A Place Called Away

Once upon a time there was a little boy named Aadi. He had many toys. Aadi loved
his toy cars as well as his teddy bear named Fred, his books, his colour pencils, his
rubber ball, his plastic sword and his wooden flute. He also owned a mobile phone,
and next to it was the skull of a snake - his most precious possession of all. He had
found it while taking a walk at dawn. However, his mobile was just a regular cell
phone: no fancy applications, no camera and no music player. Even though he was
very proud of his phone, after all, he had been one of the first kids in his school to
own one, Aadi really wanted a new one. He wanted a phone that could play music
and take pictures. That would be fun! But when he had asked his parents to get him
a new phone, they refused. After months of begging, he had finally managed to
persuade his mother to take him phone shopping that evening.

Aadi had a best friend. Her name was Zoe and she lived next door. Aadi was quite
tall for his age; he was slim and had short dark hair. Zoe was at least two inches
smaller. She always wore her dark hair in pigtails with red ribbons. Aadi, on the
other hand, was rarely seen without his red scarf. Aadi and Zoe had been best
friends for a long time and they shared their toys with each other. Aadi’s parents
were glad that their children were getting along so well, but they weren’t too
excited about the mess the two of them made when they were playing. As both
Aadi and Zoe had rich imaginations, they could easily turn the living room into an
outer space adventure where the couch became a rocket, and the table and chairs
turned into strange and magical alien creatures from outer space. Sometimes they
pretended to be circus artists who were travelling the world with their tigers and
dancing bears, and sometimes they were workers in a factory that produced the
most unbelievable stuff. By the end of each adventure, the living room would be in
a state of total chaos. Everything was turned upside down, nothing was where it
was supposed to be and in between the cushions, chairs and upturned table, their
toys lay scattered on the floor. It was not that they didn’t care for their toys, but
after having so much fun playing, tidying up felt like a waste of time!
Today was no exception. Aadi and Zoe had just spent the afternoon playing sailors
and had discovered a strange new land where people were really tiny. These 195
mini people thought that Aadi and Zoe were huge giants. Aadi’s mother came
home and found her living room looking like a battlefield rather than a place to live
and relax. The floor was covered with cushions and chairs, Aadi’s toy cars and
Zoe’s dolls, the rubber ball, the plastic sword and Fred, the teddy bear. Everything
Aadi owned and all the toys Zoe had managed to bring from her house were spread
out all over the room. Seeing the mess, Aadi’s mother had had enough. How often
had she told the kids to tidy up after playing together? And so she yelled at them as
she had done so many times before, ‘Aadi! How often do I have to tell you to put
your things back in the cupboard when you’re done playing? I am sick and tired of
coming home to a place that looks more like a garbage dump than a living room!’
Wading through the sea of toys and picking up her sofa cushions, she stepped on
one of Aadi’s toy cars and stumbled, catching herself just before she fell. ‘That’s it!
I’ve had enough I’m leaving! I’m telling you, if you don’t clean up this mess by the
time I come back this evening, I will throw away all your toys!’ Aadi couldn’t help
himself, he threw a sly glance at his friend Zoe who had been crouching behind the
sofa when Aadi’s mother had started yelling. Zoe’s lips curved into a little smile,
she knew what Aadi was thinking. His mother had made the threat too often to be
taken seriously by the two children. Meanwhile, Aadi’s mother continued ranting,
‘And I won’t even think about taking you phone shopping until you’ve cleaned
up.’ She was just grabbing her bag when she turned around and saw the children
exchanging glances. ‘This time I mean it!’ she said as she stormed out of the
house.

