Patriotism Is Not All Garbage

But why does Kuppasamy, literally god of garbage, collect flags? "It pains me when people are so casual about expressing their nationalist feeling. I would not go buy a flag on my own. But I hate to see it abandoned." And what does he do with them? "Somehow, I never liked the idea of the national flag becoming part of this stinking mess. So, I started collecting them. I have lots of flags back home," says he.

The patriotic Kuppai—his friends call him by that name, which literally means garbage—may soon lose his job. The government plans to privatise garbage collection in Chennai.