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The blight of social responsibility

Back again after a long time...I felt compelled to write

Write about the big images the words 'social responsibility' conjure up in the minds of people. You think of this big company out to do social good in whatever small way they can.

Right! I agree completely.

But what happens when the product of that very company is littered all over a virginal landscape?
Should the company also not educate you and me on how to best dispose the trash that they are helping us in creating?
Sounds muddled? Let me give you an example...

I visited Kashmir recently...and its everything the poets make it out to be...heaven on earth.
Life is definitely returning to normal for the average Kashmiri and Srinagar is beginning to assume the hues of a tourist town. We were lucky to see it a little unspoiled having gone in the off season. The winter harshness gives it a stark unparralleled beauty, all its own.

From Srinagar, we went further up to Gulmarg. Climbing up to its highest accesible point (13500 feet) you can see the Himalayan range in all its splendour.
You look at K2 and the Harmukh and innumerable other unnamed mountains...breathe in the biting cold fresh air...get lost in the majesty of nature...and walk forward to get lost in it all.

AND SUDDENLY...your feet go scrunch on something...you look down and realise that you have walked onto an empty chips packet. IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE!!!

Are we fair in littering this virginal landscape? Is the man/woman/child who buys that packet for a measly Rs. 10/- even aware of the word 'littering'?
Is it not then the 'social responsibility' off the company to bring about this awareness. A do not litter sign on that self same packet hardly makes a silent shout for this cause.
When are we as literate, socially conscious citizens going to make the companies aware?

Is anybody listening?

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