BENGALURU: The spotless look of a part of 28th Main Road in the quiet neighbourhood of HSR Layout Sector 2 stands in sharp contrast to the other streets, which are littered with debris and garbage. Locals say the tree-lined stretch and its blemishless look, including clean drains, is neither the work of pourakarmikas or the BBMP forest department, nor a recent phenomenon.
They say the nearly 50-metre stretch has been spick and span for 24 years, thanks to the efforts of an 83-year-old resident of the road, Surya Narayana, who has become a social media sensation after a video clip showing him sweeping the stretch before his house went viral recently.
“I feel exposed. I’ve been receiving so many calls. I never wanted this attention,” said Narayana, who opened up to TOI after much convincing.
Narayana, who worked as a manager at an automobile firm, and his wife, HS Jayanthi, now 73, moved to HSR Layout back in 2000. The following year, they moved into their newly built house. The area was underdeveloped but the couple began work on greening the stretch by planting saplings on it.
“I love gardening. Ever since I was a little boy, I would do it, even skipping school to do so. I was re-enrolled by my father once,” Narayana shared.
Over time, he developed a routine, which he sticks to even now: After an early-morning walk, he spends two hours from 6am cleaning the road in front of his house. “During rain, it takes longer sometimes because I have to wait for the water to subside, so I can scoop out the silt accumulated in the drain,” he said.
Jayanthi chimed in, “I clean inside the house, and he outside. We’ve often been asked to hire a help, but we decided against it. This keeps us busy. He is unrelenting about his part, sometimes even ends up getting hurt, but we go on.”
“From discarded tiles, he developed a little lining along the road for plants and trees, which overlook the little drain,” she added.
Narayana’s one concern is the removal of dried leaves and debris that end up choking the stormwater drain he cleans daily. “I make sure the leaves are put near trees far from the drain, so they don’t end up back in it,” he said.
Another major concern is the drain being blocked by mud that comes with run-off water from the neighbourhood. “Water stagnates, mosquitoes breed rampantly during monsoon. BBMP can ensure the unkempt properties nearby that lead to mosquito breeding are cleaned, but that isn’t the case,” he said.
Narayana’s simple appearance masks his Shanbhog lineage: He comes from a family line of village accountants from Sringeri in Chikkamagaluru district. “I don’t believe in indignity of any labour,” he said, when talking about how some communities are designated for cleaning work. “There is no work beneath someone. I don’t agree that children in schools must clean toilets, but they can help keep their surroundings clean. They must be taught to use washrooms correctly, and when a system is in place, cleanliness takes shape automatically. Same with sanitation works by BBMP — if done perfectly well, if the mounts of silt were transported elsewhere, there wouldn’t be a need for removing silt from drains again and again.”
“My wife and I keep the house and our surroundings clean. It is a form of exercise too,” he added.
Madhu Sudhan Venkatesh, IT engineer and HSR community task force member whose X post on the man went viral, had noticed the clean street during his morning walks. “But recently, I saw the senior man in the drain, sweeping the leaves off it, and recorded the video, which ended up going viral. This is perhaps the cleanest drain in the city,” he said.