Zoe was feeling a bit guilty. Her best friend’s mother had seemed pretty angry.
‘So,’ she shrugged looking at Aadi. ‘I guess we’d better tidy up.’ But Aadi just
grinned. ‘Nah, you know my mum. She never follows through with her threats.
Let’s just watch a video instead.’ ‘But then she might not buy you the mobile,’ Zoe
said. ‘I’m sure she will,’ Aadi replied. And so the two kids made themselves
comfortable in front of the TV. The exciting game of playing sailors and
discovering mini people combined with the very warm day exhausted the two
friends and they both fell asleep.
Later, Aadi woke up to find the house in complete darkness. Still drowsy from
sleep, he looked around to find that Zoe was gone and the TV had been switched
off. Confused, he left the couch and stumbled through the house to look for his
parents, but his father and mother were nowhere to be found. ‘That’s odd,’ Aadi
thought as he returned to the living room. ‘Why is no one home?’ He looked out of
the window. Clearly it was night time and his parents always made sure that there
was someone to take care of him when they went out. The idea of being completely
alone at night and not knowing where his parents were made Aadi feel a little
uncomfortable. So he looked for Fred, his teddy bear, to keep him company. But he
couldn’t find him. Just like Zoe, Fred had disappeared. Then it hit him. All his toys
were gone! Earlier that day he and Zoe had been playing there, they had left a
mess, upset his mother and fallen asleep. Aadi was shocked. He hadn’t expected
that. Finally his mother followed through with one of her threats and thrown all his
toys away. Aadi struggled not to cry. But soon the sadness faded and gave way to
anger. The boy balled his hand into a fist and let out a loud yell. He knew
screaming wouldn’t bring back his toys but at least he could get rid of some of the
rage that had been building up..

‘What’s wrong?’ Aadi turned around to see Zoe standing in the door. She must
have heard his cry and run over. Annoyed with the situation he pointed at the now
meticulously tidy living room. Zoe looked at him, confused. ‘You tidied up.’
Frustrated, Aadi shock his head. ‘No, Zoe! I didn’t do anything. But the toys are all
gone!’ ‘No way! I don’t believe it. I’m sure they must be here somewhere. I bet
your mum just tidied up like she always does.’ Zoe couldn’t believe that Aadi’s
mother would really throw all the toys away. And so the two kids started to search
in the closet and in the kitchen, under Aadi’s bed and even behind the bathroom
door. But nothing came of it. The toys were nowhere to be found. Exhausted, Aadi
and Zoe went to the kitchen where the boy poured both of them a glass of coke
from a plastic bottle. ‘Now what?’ asked Zoe. Aadi bit his lower lip, thinking.

‘Remember that my mom said she was going to throw my things away?’ Zoe
nodded, taking a sip of coke through her straw. ‘I bet that’s where we’ll find them.
I bet Away is actually a place where all the toys go when kids don’t tidy up. When
parents are sick and tired of all the mess, they bring the toys there.’ Impressed with
his thinking, he looked at his best friend. Zoe was biting her straw. She had a habit
of chewing on something when she was thinking. All her school pens had bite
marks, especially the pencil she used in math class. Slowly the girl nodded her
head in agreement, bouncing her pigtails up and down.

‘So where do you think this place called Away is?’ she asked Aadi. ‘I have no idea.
But I am quite sure that there is a secret door or hatch somewhere in the house. I
mean, all parents must have access to this place, right?’

And so Aadi and Zoe started searching again. This time they were looking for
anything that might be the secret passage to the place called Away. They started
their quest in the house. They searched Aadi’s room, the kitchen, the living room,
the bathroom and even Aadi’s parents’ bedroom. But nothing! No secret gateway.
The two kids weren’t ready to give up, but they continued their search outside in
the garden. They looked under the bushes. Zoe crawled between the plants, while
Aadi climbed the banyan tree. ‘ZOE!’ he yelled at the top of his lungs. ‘Zoe! I
think I’ve found it!’ Sticking her head up from between the flowerbeds, Zoe
responded just as loudly.

‘Where?’

‘Right here in this branch.’ Aadi knocked on a thick branch, creating a hollow
sound. Zoe crawled out from between the flowers, her knees and hands completely
dirty from the red earth. ‘Zoe! Hurry up! You won’t believe it!’ Aadi was really
excited. Zoe reached the banyan tree and looked up. Her friend was sitting high up
on one of the branches.

