Kachre Wale Bhaiya: Mumbai's actual lifeline :)

Is there anything more disgusting than walking past a garbage collection van?

Complete with multiple heaps of domestic refuse, junk and scrap the humongous truck struggles its way through the narrow lanes of Mumbai bringing with it a strong unbearable stench and a grim on every passerby’s face.

With the “sapno ki nagri” producing more than 6500 tonnes of waste on an average every single day, the Municipal Corporation and citizens undoubtedly faces the heat, but it is the garbage collecting vans and the people employed here who suffer the burns!

Have you ever wondered about the secret life of people sitting in these vans/trucks? What is the price they pay for being a kachra wala? And what if one day, they all decide not go to work?!

From working in extremely unhealthy and unhygienic surroundings to being looked down upon and suffering social isolation, they have a lot on their plate! Picking up waste such as plastic, human and animal excreta, industrial and medical waste with bare hands and an uncovered face, these souls are subjected to a lot of serious health hazards such as allergies, dengue, malaria, Aids and depression. They work on ridiculously low wages and are seldom treated with respect.

Though in the other part of the world, a “garbage collector’s job” is considered to be the highest paying dirty job, the scenario is pretty different in India. The people employed here are either unemployed migrants or those from extremely neglected and backward section of the society.  

I am sure we all have at least a zillion times wondered as to, “How do they even drive this stinky vehicle?”

But riding everything on the back of those nasty trucks, these people are the real fighters. They are the actual citizens of Mumbai. Picking up waste from other people’s houses without pulling their face demands a sense of belongingness and a hell lot of dedication.

If one day our kachra wale bhaiya is late, we start chanting “bhaiya kab aenge… bhaiya kab aenge!” But hardly anyone recognizes when the bins are timely emptied every day. It is as if they are eligible only for the dirty picture.  

My heart sinks every time I see them getting scolded or being mistreated. Every time I see them do their job with a smile, I feel guilty of all those times when I frowned over petty things and made a fuss out of nothing!

They are like the morning birds. No one knows where they disappear after they have completed collecting and dumping the garbage! Their semi-invisible world needs light. More light.

In short, they are the life line of Mumbai. Respect them! If in spite of such horrific conditions they choose to go to work, I am sure we too can pull ourselves together every Monday morning and stop being a complaint box. It’s time we learn something from them.

Don’t you think so?