Haatala valan (good habits)

When it comes to cleaning the house, I was not a very big fan of cleaning it up like a maniac every minute and making sure that every second, each and every thing is in it's proper place. I used to be very lazy and I rarely bothered unless some guests were stopping by. Even then, it'd be a sweep-below-the-carpet kind of cleaning up. Here's the funny thing. Every person has his/her own grime-tolerance level. People with lower levels of grime tolerance are forever running around with brooms either behind dirt or behind higher-grime-tolerant-people (Mom: "Clean this room up or I'll hit you with my broom!")

However, for some strange reason, my grime tolerance level has reduced and I'm making sure that the house is clean and everything is pretty much in its place. Of course my high grime tolerant brother can't find most of his things now, but I'm feeling good. I feel like coming back to my place at the end of the day, and if I take care to clean up every day, then it doesn't become such a huge task that I feel like cleaning up only after a 100 days. So, thoda far, majha haatala valan lagalach shevati (I developed a good habit).

Cleaning up for the sake of it and cleaning up as a habit are 2 completely different things. There's also a lot of planning involved. Once you cover basic cleaning, you think of decoration, beautification.. Let's shift our focus to the city level. When I see well planned roads, sewage systems, transportation, I imagine a very big woman with a very orderly mind and very big hands (with good valan or habits), planning the way her "home" should be and then taking painstaking efforts to make it just so.

If we go towards developed countries, why do their cities look so well planned and structured? Doesn't it look like there is one entity, who might be feeling that the piece of land given to him/her is actually like her home and he/she has to take the utmost care to make it clean, accessible and pretty? Doesn't it look like ticha kevha tyacha haata la valan asel? If you are good at planning such a great city, making proper use of the space given to you and also making sure that any maintenance work is immediately taken up, I believe tumcha haata la changla valan ahe. I also believe, that as Indian citizens, we need to practise haatacha valan when we are out on the roads. Most importantly, I believe, in important positions in our govt (urban devpt), we NEED people jyancha haatala valan ahe. Well structed cities which work efficiently dont come with sweep-below-the-carpet cleaning. They can only come with people who have good habits to begin with. That also includes you and me.