What My Everyday Route Taught Me About My Community
We see many things around us every day, but we don’t always stop to notice them. For this activity, I decided to observe my surroundings more carefully and capture some problems that people have started treating as normal.
I started my journey from Ali Abbasi Street, the street where my hostel is located, then went through Stadium Road and IJP Road, and finally reached Saidpur Road as my destination.
I took 20 pictures during my observation, but these three stood out to me the most.
1. A Leak We Have Started Ignoring
This is a street near my hostel where sewage water has been leaking for a long time. I have been living in this area for more than two years, and honestly, I don’t remember seeing this place properly fixed.
What bothers me even more is that people have simply stopped noticing it.
There are fruit and vegetable stalls nearby, and flies and other germs from this dirty water can easily reach the food. This can become a serious health problem, but because everyone sees it every day, it has become normal.
We should not become so used to a problem that we stop seeing it as a problem.
2. Animals Deserve Shade Too
The second picture shows goats kept along IJP Road by people who sell them.
Get Muhammad Farhan Abid’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
There are multiple goat sellers in this area, but there isn’t enough space or shade for all the animals. The sellers can sit under the available shade, while many of the goats have to stay outside in the direct sunlight.
What bothered me was that the goats spend a large part of the day in the heat, while their owners don’t seem to pay much attention to it.
Even if these animals are being kept for business, they still deserve basic care and protection from extreme heat.
3. A Road Turned Into a Garbage Dump
The third picture shows a large amount of garbage dumped beside a road where construction work is also going on.
Because part of the road is already broken due to construction, people have started using that space for parking and throwing their garbage. People complain when the road becomes smaller because of the construction, but at the same time, many don’t seem to care about what they are doing themselves.
What I noticed here was that the problem is not only about the government or only about the public. Both sides have a role.
If there is no proper waste management, the government needs to provide it. But people also need to stop treating public spaces like dumping grounds.
What I Realized
This activity made me realize that many problems around us are not invisible. We see them every day. We just stop paying attention to them.
As a citizen, I often complain about things around me, but this activity made me think about my own responsibility too. Small actions like using proper waste bins, keeping our streets clean, reporting problems, and speaking up when something is wrong can make a difference.
We cannot fix everything overnight, but we can at least stop ignoring the problems that are right in front of us.
