December 8, 2024: A viral post has reignited discussions about civic sense in India, showcasing a billboard defaced with red paan stains. The image, shared widely on Reddit, captured a giant advertisement promoting a luxury development with the tagline, “One luxury haven. Curated indulgences, coming soon.” However, the billboard, featuring a woman’s image, was tarnished by tobacco spit marks, leaving netizens disgusted and frustrated. The exact location of the billboard remains undisclosed.
The Reddit user who shared the image expressed their outrage, writing, “I came across something today that really frustrated me. Someone had spat tobacco (paan) all over the face of a girl featured in an advertisement. The red stains stood out, and honestly, it was absolutely disgusting and infuriating. Why do some people think this is okay? Is it sheer lack of respect for public spaces or just casual disregard for decency?”
The post has sparked widespread debate, with many emphasizing the urgent need to foster civic responsibility among the populace. “Public spaces are being treated like personal spittoons, and it feels like we’ve normalized this as ‘part of life,’ when it really shouldn’t be,” the user added.
Netizens echoed these sentiments, calling for stricter penalties and public awareness campaigns to deter such behavior. Suggestions ranged from imposing fines to mandating manual cleaning by offenders as a way to instill accountability.
This is not the first time such an incident has drawn attention. Earlier, images of paan and gutkha stains on the red granite of Kartavya Path (formerly known as Rajpath) went viral, prompting similar discussions. A social media user remarked, “We always blame the government, but we don’t follow basic civic behavior ourselves. First, we should learn to respect public spaces, and then we can expect changes from the authorities.”
The incident serves as a stark reminder of the pressing need for collective efforts to address the pervasive issue of public spitting and ensure cleaner, more respectful shared spaces.
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