‘What is it?’ she shouted and began climbing up the tree. When she reached Aadi,
the boy pointed to something red in the middle of the branch. ‘Look,’ he
whispered. ‘It’s a red door. I am sure it will lead us straight to Away.’ The two
friends were excited but they were also a little scared. You don’t find a door in a
tree every day, and not knowing where it leads to can be a little scary. However,
their curiosity and the desire to get Aadi’s toys back overcame any fear. Carefully
they moved closer to the little red door. ‘Ready?’ asked Aadi in a hushed voice.
Zoe just nodded. She was too tense to speak. ‘On three.’ Aadi counted, ‘One, two...
three!’ and pulled the door open.

All of a sudden, a strong gust of wind came up and swirled the kids around, turning
them upside down and making them lose all track of time. Just as suddenly as the
gust of wind had come, it disappeared again. The spinning stopped and the two
kids landed on their feet again. When their senses came back they realised that they
had landed a very strange place.

The place was dark and colourless without even a patch of green. No leaves, grass
or trees. Even though there were fires everywhere, the place felt cold. Instead, the
flames created a haze of grey, which increased the general feeling of gloom. Aadi
and Zoe exchanged a look – maybe they hadn’t known what to expect of this place
but it certainly wasn’t this. But they had come here on a mission – they wanted to
get Aadi’s toys – and so they bravely walked in the direction of one of the larger
fires. On their way, they saw tons and tons of waste. There were sheets of paper,
car tyres, broken TVs, a number of laptops, computers, keyboards and all sorts of
cables. There were non- rechargeable batteries, empty soft drink cans, deodorants,
hairspray containers, plastic bottles and countless plastic bags. And in between all
these discarded goods there were also bits and pieces of left over food like
pomegranate pits, banana peels and eggshells. Clothing was there as well: t-shirts,
shoes, chappals, skirts, you name it - even rollerblades. The kids could hardly take
in all the cool stuff that had now become waste. There was simply too much.
Silently, Zoe pointed to a table that was dumped in the midst of all the garbage. It
didn’t look broken at all, and she was sure that with a new coat of paint it would
look really nice in someone’s living room. Everything you could imagine that had
been produced, then used, and eventually considered waste was rotting in this place
called Away. The toys, garments, furniture and electronic devices that were once
wanted and loved had lost their appeal. Now, mixed with all the food leftovers,
they were silently polluting the ground, because when mixed waste is left to rot,
leachates form. These are liquids from rain and the rotting waste that become toxic
when they come into contact with other waste. This toxic mushy mess seeps into
soil and groundwater, polluting the earth.
As they continued walking, Zoe stepped on some filthy looking waste and pulled a
face. What a stench! She held her nose and Aadi did the same. By blocking out
their sense of smell, it was as if they could hear much better. For all of a sudden
they heard noises they hadn’t been aware of before: Shouts of ‘Yippee!’ and
giggling sounds – someone was having a great time. Curious, the two kids wanted
to follow the noise, but they realised that it didn’t come from far away – it was
right below them. Aadi picked up one particularly smelly plastic bag and... got
yelled at.

‘Hey, what are you doing? Close the door!’ Aadi grinned and turned around to Zoe
who had been crouching behind him.

‘Microbes!’ Zoe peeked at the microbes Aadi was pointing at.

‘Urgh, what a stench! It smells like a really bad fart. Aadi, did you…?’ Aadi shook
his head, laughing.

‘No. It comes from the microbes. Look, they are partying.’

‘That’s right, we are! So shut the door. You’re ruining our feast letting in all the
air!’ And with that, the microbes took the plastic bag out of Aadi’s hands and
locked themselves in tightly with all the waste making it impossible for any air to
get into the bag. While eating the organic waste without air, the microbes produce
methane gas. This was the bad smell Zoe had recognised.

‘This is probably the weirdest place I have ever seen,’ said Zoe. It was obvious that
she didn’t like Away. ‘Probably? I would say definitely,’ replied Aadi. ‘I mean,
have you ever seen partying microbes?’ Zoe shook her head but a smile had
returned to her lips.

