BENGALURU: While city folks were cleaning up their own houses for diwali festivities, a group of anonymous volunteers spent their weekend cleaning up one of the city’s notorious black spots.
K.R. Market is one of the most crowded and the oldest markets in the city, where anything neat and tidy comes as a surprise and does not last that way for long. The Ugly Indian is setting an example of positive change.
“It used to be a beautiful place once, I remember. It's been neglected for so long, it seems almost impossible to change, there’s always garbage around and it looks so ugly, you don’t even feel like cleaning.” complained 60 year old Abdul Aziz, a regular at the market.
While it seemed next to impossible to change this mindset, this is a start, said Sunil, a volunteer from The Ugly Indian, who are doing a spotfix at the market complex. “From past many years, KR market has become an eyesore. Anything done to keep the complex clean and attractive does not last for long, but it’s a start.”
True to their motto: Kaam Chalu Mooh Bandh! (Only Work, No Talk!), the volunteers got to work with their protective gloves and aprons and in about four hours the complex saw a pleasant change. Colourful geometric floral patterns adorned the wall instead of the usual advertisements.
Sathya Lazaras, a fruit merchant who has been doing business in this part of the city for almost 20 years, remarked that more spot fixes like this could change the face of the complex, but it has to be properly maintained.
“K R Market complex has been in a bad shape ever since it was built. There was hardly any maintenance. It is a welcome initiative and these kind of initiatives should be encouraged, but at the end of the day we need to take care of it, after all, if we don’t, who will?” The Ugly Indian has fixed over 400 spots in Bengaluru alone and is also operational in other cities all over India.
