Conflict over Cup

‘Conflict Over Cup’

GRAD-155G

Dr. Hannah Carlson

December 15 2015

Railways is the most economical and popular mode of travel in India. It is also one of the world’s largest railway networks comprising 71,000 miles of track over a route of 40,891 miles and covering 7,112 stations. Whenever I travel in India, I can’t help but loathe the surroundings of railways stations and littered tracks. Sometimes, the stench is so bad that it is difficult to even breathe in that air. And even more frustrating is the sight of people throwing trash on the ground. Remember, these are the same people who mop their homes with wet cloth twice a day! Then, what is it that is responsible for such apathy towards cleanliness in public spaces? Is it the culture? Or the mindset? Or is it simply habit? Or maybe poor education and awareness? What exactly culminates into this kind of behavior?

Much of the waste is composed of plastic and paper packaging of food, leftover eatables, and most importantly of used water bottles and tea cups. Indian railway platforms have numerous food and tea vendors. They sell food in disposable containers and also sell them inside a moving train. The whole system is designed to make the journey of the passengers as comfortable as possible. But this system appears to fail when it is left incomplete. There is not sufficient space to dispose the waste anywhere neither on the trains nor the platforms. Most of the food packaging ends up on the railway tracks. This article focuses on materials and its relation to its environment. I want to argue that for introducing a new product, it is very crucial to consider the behavioral pattern of its users. It cannot be assumed that users would adapt to it in course of time. This essay argues about the relation of materials to its context and talks about several attempts by government to tackle waste and the reasons for its failure.

The practice of littering actually has a complicated history. Before industrialization came in India, many disposable goods associated with food packaging were made of sustainable materials. Tea is such an integral part of India, that different types of cups were designed for all. Here, by ‘all’ I mean ‘all caste systems’. A clay cup named as ‘kulhar’ was used as a disposable cup (fig.1). Kulhar is an earthenware cup which is fired at low temperatures so that it breaks easily once thrown on ground after single use. Ideally, kulhar disintegrates in soil after crushing and completes a cycle. Though it was used as a take away tea cup at railway stations, bus stops, it is linked to a harsh practice of ‘untouchability’. Untouchables were people who were not considered a part of the caste system of India. They were considered the lowest of all and were only allowed to work as street sweepers, waste handlers, and dead body handlers. I believe the reason behind calling them untouchables is because the tasks assigned to them were considered lowly and impure. But with time, it gave rise to a very disastrous scenario. Untouchables were prohibited to touch any person from other caste; nor was it allowed for any other caste person to touch an untouchable. There were several restrictions on untouchables like they were not allowed to eat with other members, they were prohibited from fetching water from common wells and rivers, their utensils were made separately and none would touch the utensils after in contact with untouchables. Fig. 2 highlights the treatment provided to the untouchables. Even slight contact was avoided. Leaves were used to wrap things before transferring and those leaves were thrown away on the ground to disintegrate into soil. For utensils, people needed a material that was disposable and would not require handling at all after use. And this gave birth to a kulhar.