Sweeping

I have reported earlier about Dirt so it goes without saying that one of the primary occupations of people in India is sweeping. It happens everywhere, whereas at home it would generally be confined to inside the home or perhaps an outdoor BBQ area and I have seen it occur on roads after a crash where tow truck drivers would sweep up broken glass etc.

In India everywhere is swept, especially outside. It seems that the early morning job for every house and shop is to sweep the dust away from the front door so as to try and avoid people walking it into your house/shop. (Taking your shoes off is of no assistance because you have just as much dirt stuck to your socks/soles of your feet).

I must say this appears to be a futile exercise as rubbish seems to be swept into a pile and left to be redistributed by the wind or the very next inattentive person who walks straight through the middle of it. The puzzling thing is that this sweeping is a religious activity and nothing stands in its way.

The Indian broom is a specialty piece of equipment (not that I would rate myself an expert in the art of sweeping).  I have tried to use it but my efforts pale into insignificance when I see a 12 year old wield it. In the hostel the girls are sweepers, they sweep continually outside. It is another thing that puzzles me – that sweeping dirt makes it clean enough to sit on!!!

The quadrangle in the centre of the school measures about 100 X 40 metres and is dirt (surprise, surprise). Every morning at 6:30 am a team of 4 people sweep the quadrangle. When they finish it looks beautiful and I wish it would stay that way. It is swept/raked so that there are straight and curved lines in all sorts of patterns. This is good.

I have watched this for a few weeks and have noticed that it only takes on average seven students to walk across the quadrangle to turn it back into a 100 X 40 metre piece of dirt. Why does this enormous effort happen every day?

As Lynn was sweeping this morning, I was reflecting on the symbolism of this sweeping. I have noticed that some people sweep multiple times a day. It happens when it is needed.  It does not mean that the previous sweeping was wasted or ineffective.  It did the job but more dirt arrives so they need to sweep again.

PS I do a lot of sweeping on the outside where people can notice but am I doing enough on the inside where it really matters?