Imagine walking or driving down a road on a cool summer morning, and out of nowhere, a swanky car drives up, out pops a face and throws out a ball of spit on the road; some of it splatters on you. You mutter, you curse, while the car cruises away, oblivious. A great day officially ruined.
I’m sure all of us have experienced this at least once in our lives. What is it about people that makes them think spitting in public is OK? This very thought became the inspiration for Sumit Singh Bajaj, a Noida resident, to start a pan-India campaign — Quit Spit India.
Sumit Singh Bajaj (right) with Quit Spit India volunteers
Bajaj, a social media expert, shifted to Noida five years back. His house in Noida Sector 42 and its immediate surroundings are spotless. “I try to keep my neighbourhood and city as clean as I can. I don’t believe in armchair criticism; I’ve seen too many people talk about how badly the government handles urban hygiene while doing nothing themselves to better the situation. I make a difference where I can. I think it’s my duty as a responsible citizen,” he says.
When he shifted to Noida, he says, he saw at least three people every day spitting on the roads, throwing out chewing gums and dumping garbage indiscriminately. “I felt disgusted but couldn’t understand how to stop them,” he says. “But then in 2013 I had a brainwave. I thought: Why not use the very medium I specialise in to spread awareness about how unhygienic this habit is. And nowadays that everyone is glued to their gadgets, it would only help my cause.”
He started a Facebook and Twitter campaign called Quit Spit India. In three years, he had convinced 2,333 people to join him on Facebook and got the little yellow birdie to retweet his campaign more than 10,000 times. “I tell people on my Facebook and Twitter pages to take pictures and videos of people spitting in public and post them on social media,” he says. “I try all possible ways to educate fellow citizens on the hazards of spitting and littering in public, but I’ve seen that nothing works like public shaming, not even a cash fine.”
“I feel very strongly about the campaign,” Bajaj adds. “It’s not just a public hazard — people spit out chewing gums, which can prove fatal for birds and animals ingesting them. I make sure I stop every person I see spitting on the road and tell them what a disservice they are doing everyone around.”
Thanks to Bajaj, Sector 42 is a much cleaner place today. When he shifted there, it was little more than a dumping ground for garbage. “Most of this garbage was set on fire, and the whole sector would be full of smoke and a rancid smell. I wrote mail after mail to Noida Authority to fix this, and finally they decided to do something about it,” he says.
He also spoke to the head of a temple in his neighbourhood, which used to belt out loud, religious tunes the whole day. “Being religious is one thing, and annoying the neighbourhood with blaring songs quite another,” he says. “I spoke to the sanctum head, and thankfully he understood what I was saying. They agreed to keep the music within the permitted decibel limit.”
Though mindsets are difficult to alter overnight, Bajaj’s campaign is making a difference one online post at a time. Visit his Facebook page to see for yourself!
