Skip to main content

Just An Ad


You’ll be interested to know that I work with you. You often hear about me from your dear ones, I go ear-to-ear; sometimes, if a person is passionate about helping others, they will tell you about me; sometimes, you pay to get me; and very rarely, if I feel too bad for you, I simply show up to be your friend. Depends on the kind of suffering you’ve been through, I suppose—karma, as you say.

I’m not bragging but my job is the most important in this world, and the hardest, too. In simpler words, let me explain the ground reality of the work I’ve been tasked with. I remove chewing gums from walls. People have a nasty habit of sticking their own dirt on a property that was never theirs to ruin in the first place. 

Why should you know about me?That's a fair question. If you must know my sob story: I’m dying. People are killing me and my profession—they are choosing to live in filth because if they allow me to do my job, they would have to be better people too.

You would have to be a better person. You’d have to support me, and that's seemingly not acceptable anymore.

You see, chewing gums are spit out of mouths, like words, they stick. Chewing gums are like belief systems mulled over and over by people before they throw it onto the next person, stick it in the walls of another person's heart.

I’m that “guy” who cleans these useless, harmful and fear-inducing belief systems from the walls of your heart.

I’m Awareness.

Right now, now that you’ve read my little advertisement, I must be perching on your ear—if you don't take me in, a part of me dies. I beg you to accept me, and to help enliven my profession again.

I care about my job, it keeps me around. But you should care more: if I die, all of you shall.

Chewing gums are recyclable, help me reinvent better and stronger beliefs. Help me make your mind a better place.

-Hia Vishal Panjabi
Volunteer, Editorial Committee 2024-25

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Street Art - The Voice of Mumbai's Urbanity

“Art imitates life.”  Art is a mirror showing the beautiful and grotesque face of our world. Through time, all forms of art have been windows into social structures, lifestyles, and beliefs of civilizations. Transformative art has evolved over centuries as the voice of people of their times, inspiring change from a shift in social norms to war revolutions.  ["Humanity" at Sassoon Docks. Photo Credit: Special Arrangement, The Hindu] A tedious train ride in the mornings, the stationary traffic in the evenings, in the gray monotonous life of Mumbai, some days my eyes find the gorgeous colors on mossy walls and railway bridges, across old complexes and abandoned warehouses. The Street Art of Mumbai - present everywhere, unnoticed yet leaving its mark.   From the cultural abundance of the city we inhabit to the push for human rights and protest against climate change, from promoting harmony to lauding the unsung heroes, street art does more than beautify the concrete forest we...
3 comments
Read more

Ending Stigma

  End STIGMA   All face it, but don't express it. There is cure to every pain, Whether it affects you're heart or brain. Different paths along the way, But they weren't meant to stay. In isolation day by day, Wandering far away. Scared of voices, Battling with losses. Chains will be tight, The key is to fight. Stigma encourages secrecy, Remember health is supremacy. Stop making false assumptions, On society's opinions. Seeking counseling or showing signs such sadness, Often misinterpreted as signs of weakness. Try to be more acceptable, It's a disorder that is treatable. Family support can help destigmatize, Treatment and using therapy is the way to normalize. Treat physical and mental health equally, Stigma shouldn't be endorsed silently. It requires a lot more  awareness, To achieve overall wellness. Reluctant smile on face, Everything heals at its pace. ~ Benisha Cardoza    SYBsc 
19 comments
Read more

A Storied Mind

                                             DEPRESSION: A HARMFUL PARASITE I wonder how my life was before I faced you, All the experiences were bright and new. Happiness was my virtue, Positivity was the only value. I was like this in childhood, My life was surrounded with green gardens and woods. Stress free was the environment, Because I was surrounded with the love and warmth of my parents. As I grew up this contentment slowed down, Unhealthy competition was growing around. Peer pressure was never to be bound, Teenage was proving to be foul. My life was as dark as a rain filled cloud, Just like the heavy rains wanting to express my pain out loud. My mind filled with obnoxious thoughts, With all these problems I knew I was alone who fought. The cheerful soul in me had driven away, With my confidence I was no more able to slay, My talkative nature was no where, All I kn...
13 comments
Read more