Date: 23-06-14
Place: Madhya Kailas Signal
Time: 9.30 am
It’s me on my way to office and I am late as usual. The traffic police sure has some special power to sense the day I am late and turn the signal red and thus, I am stuck in the signal. If it were any other day, I would be cursing all those I see. Today I wanted the signal to turn red and I wanted to stand there at least for a few mins. All this, with that curve in my lips and sparkle in my eyes.
Reason?
*Flashback*
Date: 23-06-14
Place: Madhya Kailas Signal
Time: 6.00 am
My sister and I woke up in the middle of a good night sleep and rushed to Madhya Kailash. Aravindh and Nambi were waiting there with saplings and few new people. Few of them were namma CTCians and few others were volunteers from ‘Chennai Rising’- a voluntary group in Chennai inspired by The Ugly Indians of Bangalore. They are a bunch of people who are striving to save ourselves from ourselves. They fix ugly spots and clean them overnight. They do not take credits but only wish people see the change and start behaving responsibly. They had cleaned Madhya Kailash bus stop few days back and surprisingly, discovered some soil still existing there. And here enters Ainthinai.
The Chennai Rising had decided to plant some trees in the soil they found and had approached Ainthinai for the job. So there we were- sleepy but masking it with an enthusiastic smile. We planted six pungai saplings on that day. Four on the dump-turned-neat spot and two opposite the railway station entrance. The Chennai Rising Volunteer promised to do the needed mulching for the saplings and arrangements for watering them.
After the planting work was done, there was the regular chit chat and then Nambi pointed to us the Ainthinai statue near the Madhya Kailash temple. Five tamil women symbolizing the five different landscapes i.e., the Ainthinai were nicely carved out of the stones.
What other joy than taking a pic with the symbolism of the name you are working under? For some time we attempted to figure out which landscape each woman symbolized failing which we just resorted to taking a pic. Like any other event of ours, we left for the day to start the day with a light heart and huge satisfaction.
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That was the reason for my smile. That feeling when you look at a sapling you planted and make sure it is still living- it is nothing less than a mothers feeling towards her child. And that few min stand at the signal gave me the chance to relish that feel.
Date: 26-06-14
Place: Madhya Kailas Signal
Time: 8.30 pm
In the morning, when I was on my way to ofc I had noticed that a sapling was missing from its place. As it kept bothering me, I made a short stop at the spot on my way back from ofc. The sapling, which was the tallest of all that we planted, had gone missing. Feeling bad, I called Aravindh to inform the same and he instructed to remove the mulch from that spot and apply it over other plants. This is not what I wanted to record here. What happened as I started doing what I was asked do, matters much!
I parked my bike and was checking out each sapling we planted. An auto driver who was observing me for a long time came to me and asked if I had missed anything and was looking for it. I told him that I was checking out the plants and shared with him my concern abt watering them. He readily said he will do the job. And as the auto left, I picked up the mulch from the other spot and was putting them for the other plants. A girl who was sitting inside an auto and looking at what I was doing slow moved towards my end. She started telling me how to do the mulching. And then she came out to help me do it. As I was about to finish, she took her water bottle out and poured all the water she had for the plant. And she sent me off with a smile.
I don’t know both of them and I might never meet them again in my life. The auto driver might or might not water the plants daily. But when I was doing something that I believed was right, they both were able to understand it and come forward to do more than just looking at me. All this tells us is-there is hope left. With all the good work we are doing, may be not today but one day we will be able to make a huge impact- a big change- a change that is needed.
I personally feel this two is the count I am starting with. I wish to make an impact on much more twos.
Love,
Sinthu
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