Cleanliness is next to Godliness

The place we stay is a small town.
The lane we stay has neat rows of converted Victorian houses, and a few B & Bs.
There is one huge parking space at one end of the row.

This lane runs parallel to the busy main road, which has a bank, a drugstore, 2 pound shops, 2 bakeries, a vegetable shop, Somerfields, Mac-D's, PizzaHut, 1 Lebanese and one 1 Chinese restaurant, a salsa dance class (yeah!) , 2 pubs, a few real estate offices,an ATM , a superstore - you get the picture? A real busy street, with all options for people of variety of age groups!

And here comes the link.
There is an old man. A hefty, 6 ft, 70 lb old man. With a green jacket - the ones that social volunteers wear here, with large specks, flannel pants, black boots, rubber gloves and a woollen cap. He carries a bottle of water, a few polythene covers and a stick - the ones with a clamp at one end, with which he can pick stuff off the road.
He is a rag picker. He does the work for himself. He takes it as a mission to keep the streets clean.

Morning, when we are rushing out of the house, in a hurry to reach the office, we see him in his gear, picking stuff off the road - cans, bottles, papers, leaves, covers - what ever can be picked up off the road to keep then clean.
If there is other stuff- like dog do, spilt liquids, dried food stuff - he squirts some water there, and wipes it off the road with some paper. He does the same work every day, without a word, without bothering about people around. He dosen't speak a word. He is totally absorbed in his work. He does it with such dedication !!!

During weekdays, we see him in the morning, without fail. Be it cold, be it snow, be it rain - he is there. He works on the weekends too! In fact - we see him on the roads more often during weekends - after all its more work on weekends!

In Maharashtra we had a great saint " Sant Gadgebaba " - who dedicated his life promoting cleanliness - he was a living example of the motto - Cleanliness is next to Godliness.
When ever I see the old man on the streets, carrying out his missionary work, I think of him as an english GadgeBaba.