The Goddess of Cleanliness

[Guest guest]

It took a new goddess to keep Sewa Nagar Market clean

Tenzing Lamsang

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=213516

or

http://tinyurl.com/yy4p8t

 

Delhi Newsline

New Delhi, December 17:

The 33-crore gods of the Hindu pantheon has just increased

by one: Swachh Narayani - the presiding deity of

cleanliness in Sewa Nagar market.

 

The goddess has a number of arms - carrying objects as

diverse as a broomstick, a video camera and a pen and

calculator - the last two signifying the power of the pen

over the sword and honesty in transactions respectively.

There's also a lamp, a clock, a conch, a coin and scales

(representing justice for all) in her arsenal.

 

And if you are thinking of dismissing the whole matter as a

joke, read on: not only do the Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs

pay their respects regularly to the idol, bhajans are sung

before her every evening. As for her powers, the presence

alone of the divinity has forced the vendors to keep the area

clean - an event that's nothing short of a miracle.

 

The location of her temple tells the aim of her birth best -

it stands at the entrance of a local park, on what used to be

an urinal and doubled up as an auto-rickshaw stand.

 

The creator of the goddess is the NGO Manushi, led by

Madhu Kishwar, which after a two-year project to keep the

area clean, thought some divine intervention was called for.

And as it turns out, they were right.

 

Local resident Bhagat Singh says Swachh Narayani added a

whole new dimension to the vendors' struggle, drawing not

only on the residents' civic sense but also calling on the

more powerful force of "divine" right and backing.

 

Shopkeeper Dinesh Kumar says: "Miraculously, ever since

the goddess has arrived here things have greatly improved

for all of us..."

 

Kishwar says the idol is meant to drive home to the vendors

that it is their "sacred" duty to keep their surroundings

clean and maintain civic discipline. Rita Sharma, field

officer of Manushi, says the transformation of the market

from a squalid, illegal and temporary affair to a modern,

well-organised, clean, 159-shop market is a tribute to the

unstinting efforts of the local vendors. Of course, the

goddess helped too. The central location of the idol, she

says, has served as a rallying point for the vendors in their

endeavour to transform the market.

 

As for future plans - now that Swach Narayani has made

her home here, Manushi officer Sheesh Pal says: "We are

making an identical statue of better quality stone. Once

completed, we will move it into the new temple early next

year."