‘I have never seen microbes at all. I mean, aren’t they supposed to be really, really
tiny?’ Aadi shrugged. ‘I guess this has to do with this place. Away is not only the
place where toys and other stuff end up, but also where microbes are much larger
than usual.’
‘So let’s find our toys and get out of here,’ Zoe said, and with that, the two kids
approached one of the fires with particularly thick grey smoke. A sharp stench
filled their lungs as they moved closer. The smoke from the burning rubber tyres
pierced their eyes. Zoe began cough, the horrible fumes were hurting her lungs.
Pressing his red scarf against his mouth with one hand, Aadi took Zoe by the hand.
This place was starting to get to him – all this darkness, the stench and the
poisonous gases. Away was really not a good place to be. A breeze came and
brought fresh air, which allowed Zoe to catch her breath and stop coughing. But
with the lifting of the haze, the two kids saw what they were standing on. What
they had taken to be some kind of road was in fact a mountain of burnt plastic.
Looking over the land that surrounded them, they realised that there was not an
inch that wasn’t covered with waste. Zoe let out a little scream. At the far end of
the field that was Away there were black shadows rising. Aadi squeezed Zoe’s
hand in an effort to comfort her, but to tell the truth he didn’t feel too brave
himself. The dark shadow like creatures were slowly creeping closer and closer to
the plastic mountain. With eyes wide open, the two kids watched the approaching
shadows. ‘I’m scared,’ whispered Zoe. ‘I don’t like these shadows. They are
creepy. And why are they coming closer?’ Aadi was just about to pull his red scarf
in front of his eyes so he wouldn’t have to watch the shadows when one of the
black creatures stepped into the light of one of the fires.

‘Look,’ Aadi pointed in the direction of the fire. Where there had been a
frightening big black shadow a moment ago, there now stood a small boy. He was
bending down to collect some metal that was lying in the waste. He would try to
sell it later. Zoe stopped hiding behind Aadi and looked around. ‘They are
children! All the black shadows are actually little children!’ Aadi nodded. He was
just as astonished as his friend. He never thought about what happened to stuff
once you throw it away, and he had certainly never imagined that there were
children who would have to rummage through it all in order to make a living
collecting and selling waste and burning the other stuff no one cared for any more.
The two kids watched as the other kids were igniting the garbage that lay
everywhere. Small bright darting flames illuminated the grey field, sometimes
followed by huge flares when the methane produced by the microbes caught fire.

The two kids stared at the children’s shadows burning the waste. Even though there
were so many fires, it didn’t feel like the amount of waste was decreasing. On the
contrary, it seemed to be growing steadily.

‘I don’t care about the toys any more, Aadi. I just want to 199 go home,’ sobbed
Zoe softly. The boy nodded. He could understand Zoe’s longing, for he felt the
same way… except… well, he couldn’t leave without his teddy bear, Fred. To
leave his teddy bear here in this dark and gloomy place felt like abandoning him.

‘I’m sorry, Zoe, but I can’t leave without Fred.’ Tears filled Zoe’s eyes but she
nodded in agreement. She wouldn’t want to be left here either.

‘Okay,’ she said, ‘let’s find Fred and then get home.’ They started to climb down
the waste mountain. ‘Zoe?’ Aadi called during their descent. ‘Why haven’t we
reached the bottom yet?’ Warily, Aadi looked around. ‘Something weird is going
on…’

‘I think… I think the mountain of waste is growing! Look!’ Zoe pointed to the
waste that was at the very bottom of the mountain: Where there had been a broken
TV, some torn shorts and some shampoo bottles a second ago, there was now a
laptop, a collection of magazines and some banana peels. The kids looked at the
waste that had arrived out of thin air.

‘Look, there’s Fred!’ exclaimed Aadi, pointing at his teddy bear which was lying
not too far away from the newly arrived garbage. Excited, Aadi ran downhill, but
just before he reached his toy, he fell. When he tried to get up again, he couldn’t.
The waste was dragging him down. ‘Help me, Zoe. I can’t get out.’ His friend ran
to him, but no matter how hard she tried, Zoe couldn’t drag Aadi out of the waste.
It was like quicksand. Holding onto the boy’s hand she gave a final pull, but
instead of lifting him out, she lost her footing. They were starting to drown in all
the waste humans were creating every day. Holding onto each other, the two kids
closed their eyes, waiting for the garbage to swallow them.

