A photograph published by this newspaper on Saturday, showing a man sprinkling petals on the ground near Salimullah Muslim Hall of Dhaka University is truly a sight to behold. The man's name is Nissan and he is a rickshaw-puller by profession. He collects petals from flower shops in Shahbag and uses them to discourage people from urinating and defecating in the area.

Not only does the picture show the flower petals beautifully arranged by Nissan, but by the looks of it, it seems that he is also an educated man, as he even wrote a message using the arrangement of the petals. And through his inspiring initiative, it seems he is looking to educate many more, through his innovative method of dissuading people from open defecation.

Although Bangladesh has made remarkable strides over the years in addressing the problem of open defecation, it has not managed to completely eradicate it as of yet. As is well known, open defecation poses many health challenges for people in general. And what Nissan's bold initiative show us is that there are many creative and economical ways of deterring people from contributing to that problem and, at the same time, to encourage them to be a part of the solution.

The authorities and society in general can learn a lot from this man. For one, if we want change, we must become the change ourselves. We hope that his bold initiative will give inspiration to many more and establish a way forward for our country to bloom into a clean, harmonious and beautiful one for us all to live in.