The 71st Republic Day of India was observed being celebrated in every corner of the country in unique ways. Though I cannot take you to every corner of India, I would like to take you to one such corner in the heart of the Guwahati city.
Midway Journey, a Non-Governmental Organisation, situated in the city took the initiative to celebrate the very special 71st Republic Day of India in many unique and captivating ways at the Uzanbazar ghat near Guwahati High Court.
The Midway Journey, inspired by Midway Island, started the year 2020 with ‘Plastic or Planet 2.0’ a five-month cleanup drive in which they focus to clean the major river banks of Brahmaputra in the city alongside creating awareness regarding household waste management. The organization was created to reduce and prevent the harm caused to nature and animal life by human-generated waste. Waste management in 2020 is a global issue and Midway Journey wishes to contribute its bit.
Although nearly 90% of our household waste is recyclable or reusable, most of it ends up in rivers and oceans due to negligence, lack of awareness and mismanagement. And therefore, the Republic Day of 2020 was devoted to cleaning the river bank at Uzanbazar Ghat and creating social awareness through a perfect mixture of mime acts, drama, music and cultural programs.
The drive was joined by various organizations, groups, and known artists and musicians such as Fridays for Future (fff) Guwahati, Extinction Rebellion (XR) Guwahati Chapter, Northeast Educational Trust (NEET), Akshar Foundation, Ashadeep NGO, poetry group Irshaad, music artists Aughad, Bottle Rockets India, and Nilotpal Bora, Artist Santanu Hazarika, Hrishikesh Borah, Preetam Mahanta and many more to name.
The 5th river bank clean up of 2020 by 'The Midway Journey' started with Uzanbazar riverbank cleanup at 8 a.m with the participation of more than 100 individuals. All the waste collected was as usual recycled, up-cycled and non-recyclables were used in making eco-bricks, which are the three best ways to manage solid waste.
The clean-up was followed by national flag hoisting at the bank in front of Umananda Island, the smallest river island in the world. The flag hoisting ceremony was accompanied by our very own national anthem
जन गण मन अधिनायक जय हे
भारत भाग्य विधाता।
पंजाब सिन्ध गुजरात मराठा
द्रविड़ उत्कल बंग।
विंध्य हिमाचल यमुना गंगा
उच्छल जलधि तरंग।
तव शुभ नामे जागे
तव शुभ आशीष मागे।
गाहे तव जयगाथा।
जन गण मंगलदायक जय हे
भारत भाग्य विधाता।
जय हे, जय हे, जय हे
जय जय जय जय हे॥
- Rabindra Nath Tagore
The program geared up with the drama performed by The team of The Midway Journey depicting humans depleting nature and mother earth followed by a mime act of a group of school students led by Northeast Educational Trust, an NGO working for the all-round growth of underprivileged children, expressing their
concern about the civilized world creating waste in an uncivilized manner. Children always find the best ways to represent their concerns and the mime with their faces painted with musk represents hypocrisy prevailing in society. Children from Ashadeep foundation and Akshar foundation taking lead in the ‘Diya art’ competition and music performance created positive vibes with colors and voices.
The further celebration took place through art, poetry, music and sharing a few words with the audience. Poetry group Irshaad participated in the celebration with an open mic poetry session and filled the environment with poetic vibes.
And how can we forget the pride of our state, the medal holders of Assam in Khelo India Youth Games. The medal holders were felicitated with beautiful plants of fenugreek planted in coconut shells and plantable seed pencils made out of newspaper to encourage tree plantation and upcycling of waste.
The artists and children were gifted with beautiful plants of fenugreek planted in coconut shells to encourage tree plantation and upcycling of green waste.
The stage was taken over by music artists Nilotpal Bora, Aughad, and Bottle Rockets performing down the stage and spreading the word cleanliness for better health of the environment and mankind.
And after a wonderful celebration, the crowd took pledge concluding the celebration:
1. আজি মই প্রতিশ্রুতি লওঁ যে মোৰ আবর্জনাৰ দায়িত্ব মই নিজেই ল'ম। (I will be responsible for my waste).
2. মই প্রতিশ্রুতি লওঁ যে যিসকলে মই কৰা আৱৰ্জনা চম্ভালি আহিছে, তেওঁক মই সন্মান কৰিম। (I will respect the people who are handling my waste)
3. I মই প্রতিশ্রুতি লওঁ যে মই মোৰ দৈনন্দিন জীৱনৰ অৱৰ্জনাৰ পৰিমাণ কমাম আৰু আন বহুৰ বাবে উদাহৰণ সম। (I will reduce the amount of waste I create and will be an example for others)
4. শেষত মই প্রতিশ্রুতি লওঁ যে মই মোৰ সকলো কৰ্ম প্ৰতি সতৰ্ক সম আৰু প্ৰত্যেক জীৱক সন্মান কৰিম। (I will be mindful of my actions and respect every living being)
And thus, the 71st Republic Day of India marked itself at the Uzanbazar ghat Guwahati iNDIA.
Note: As concerned citizens of the society, we invite you as well to take part in such great cleanup drives with The Midway journey on upcoming Sundays.
Social Links for The Midway Journey:
A very special thanks to everyone present there for the photographs and videos. Special thanks to Anurag Shrivastava for assistance for the article.