Opinion The guerrilla do-gooders

The Ugly Indians seem to be Bangalore’s answer to the Anna movement. But rather than pointing out all that is wrong with the system,the low-key group members are going about,simply showing how things can be righted. There is no finger-pointing,period. Instead of cribbing about the filth and blaming the lower-rung civil staff,the Ugly Indian has been busy “Spotfixing” in Bangalore. Self-funded volunteers who aggregate through the group’s website,email and Facebook page,descend on a particularly neglected (read,filthy) corner of the city where they each proceed to plough in and mend the spot.

The anonymity of the group has worked in its favour. “No names are exchanged,no introductions are made,no socialising,no networking. Everyone gets it,” the Ugly Indian described in an email to this column. And so the group quietly goes about clearing garbage,fixing pavements,providing litter bins (quirkily named “tereBin”,designed small to save pavement space and keep stray dogs out),painting walls and righting road medians.

The Ugly Indian’s approach is refreshing. The Indian explanation,“we are like that only”,is cute but does not help,says their website; accepting that “we” are part of the problem and only “we” can help fix the problem is more like it,they say.

In Spotfixing,the group makes over a chunk of a busy Bangalore street or corner in a way that engages local storekeepers,civic agency cleaning staff and the public,without apportioning blame or expecting recognition.

If downtown Bangalore’s restaurant hub Church Street has regained its chic look,it is the handiwork of The Ugly Indian. If the city’s Central Business District is looking neat with cheerful garbage bins,it is the group’s effort. A couple of days before the Namma Metro was launched,the group “fixed”’ the MG Road metro station.

The group operates in stealth mode. Once Spotfixing is done,it details the task in whodunit-like detail through photos and video on its website and Facebook page. A spotfix at a narrow but busy street in Bangalore’s Koramangala neighbourhood began like this: first,The Ugly Indian spends time observing the spot. “The best time to observe a dump is between 7.30 am-8.30 am — that’s when people generally dump garbage.” The Ugly Indian studies the spot,makes a list of possible culprits,but never confronts them. The group pieces together the story of the dumping spot with evidence from the dump; approaches the culprits with tact after the clean-up,and befriending and drafting local retailers and civic agency staff helps to keep the place spotless,post the fix. A complete change-over could take concerted and repeated clean-ups,which could take up to a year.

A financial analyst who volunteered at a Spotfix said she was inspired by the group’s philosophy of not telling people what they should do but showing people what a sincere group can achieve. “I didn’t know who they are,they didn’t ask me who I was… we worked together to clean up and it felt good.”

Bangalore seems to have adopted this faceless,silent revolution-in-the-making. The group has thousands of admirers on Facebook. Hundreds of anonymous people have volunteered for clean-up tasks and to sponsor the tereBins. Anonymity has indeed been the strength of this small initiative. No faces means no labels and no critics. The group has rebuffed the media and refused to meet local politicians,who want to get involved for obvious reasons,they say. All those who have joined The Ugly Indian movement have been committed to a strict code of conduct. It is “almost like a secret society,” the Ugly Indian said in a further email.

This is one honest,if mysterious,public-private joint venture that seems to work. India needs more Ugly Indians.

saritha.rai@expressindia.com