Card deck to show how to keep your city clean

When you step out of your house this Sunday, chances are your friend or neighbour might gift you a broom, pick up any trash you throw on the roads and put it in the dustbin, or even offer to sweep your house for a day.

When you step out of your house this Sunday, chances are your friend or neighbour might gift you a broom, pick up any trash you throw on the roads and put it in the dustbin, or even offer to sweep your house for a day.

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Or, they might hand you a card that looks like an ordinary playing card, but instead of a King or an Ace, contains messages such as "Sweep your home for a day", "Slap yourself the next time you litter" and "Give your society sweeper a gift".

The cards and cleanliness errands are part of the Random Acts of Cleanliness drive that will be launched on Sunday by members of the city-based non-formal social initiative Social Leaders Programme (SLP).

The drive is based on the 'do-it-yourself' theme, and the 15-member SLP group has created a deck of 52 cleanliness cards, which carry suggestions and instructions on how to keep the city clean.

"When it comes to cleanliness, people usually point fingers at others rather than keeping clean themselves," said Akanksha Thakur, SLP's programme director, who, along with other members and volunteers, will carry out the instructions on her pack of cards and then pass each card on to her friends, acquaintances and even strangers.

The group has printed 100 packs of their deck, and have even uploaded a printable copy on their Facebook page, in the hope that from Sunday onwards, the cards will be circulated throughout the

city while encouraging people to perform their own acts of cleaning.

"Doing something yourself gives you a change of perception and the conviction and legitimacy to tell others that they should try it too," said Thakur.

Random Acts of Cleanliness is part of SLP's larger 'I Clean toh Mumbai Clean' campaign, which launched in October with cleanliness competitions and recycling workshops in seven city schools.

SLP itself is run by the Blue Ribbon Movement, a social enterprise launched by former management graduate Abhishek Thakur, who is now a PhD student at the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay.