'Ugly Indians' clean up Bangalore

By Dilip -

"Show us one Indian city that can boast of one kilometre of clean street - with no open garbage dumps, no missing footpath slabs, no urine stench, no paan (betel leaf) stains on walls? Bangalore, we challenge you, is the only Indian city that now has 4km of streets clean from these four civic ills."
The Bangaloreans in the Ugly Indians civic group have spent every week of the past year trawling the city's central business district with face masks, gloves, buckets, broomsticks and mops. Their mission is to "spot-fix" Bangalore, dirty street by dirty street, and has inspired the confidence to throw their "Ugliness Challenge" at other cities. They choose small stretches each week to clean: pavements piled up with plastic, defaced walls, footpaths rendered unusable by potholes.
This locale was designated Ugly Spot 15 by TUI
'Spot-fixing'
The Ugly Indians are mostly professionals in the 25-40 age group and remain strictly anonymous - they respond to media queries only by email. The mission began a year ago to "understand the Indian mind and attitude towards cleanliness" and "outwit him/her with clever solutions". Read more: <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-15769402>

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