{"id":19318,"date":"2017-12-01T17:16:55","date_gmt":"2017-12-01T17:16:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogbox.indianeagle.com\/?p=19318"},"modified":"2017-12-26T12:52:49","modified_gmt":"2017-12-26T12:52:49","slug":"nate-natesan-swacch-devalaya-atlanta-georgia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.indianeagle.com\/travelbeats\/nate-natesan-swacch-devalaya-atlanta-georgia\/","title":{"rendered":"Indian American Nate Natesan Promotes Cleanliness, Self-discipline, Civic Sense through Swacch Devalaya"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nate Natesan, the one-man army of Swacch Devalaya in the US state of Georgia, reminds us of Rabindranath Tagore\u2019s motivational song, \u201cIf no one responds to your call, move alone. O dear, move alone.\u201d We at Indian Eagle take pleasure in publishing and sharing the inspiring story of Nate Natesan as part of our continued effort to promote good work by Indian Americans, through our community portal, Travel Beats.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Nate Natesan, an Atlanta-based Indian American, is living Mahatma Gandhi\u2019s words “Be the change you want to see in the world” by keeping temples clean<\/strong> and instilling self-discipline among devotees through his reform movement Swacch Devalaya in Georgia. Since 2006, he has been putting visitors\u2019 shoes and sandals orderly on racks in order to keep temple premises clean and raise awareness about civic sense among the people.<\/p>\n

\"Nate<\/a><\/p>\n

One of the few great humans of Atlanta and the founder of Swacch Devalaya, Nate Natesan is a business analyst.<\/strong> He traveled with a degree in Mathematics from Bombay University in Mumbai to New Jersey, and did MBA in finance at Rutgers University NJ. He has worked in several MNCs in Mumbai, Pune, New Jersey and Atlanta. He believes that the purity of soul begins with self-discipline and that no work is small or insignificant if it does good to the community.<\/p>\n

Inception of Swacch Devalaya<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Swacch Devalaya in Atlanta surfaced long before Swacch Bharat in India. Nate Natesan\u2019s generous act of arranging people\u2019s shoes at temples in Atlanta<\/span><\/a> had been a nameless pursuit of volunteerism until he launched Swacch Devalaya on Facebook in June 2014.<\/strong> However, the present Swacch Devalaya in Georgia was ideated in 2006 during his visit to the Chinmaya Mission Balavihar where he found a mess of visitors\u2019 shoes scattered here and there to his utter surprise.<\/p>\n

People\u2019s lack of self-discipline and no concern for cleanliness motivated Nate Natesan to set an example of leadership in bringing the change<\/strong>. Since then he has been arranging devotees\u2019 shoes on the floor and on racks to keep temple premises and entrance clean. He started from satsanghs at public places once a week and went on to do the same at Hanuman Mandir nearby his home, two evenings a week in 2010.<\/p>\n

Nate Natesan took the mission to all temples in Atlanta<\/span><\/a> following the online launch of Swacch Devalaya in Georgia in 2014. He single handedly clears the mess of footwear and keeps shoes in an order at Shirdi Sai Mandir, Sri Mahalakshmi Temple, Shakti Mandir, Shiv Mandir and Sanatana Mandir on both usual days and special occasions<\/strong>. Though it requires him to stand all the time to manage a huge throng of shoes, he continues it out of his love for community and his belief, \u201cCleanliness is next to godliness.\u201d<\/p>\n