#MondayBlogs - It's time to clean up

“Wake up, wake up…”

The mighty husband is shouting.

I hate to wake up in the morning, especially on weekends. However, no one is bothered about it.

“Wake up, wake up… we have to go to Rishikonda, we decided, and you agreed”. He continued shouting.

Really, what I agreed to when I was in a good mood, cannot still be applicable on a Sunday morning at 5.30 AM. I DON’T THINK SO.

The mighty husband tried to kiss me, like I am some sleeping witch (I don’t like to call myself a witch; however I am sure that’s what he thinks about me). All I can feel is his mustache on my lips.

I am more annoyed than I was before.

“Please Wake up”.

I finally decided to get up, not for him, but to wear my new torn-off jeans pink shorts, which fits me only in the mornings.

We rode to Rishikonda Beach.

After reaching, he asked me whether I want to jog. The answer is a very obvious NO. And he took off jogging, and I am standing on the beach at 6.20 AM in the morning.

Someone, please suggest to me how to kill my husband without getting caught.

I decided to roam around when I saw a group of people who were cleaning the beach. And the OCD in me kicked in. I am a cleanliness freak, really I am, asked the husband, friends, and they can vouch for me.

And I decided to join them. I approach a serious-looking guy (later I came to know his name is Ramesh) and asked him if I can join them. He seemed happy to get an extra pair of hands.

And my cleaning journey started.

TheBeachcleanupclub (Silent volunteers): Thebeachcleanupclub club was started by 3 friends (Ramesh, Jitesh, Satyanand Prasad).

It all started when they went to the beach a day and got really annoyed with the plastic been piled up all over. Instead of blaming the government or the people around, they thought why don't we clean up the beach whenever it is possible for each of us.

The idea eventually transformed into weekend cleanup drives. It was a great thought working for nature, for the just two hours of our weekends.

Mission:
We need to create awareness in people in terms of why the waste is been pumped up on the shore, 70% of the plastic which is been filled on the shore is from the drainage which dumps the wastewater to the beach along with the plastic waste. We need to educate people not to throw plastic waste like (Milk packets, oil packets, and other plastics) into the drainage in front of their houses, instead, they can store them and give them to GVMC people or to any recycling organizations so that they can make eco-products out of it.

We urge people around,
“We all live in this Mother Earth and we are responsible for the things we are doing around. Every single conscious initiative we take towards plastic usage would really make this world a beautiful place" 

Vision:
TheBeachcleanupclub is not an organization or an NGO, we are a bunch of friends who took this decision to do better things for this Mother Nature.

We would love to expand our wings towards different activities like planting trees, educating children on this, etc. that way we all are going to make a huge difference to our environment.

And just like that, I am part of a group which actually is making a difference in their small way.

We clean various beaches in Vizag.

I made a very good friend name Srikant, he is kind of crazy like me. While cleaning, we chat all the time.

Apart from him, there is Ananda, who is super good at cleaning. Rosy, beauty with brain and I am pulling her legs all the time.  Ramesh, he is so serious all the time. Jitesh, he is so dedicated with some crazy hair.

We have collected at least 2000 beer bottles (I had no idea people drink so much), more than a ton of plastics, and many more items.

To sum it up, all I can say is, this is the very first time in my life, I look forward to waking up early in the morning that is also on weekends. This is a big improvement for a lazy-ass person like me. I look forward to the Sundays, meeting fellow beach cleaners, and continue making a difference in my tiny way.

Happy Cleaning