The most special day ! Happy to be born in a free country ! India
We don’t know the sacrifices our grandparents made , the constraints our parents suffered , for a lot of us are fortunate to be born free !
Let us celebrate this day and each coming day with zest and gratitude . Let us grow together , create an atamnirbhar Bharat .Let us pledge the making of a green and clean economy . Let us be free of pollution , plastic and unmanaged waste ! Jai Hind !
Breaking the world record of a nonstop 17 hour virtual environment marathon , we activists , NGO’s , corporates , nature photographers , children and environmentalists celebrated this event under the flagship of IGEN !
Biodiversity was the focus of the IGEN ENVIRONTHON 2020 . Speakers from all over the world shared views , experiences and policies of government regarding deforestation , wetlands , wildlife , desertification etc .
My talk revolved around waste management and plastic pollution . Our NGO Tree for Life has two ongoing campaigns namely GoGreen and Say no to single use plastic . I also expressed how each citizen can be a warrior of issues which are local thereby effecting the larger global challenges !
Planting with a cause
On any given day one can help make the earth green !The monsoon is flourishing in India and I am fortunate that I enjoy the rains as well as planting trees !
My NGO Tree For Life has run many successful big and small campaigns which were inclusive of plantation with school kids, greening public parks and random deserted dry patches of land .Even in our health campaigns I have tried to give away herbal saplings or plant trees in the vicinity as a symbol of nature being the root of good health .
I plant trees on every occasion in the family and encourage people to do so .On my birthday this year ,2020 ,I ventured out with a gardener and a volunteer to plant Jamun ,Neem ,Mango ,Bargad and Bel trees in the community .
Our campaign Go Green is a continuous process ,each one plant one !
In an insightful conversation with two lively hosts Anya and Anya from Ukraine we picked up a deep issue in todays world ! Loneliness , depression .. backed by mental stress , financial crunch and domestic violence is creeping into the society .
We spoke about individual efforts in easing out this pressure in our local communities so as to shrug the heaviness off the world’s shoulders ! Each one can contribute by standing with each other , extending a healing hand , a shoulder to cry on if need be ! Our generation has never witnessed such a testing time and we have this opportunity by nature , god , universe and humanity to let our humanness come forward , let us not isolate and be selfish ! It’s time to share , heal and reach out ! #covid
While numbers soar , hospitals are over crowded , mental state is that of uncertainty , our NGO Tree for Life brings in new hope to people ! It’s the spirit to stay connected and fight ! Our public health initiative is to break into the minds and hearts of lonely people and make them feel wanted and safe . Millions are stuck at home with issues of health and boredom which sometimes results in depression and feeling of being not wanted !
We are connecting older people to doctors , the lonely hearts to counsellors , the youth to exciting online projects and creating a chain of safety and happiness . This includes motivational activities from home like gardening , yoga , diet and motivational talks ! Our motto in these trying times is – Let there be sunshine everywhere ! Big FM helped us spread our message of mental health awareness in the month of May . We are happy to spread the warmth and joy through our campaign .
Tree for Life is 11 years old now . We rose from the ground and still work in the dust ! Our efforts maybe small but the zest and public involvement is encouraging !
This Environment day we are running 2 of our campaigns .
The first is GoGreen encouraging tree plantation , garbage segregation ,addressing air and river pollution .
The second is Say no to plastic ! This is very close to my heart as we are giving away cloth bags to people and speaking with them one on one to stop using polythene bags ! We started this campaign in October 2019 .
School and college kids are our strength . We love to work with them in various ways and always get to learn what the new gen thinks ! We wish that on this Environment Day we are able to stir a few more hearts to love nature and conserve the environment !
The fear keeps millions awake at night , what if we are next ?
Created by man himself , directed by political will , this pandemic is a scare ! For the last few decades environment lovers have been shouting from rooftops that the world needs to stop – we were running too fast and too blind . Governments snubbed them , science was busy with research and medicine advanced while humanity shrinked .
Human health is related to social and environment health . How our race survives depends on the well-being and coexistence of our pets , wildlife and livestock . Homosapiens are supreme – this is proving to be a myth because we are the only species which is self destructive .
Biodiversity if only addressed in big international conventions will solely make for good scripts . Air pollution , desertification are potent time bombs humanity is sitting upon ! We don’t care till we can look the other way .
Look what we did to ourselves ! Corona virus is a result of meddling with other species – breaking the balance of habitation and foodchain . Blame it on China this time , what about the future epidemics ? The human race is hell bent on lending a deaf ear ,for, growth and power is the real mantra of the millennium .
Learn we must from this pandemic as helpless we feel without a vaccine , not enough medical strength and a contagious virus to deal with .
Prayer and social distancing are the only answers. While the world markets come to a halt we lock ourselves in our homes and shudder at the thought of catching the virus next . The Universe is at play with us , teaching us lessons not to mess with the animal and plant kingdom . The price of chopping forests , polluting air and water bodies is so heavy that not only us but our next generations might also talk about the quarantine days !
Let us listen to our governments , stay at home and quarantine till the Earth heals itself .
Look what we did ! Scientists , research scholars , medical institutes all fail today as Corona virus strikes the world .Helpless we stand , for it strikes country after country varying in its vengeance.
We lost balance someplace between development , medicine , science , technology and research . A lay person does not understand what hit him – just that he is petrified that the life of his loved ones could be at stake !
Let prayer heal the planet , let medicine find a solution soon .
Lessons of nature that man is not all powerful . We bow time to time in the history of civilisations to the mighty repercussions of our misdeeds and messing up .
A winter morning in Uttar Pradesh , India ,we got together 600 kids from a school in Ghaziabad and celebrated Valentines Day !
It was one of a kind – “nature festival”where kindergarten kids planted trees of Jamun , mango and neem in their school premises ! Hundreds poured into the huge playgrounds with the school gardeners giving in to the excitement of the children ! The teachers were kind and joyous . I requested them to just let the children be themselves , leave the ques, enjoy the plantation and feel connected to Mother Earth ! The kids loved the free spirit of the whole experience .
We chatted and planted , watered the plants while I casually took a promise that they would look after their trees !
I also had the opportunity of an interactive session on Environment – “How about going green , a social responsibility to our planet “with the middle and high school children ! They were attentive and responsive with hordes of resounding clapping in between our session . Our NGO Tree For Life gifted each student two trees to plant wherever they wished – home , school , park or neighbourhood .
Such fests inculcate responsibility in children with a promise of a green , clean and plastic free world ! Grateful to all faculty of Vidhan Public School . My zest multiplies when our tiny programmes are mighty successful ! Cheers to a green Earth !
The country celebrates its 71st Republic Day . India is drenched in patriotism , the heart of every Indian beats today for its soil.
It’s a national holiday so it’s a relaxed day for most of us . But there are lakhs who are rushing to the Republic Day parade in Delhi . Every city , every mohalla has a flag hoisting ceremony . The national anthem jan gan man fills each heart with pride.
My throat chokes a bit when I sing it as if the love and devotion to Mother India swells up at that moment .
Many awards are given by the President on this day – soldiers , martyrs , children , artists and so on .
The leading Hindi newspaper Dainik Jagran organised a series of programmes of flag hoisting , cultural extravaganza and awards to citizens all over the country . I am humbled to share that in the field of naari shakti and environment – I was felicitated . My journey is 11 years old now and with such encouragement from the society I’m sure to go on for years to come !
Jai hind , Jai Bharat
