Ab Montu Bolega!

For a new sunrise!

 Hello Reader,

I am Montu. I am 21 years old.

I live in a village in the outskirts of a big city. I need not tell you the name of the city or my village. That is because the incident that I want to narrate is not the story of my village alone. It is the story of hundreds of thousands of villages all over India.

When you live in a village that lies in the outskirts of a big city, there are advantages and disadvantages. We are just a stone throw away from all the glitz and glamour of a thriving metropolitan city. The vibes of excitement comes floating to our little village too.

All was well until a few years ago. On a fateful day, our village zamindars agreed to allow the municipality of the big city to use a barren land in our village as a garbage dump. That was the death knoll on us. Initially, we were not concerned as the area was far away from the main areas of our village. Soon, the stinking pile of waste started creating havoc in our lives. It started polluting the water in the nearby river, which was the main source for our farm irrigation and drinking water for our cattle. Ground water also became toxic soon. Death started its ominous dance and very soon, our village transformed from the serene heaven to a graveyard. The rich moved away from the village, leaving us less privileged to deal with the situation.

I study in the city. With encouragement and help from my college mates, I decided to bring together the people of my village to protest against using our village as a garbage dump. We too had the right to live a happy and healthy life. We had remained silent victims for long. I understood that silence kills.

 Kyuki Bin Bole Ab Nahi Chalega #AbMontuBolega.

I started the campaign along with a few other youngsters. We went from house to house creating awareness about the dangers of the garbage that was being dumped everyday into our village. Very soon, the entire village joined in and a few brave ones started a non-violent hunger strike against the municipality authorities of the great city to help us.

We blocked the dump trucks that came everyday and sent them back even when the police threatened us with lathis and water bullets. The voice of the village could not be suppressed for long and the Supreme Court ordered the municipality authorities to take actions to clean the area and restore it to livable conditions. We got support from environmentalists all over the country and even from the World Health Organization whom we had approached.

It was then that we realized the power of our voices.

Join us in this campaign and raise your voice against any atrocity that you find dominating your society. Many Montus out there remain silent spectators.

Be a part of #AbMontuBolega campaign, began by Strepsils, where we are raising our voice against many social evils.

Be it cleanliness, homosexuality, female infanticide, discrimination based on colour, domestic violence, rape, speaking about social taboos, gender inequalities or animal abuse. In our country, there exist issues against which we need to raise our voice. Let us campaign against all the vices that exist in our nation.

Let us hope for a new sunrise.

For more details about this campaign, visit,

http://www.abmontubolega.com/, as well as the pages of Strepsils on Facebook andTwitter.

With Regards,

Montu.

Image Source: Strepsils Facebook Page

This post is written as a part of Indihappy Hours on Indiblogger along with Strepsils.