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 "Silk
Smitha", "Nylex Nalini", - glamorous names of celluloid oomph girls who
made your adrenaline run high and by a mere shake of their thundering thighs guaranteed
the 'taalis' and the 'ceetis' from the front benchers. Vying with these names are a
diarrhea of alliterations -'Azhagiya Adyar', 'Inimaya Indranagar,' Arputha Anna nagar',
'Tidy T.Nagar', 'Pretty Poes garden', 'Neat Nungambakkam' and so on. These are not names
that make your hearts miss a beat. These are roads that were once huge dust bins and could
now be termed roads! Kamarajapuram is a slum area but with a difference. The
people's commitment to cleanliness is to be seen to be believed. No wonder that this has
been declared a model slum - for others to emulate. An elitist colony boasting of
superstars and industrialists, yet the roads were just one huge garbage storehouse. The
Corporation placed bins outside every fourth house. "There was one in front of my
wall. It was always overflowing as the Corporation vans never came regularly to collect
the garbage. As the garbage got accumulated my neighbour would set it on fire. The smoke
would irritate my sensitive nose and I would be on a sneezing binge and also my asthma
would get worse. So each time he lit it, I would promptly douse it with water. It was like
a take off of the fight scenes from the Ramayana - the battle of the fire and water
arrows!" says a resident. "Suddenly one fine morning the dustbin disappeared and
a brightly painted cart stood at my doorstep with a boy asking for my garbage. Thenceforth
the garbage was left at one particular point inside the house and the cart boy would empty
the garbage into the cart. The entire colony looked like it had a face-lift. The roads
were just clean, clean!"
 It is a street off the crowded Vadapalani Road - Vengeeswaran Nagar.
Within just a month of the formation of the Exnora club of this locality, the whole road
has been transformed from a garbage den to a clean street. With excellent team work and
concentrated effort the residents of the locality cleared the forntage of their houses,
weeding out unwanted shrubs and planting ornamental saplings. The walls that were once
canvas for party symbols and slogans were uniformly whitewashed and converted into
effective educative medium with the Thirukural written on them. And which Tamilian would
debase the Thirukural? The 'thaikulams' not to be left behind pride themselves on their
artistry in kolams. Thus the roads and the frontage of the houses are swept, washed with
cowdung and decorated with kolams, each vying with the other for its sheer artistry of
line, form and colour. The garbage is collected from each house and dumped into the
hydro-con dustbin provided by the Corporation. No wonder that this colony has been
nicknamed 'Vazhikattum Vadapalani'. Sounds like a page out of a fairy tale? Is it a
miracle or has Cinderella's godmother waved her magic wand? This hitherto unheard of
sensational breakthrough in civic awareness is the brainchild of Mr.M.B. Nirmal. If your
idea of a Bank Manager is one who sits in the air-conditioned comfort of his room poring
over your accounts and 'hoo-haaing' over any projects you take to him for loans, then here
is one with a difference. Mr.Nirmal is a Commerce graduate with an added degree in Law. He
was the Chief Officer in the Public Relations Department of the Indian Overseas Bank. He
has worked as the Manager and Chief Manager in different branches of the Bank. He has
served for four years as Manager in IOB Hongkong, from 1980-84. In recognition of his
service to society, the management of the Bank has given him "Duty leave with
pay" for the past few years.
 As manager of the Bank he introduced several novel and innovative
schemes. The Model Village Adoption programme resulted in the electrification of huts in a
remote Hamlet called Sogandi for the first time in India. Spot delivery of Motor Vehicle
Tax tokens, instant issue of insurance cover notes, etc., are some of the trend-setting
schemes widely appreciated by the public. During his tenure the Teynampet branch witnessed
an incredible growth on all fronts and won the All India Best Branch award in the very
year of its inception. His interests range from freelance journalism, photography, to
being the co-ordinator of the cultural wing of the IOBians and a social worker.