With a cry, Aadi awoke from his dream. Aadi wiped away the beads of sweat from
his forehead with his red scarf. He was relieved that Away was just a dream. The
TV was still blaring and his toys were still spread all around the living room. Next
to him, Zoe stirred, drowsily opening her eyes. ‘I just had the strangest dream!’
Aadi said, eager to share his adventure at the place called Away. But before he
could even begin his story, Zoe said ‘Me, too! We were searching for your toys and
we ended up at this really horrible place where all the stuff goes that we –‘

‘Throw away,’ Aadi finished her sentence. Both Zoe and Aadi looked at each other
in pure disbelief. Did they just share the same dream?

‘So,’ Zoe asked her best friend, ‘do you think this place… that Away really exists?’
Aadi shrugged.

‘I don’t know. But it makes sense.’ And pointing to all his toys laying all over the
living room, he added, ‘I mean, did you ever wonder where all the stuff goes when
we throw it away?’ Zoe leaned her head to one side, lost in thought.

‘So you think those shadows… that turned out to be children… do you think they
were burning the waste to make Away shrink?’

‘Maybe. We all buy, buy, buy and the stuff must go somewhere when we don’t
want it any more. It’s not like it can just disappear or evaporate, right?’ And with
that, the two kids got up from the sofa and Aadi switched off the TV. He was very
happy that his dream was not reality. Together, Aadi and Zoe began to tidy up.

Later that evening, Aadi’s mother came home to find all the toys neatly put back in
the cupboards. There was no evidence of the chaos that had been there earlier. She
was very happy that Aadi had taken her threat seriously. Stroking her son’s head
she said, ‘As you held up your end of the deal, I will do the same. How about we
go to the store and I buy you that new mobile phone you’ve been longing for?’
Aadi shook his head.
‘No thanks, Mom. I don’t need another phone. Mine is still working and I don’t
want to be responsible for making Away grow bigger and bigger.’ ‘Away?’ His
mother was confused. ‘Yes, Away. The place all the stuff goes when we don’t need
it any more.’ ‘And it’s a truly awful place,’ Zoe added.

That night, when Aadi was lying in bed, he found it difficult to fall asleep. He was
still thinking of that dream. ‘Where do the things that we throw away go?’ he
wondered. There must be some real place like Away in this world, he was sure of
that. Sleepily he looked out of his bedroom window, where he saw a tree swaying
in the evening breeze. And just before dozing off, one last thought crossed his
mind. He loved trees and he loved nature. He didn’t want it all to be buried by stuff
people carelessly threw away. Just then his mother opened the door to see if Aadi
was already asleep. ‘Mommy,’ the boy mumbled drowsily, ‘starting from tomorrow
let’s waste less… I don’t want the earth to disappear under all the garbage we
make.’

‘All right. Now go to sleep, sweetie.’ With that, Aadi’s mother kissed her son
goodnight.

And sure enough, the following morning and from that day onwards, Aadi and Zoe
took care of their stuff and paid a lot more attention to what they were buying and
throwing away. Because they had realised that everyone, including them, shares the
responsibility for a healthy planet. And if they don’t start by taking a first step to
reduce the mountains of waste, who will?

Text based questions

• What is methane? How is it created from waste and why is it dangerous?

• What are leachates and how do they form?

Questions for discussion

• Do you think there are places like Away in the real world?

• Do you think that the shadows that belonged to children in the story are just made
up? What do you think happens at places like Away? Who takes care of all the
waste?

• What is your favourite toy or thing? Do you know which material it is made of
and if it is dangerous when it gets thrown away?

• If you are no longer interested in something or using it, how can you make sure
that it never ends up in Away?

• What is the final disposal for waste? Where does it get thrown away?

• Do you think it is healthy to live in a place called Away? Explain why.

• Who is responsible for places like Away?

• If you could change anything about places like Away, what would you change?

Creative exercises

• Draw a picture of the place called ‘Away’.

• What do you think that it looks like?

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