 🌊.

And then they swim in it.

Trashy spa logic at its finest.

💧 Hygiene & the King of the Road: Ashok Leyland 🚍

Kerala is clean not just visually — but physically.Imagine boarding a packed Ashok Leyland bus during rush hour.

It’s +32°C (feels like +40) 🌡️.

No AC. No windows — just metal shutters.Ashok Leyland is a Kerala icon: massive, heavy, loud 📢.

Even trucks give way.

Locals call it “the elephant” — because of its size, its noise, and its road rage 🐘💨.

And suddenly you realize:

"you’re the only one who smells". 🤭

Locals shower 2–3 times a day, change clothes, and wash them daily.

Even at full capacity — no body odor.

🧼 Swachh Bharat — The Largest Cleanup in History

In 2014, the Indian government launched Swachh Bharat Abhiyan — the Clean India Mission 🇮🇳.

It began on Gandhi’s birthday, October 2nd, and became the largest sanitation campaign in human history.

Goals:

• Build toilets across India — especially in villages 🚽

• Implement centralized garbage collection and recycling ♻️

• Promote public hygiene awareness 🧹

• Involve everyone — from schoolkids to celebrities 🎓🎬

🔗 Official site: https://swachhbharatmission.gov.in/ 

📊 Results:

• Over 110 million toilets built

• 600,000+ villages declared Open Defecation Free (ODF)

• Recognized globally by the World Bank and UNICEF as a model for civic transformation

Implementation varies by state — but it’s the first time in India’s history that cleanliness was made a national priority.

🧾 Final Thought

Yes, India has a trash problem.

But India is changing — right before our eyes.

Delhi, Gurugram, Allahabad, Navi Mumbai — all these cities are becoming visibly cleaner every year 🌳.

Kerala is moving the same way.

India doesn’t have to be your favorite place.

But if you show up with an open mind, a sense of humor, and a bar of soap —

She’ll likely welcome you in return.

🚿 And even let you take a shower.

♨️ Maybe even with hot water.

🧘 India Opens as You Deserve

Come with the mindset that “India is dirty, loud, and full of dung” — and that’s what you’ll find.

You’ll miss the coconuts, flowers, lush greenery, sea, smiles, and quiet local kindness 🌺🌴😊India is ancient.

It reveals herself based on what you bring to her.India doesn’t reveal herself to those who judge — only to those who observe. 🙏