The bins are still the best bet at Therkupattu

Thambi, the respectful, palms-folded, horse-faced, dhoti-clad mascot of the 44th chess Olympiad at Mamallapuram in 2022, has found the cleanest spots in Therkupattu on East Coast Road: the garbage bins. There is no dearth of litter on the beach-side of Therupattu hugging ECR like a legging. It is found everywhere only rarely in the garbage bins. In effect, Thambi has been given the pride of place. No left-handed compliment here, not even a faint whiff of it.

Inveterate day-trippers from Chennai with the addiction of a caffeine fiend to long drives on ECR cannot but be familiar with Therupattu, drawn as much to its lazy sands by the side of the arterial road as to its sequestered beach. It is the closest bivouacking spot on ECR from Chennai. And as with any unregulated bivouacking spot, visitors leave traces of the good times behind on the soft beach sands of Therkupattu. It is largely plastic waste; and the wisps of garbage are found mostly by the side of ECR and the shoreline is largely clean. Efforts to arrest the waste-flinging hands of bivouackers mid-throw have been made by the Therkupattu panchayat and even NGOs such as Hand In Hand. By the side of the road, garbage bins and boards blaring exhortations against littering are the visible signs of these efforts.

The most striking demonstration of this effort is a drum “welded” into an alternative role as a garbage bin. A neat slot, enclosed by a swinging metal flap has been created for garbage to be slipped in; and an opening has been carved on the rear side for the garbage to be cleared.

The images were taken on January 30, 2026.
| Photo Credit:
PRINCE FREDERICK

Human beings imitate the majoritarian action more than they initiate original action thinking for themselves. So, rather than keeping the discards with them till they reach any of the garbage bins, they would take the cue from those around them and fling those plastics and cardboards in the sands. The learning and the action happen subliminally, the imbiber and the initiator unaware they are following cues.

The garbage bins might be ignored, but strangely, the solution lies in having more bins across the vast bivouacking terrain. That is the only way to increase the visibility of the better and socially responsible cue of people taking the trouble to use the bins.