GIWA’s puppet show has been attracting a lot of attention from the Kanwad Yatris!
The clean Ganga educational show story board centres around Mother Ganga and Mother Saraswati rivers, who are going to Lord Shiva to complain about how their waters are being polluted and the filth around them due to open defecation. Lord Shiva replies saying, “Why would humans pollute your waters through open defecation when they worship you and regard you as their Mother?” Lord Shiva then asks Mother Saraswati, “How are you being polluted, when you are flowing underground?” Maa Saraswati explains to Lord Shiva that during the monsoon the filth from open defecation seeps through the earth, reaching her and polluting her divine waters. After their discussion in the Heavens, Lord Shiva visits the earth plain with Mother Ganga and Saraswati. There on the banks of Mother Ganga is a common man and his son. The man is persuading his son to go for open defecation on the banks of the Holy river Ganga. The son responds to his father saying, “We worship Mother Ganga, so why would we defecate on her banks?” The father replies to his son saying, “We are men and we can defecate in the open, toilets are meant only for women!” Suddenly an unearthly sound shakes the earth as Lord Shiva, Maa Ganga, and Maa Saraswati appear before the man and his son and air their grievance. The man and the son are overwhelmed and immediately prostrate themselves in front of Lord Shiva and The divine rivers Ganga and Saraswati. Lord Shiva blesses the boy to become a Swachhta Krantikari (‘Cleanliness Crusader’), asking him to keep the rivers clean and Open Defecation Free, and to build Awareness and spread the message to all of the land.
The puppet show is followed with the audience taking individual pledges to support a clean and ODF (Open Defecation Free) Ganga.