Plogging

On the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, Disability Rights Association of Goa (DRAG) organised an inclusive plogging run in the Fit India program of the Government. It was a joyful opportunity to be with the amazing inspiring personalities of DRAG.

We walked together, picking litter on the way and clearing up the access path for the disability at a major building that hosts many offices. Besides the satisfaction of doing a good deed collectively, we learnt a new word: plogging!

Plogging is a amalgamation of jogging with picking up litter. It started as an organised activity in Sweden around 2016 and spread to other countries. As a workout, it provides variation in body movements by adding bending, squatting a nd stretching to the main action of running, hiking, or walking.

The main purpose and result of plogging is to clean up the path travelled by. In trekking too, we carry a waste bag to carry the litter on the trek route. What a beautiful sentiment to leave the path in a better way than we found it. Most importantly it is about taking the responsibility for clearing the mess created by others.

So often, so many of us only find faults of others, valid ones at that. We correctly identify that others are responsible for the disorder. We must move beyond identifying the problem and the problem makers. We must remember what Gandhi said, ‘Be the change you want to see in the world!’ One such way is plogging!

Leave every path better than you found it

Plogging cleans the mess & keeps you fit!

~ Pravin K Sabnis