Doordarshan had telecast every first Thursday of the month a serial on Employer-Employee
relations by Nirmal. Writing is in his genes what with his parents Mr.M.B.Basu and late
Mrs.Saraswathi Basu both being renowned writers and editors of a number of magazines. He
is a prolific writer, both in English and Tamil and has written a number of articles and
has authored a number of books on Environment and Self-Improvement. The Tamil weekly
Saavi, carried an exclusive Nirmal page. He is also a guest faculty member of various
staff colleges and lectures on subjects ranging from leadership, public relations to
customer services. Nirmal's constant yearning for Excellence, Novelty and Radicalism gave
birth to an organisation incorporating these very ideals and he christened it EXNORA. But
how come it is called Exnora International? "Everybody is talking about the best
brains going out of India and the brain drain. I feel that if an Indian who goes abroad or
is travelling abroad can give back novel ideas which can be incorporated into the Indian
way of life, they have given off something of themselves to their motherland".
Touché to that Mr. Nirmal! Thus Exnora has convenors in Singapore, Hongkong, the USA,
etc., who are in constant touch with the International Secretariat which is based at
Chennai.
 Each chapter of the Exnora has regular meetings and various methods
of improving the locality's sanitary and civic conditions are discussed. The Secretariat
acts as a liaison between the chapters and the public sector & local administrative
bodies. A brainstorming session of all the Exnora chapters is held once in three months
and ideas put forth are compiled in a magazine called 'THINK' The youth are involved in
the Exnora activities. The Exnora clubs have spread its youth wings in schools and
colleges and the chapters help in training them. " The ideas that the chapters come
up with are stupendous," says Nirmal. To draw the attention of the public, filmstars
like Sivakumar, Sri Vidya, Jaishankar, etc., have all spontaneously given their support to
this laudable effort. The success of the Exnora owes a great deal to the enthusiasm it has
generated amongst the ladies, who by far outnumber the men, and who in their spare time
are sparing no efforts to beautify their surroundings. On one of his trips abroad he came
across a scheme in Japan where non-recycled garbage is burnt and the embers thrown into
the sea. The land is then reclaimed. He immediately set about on working out a similar
programme.
 Receiving awards has been second nature to him. He has been the
recipient of several awards such as 'Outstanding Banker', 'One of the 10 best Tamil
writers', Excellence Award on behalf of the various chapters of Tamilnadu Foundation Inc.,
in USA and Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America", (FETNA) in USA and Canada
1998. The award was presented on their behalf by His Worshipful Mayor Thiru.M.K.Stalin,
Mayor of Chennai. During the 50th year of India's Independence, he was presented with an
award, for Exnora's supporting activities to the Corporation of Chennai, by
Dr.M.Karunanidhi, the Chief Minister of Tamilnadu. Dr.Kalaigner Karunanidhi, Chief
Minister of Tamilnadu while addressing the Exnora Conference in 1996 said - "Nirmal
means cleanliness. Mr.Nirmal, true to his name, lives a clean life. His Exnora is engaged
in cleaning the Nation and the Society". When a request for land for Exnora was made,
the Chief Minister responded by saying, "Already I have given place for Exnora in my
heart. Will I not give it a place in Chennai?"
 How does he pack so much into his life? " Well", says the
Banker, "It is all just Time Management". Nirmal has lots of grandiose plans
which are on the anvil. He is associated with a lot of organisations to name a few : he
serves as a Member of the RainWater Harvesting Committee of the Chennai Metro Water, he is
a Member of the Advisory Committee of Environmental Training Institute of Tamilnadu
Pollution Control Board, member of Tamilnadu State Co-ordination Committee for Water and
Sanitation (WATSAN) for rural areas and the most notable one the Parama Shanthi Nilayam,
of which he is the founder Chairman - an organisation involved in cleaning, greening,
beautifying and maintaining burial grounds sponsored by the Rajasthan Jain Samaj. The
latest is his Zero Waste Home & Home Farming which adheres to "Waste not the
Waste". All wastes disappear, in the very place of its origin and reappear as
something very useful. There is very little capital outlay. Like an octopus, Exnora is
spreading its tentacles not only in the city of Chennai but also in places like Pune,
traversing the barriers of caste, creed and to use another one of the Mr.Nirmal's cliches,
"United Indians for United India". The Indra Nagar Exnora chapter started a
cultural organisation called Hamsadhwani which bridges the cultural gap and brings people
together, to know one another and work towards a common goal of keeping the environment
clean. A born optimist, his watchword is 'Never say Die.' His idea is to make his dear
Chennai 'Singara Chennai' (here goes another alliteration - Mr.T.Rajender please note!)
and with his untiring zeal, and the way he infuses people with his enthusiasm, the Utopia
may not be a far fetched dream.
Rani Ananth
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