The rise and fall of a garbage mound

The garbage mound by the busy roadside prospered despite the corporation’s warning notice that said persons littering the place would be prosecuted. The signboard having been disappeared into the pile of wastes, many, believing that the place was one among the corporation’s authorised garbage place, still littered the place by throwing wastes packed in polythene carry bags during the daytime. Domestic refuse packed in colourful Plastic bags bearing the logos of leading departmental stores made the mound a frequent hunting place for rag pickers pursuing treasure in the discarded bundles. The garbage mound situated on a busy roadside of the city mostly got piled up in the darkness. More often, the feeders of the nocturnal monster were responsible citizens who were quite conscious of their misdemeanour.

A couple of years ago, when a nearby drainage choked during the monsoon rains, the corporation cleaners extracted the non-degradable debris which had been plugging the flow and piled it up conveniently in the empty place amid commercial establishments. Gradually the open area, sandwiched between a flour mill and an establishment fenced by high compound wall, flourished as a garbage depositing place. Even as the area was not an authorised garbage place, the corporation started collecting the wastes occasionally. Instead of clogging up the drainage the shop keepers began to dump, mostly non degradable wastes, in the place. The place, in front of a dilapidated shack, came alive during the nights after the vendor of a mobile eatery unit, calling it a day, conveniently emptied the waste drum upon the garbage mound. Stray dogs and pigs would compete for tasting the leftovers in folded plantain leaves.

The subscribers to the garbage mound increased day by day. Domestic waste tightly squeezed in colourful polythene carry bags, worn mattresses and pillows, discarded commodes, outdated computer monitors etc., were some notable constituents of the garbage mound. Many citizens, seemingly aware of the brutality they were causing to the passersby and the surroundings, perpetrated the act of parting with their share of garbage by the place rather clandestinely. Hence it was in the mornings the place showed up gaudily. Sometimes, in the nights, a stylish cruiser would stop by the place and a traveller would quietly extract a few bundles from the rear bonnet to augment the pile before the car vanished into the darkness, giving a strange onlooker the impression of events most detective novels depict.

One human being who mostly took to heart the happenings of each night was the owner of the nearby flour mill. The sleepy old man, during respites of power cuts, would estimate the additions of each night through the wooden lattice veiled with dusty cobwebs. The place stank during rains making the respites miserable to the poor miller. Mosquitoes and house flies, after hours of tireless feeding on the wastes, would visit the mill through the wooden lattice overlooking the place to try a hand on the grains arrayed in lines by the noisy machines. When the old miller tried to sleep before intervals, the mosquitoes, faithful to the core, would alert him to stay awake in case the power supply resumed.

Once when the corporation abolished unauthorised depositing of garbage the area threw up a deserted look. The poor mobile eatery vendor, the worst affected at the sudden restriction, however, secretly entertained the stray dogs by disposing the contents of the waste drum in the place after the miller closed down. The pig herd that frequented the place had by now fled the place leaving the place completely to the street dogs. A bony cow that cherished chewing polythene used to guard the place during the day. The cow occasionally got a garbage bag thrown in by a passerby, braving the reprimand of the furious miller.

To the dismay of the old miller the garbage mound grew once again, more vibrantly this time inviting more stray animals, rag pickers and certain additional patrons victimized by strong restriction on erstwhile nearby garbage places, thanks to the efforts of equals of the miller of those localities. The helpless corporation, having closed the main dumping yard owing to pressure from the nearby inhabitants in the city outskirts, arranged to burn the wastes insitu periodically. The hapless miller’s nostrils resistant to the grain dust had a difficult time coping with the smoke from the garbage; he would silently curse the garbage dumpers amid coughing like a sick one in a sanatorium.

One early morning a troupe of men, accompanied by an earth mover, assembled by the garbage mound, the team had nothing to do with the freshly piled up garbage though. They started demolishing the old shack just behind the garbage mound. Slowly, a new building emerged in the place where once stood an insignificant dilapidated shack. The building turned out to be the elegant one in the locality. The owners of the new shopping mall cleared the garbage mound and put up a big board warning trespassers. The continuous presence of the security staff of the mall by the vicinity discouraged the waste dumpers from littering the place either out of fear or embarrassment.

The citizens of the locality are presently on the lookout for a new place to safely part with their weekly garbage packs.