Giving trash a pass

Bangalore has, over the past few days, had the dubious pleasure of witnessing a brouhaha between the BBMP(the city administration) and the IPL(the richest cricket league in the world). Peering through the fog of battle, it seems that the BBMP was miffed that no VIP passes were handed out to its officials, and that IPL only gave them 250 free general admission passes. The fallout(pun unintended!) was that trash began to pile up around the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, home to the Royal Challengers Bangalore(RCB) team. Rather than give in to the BBMP's corrupt demand, the IPL decided to hire private garbage haulers to take away the trash, upon which the BBMP threatened to follow and fine the private haulers if the trash was not taken to "approved sites". Never mind that the BBMP thinks that the "approved site" for the trash it picks up on my street is a vacant lot on the next street where it is regularly burned, or that its failure to perform a contracted service would result in a very serious public health hazard.

Today, the trash pick-up lady didn't show up for her usual door-to-door pick-up. Not relating this in any way to the BBMP-IPL spat, I asked the housekeeper if she knew why. She tells me that the lady, who is middle-aged, given to hitting the bottle during the course of the day and, to all appearances, oblivious to the world of cricket, has taken the day off to enjoy today's fixture at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, courtesy of the IPL. No doubt, she- along with the rest of the city's sanitation workers- will excitedly cheer on Chris Gayle, the star batsman of the home team. RCB are known for their hospitality, and perhaps will offer her a pint of Royal Challenge whiskey to make for an even more exciting day.

All's well that end's well, the saying goes. The trash will no doubt be cleared by BBMP after tonight's game, and we will have our local trash lady back at work tomorrow. In the meanwhile, there's a lesson to be learned: you can't fight city hall, even when the corruption is overt and outré.