Planting tree
saplings and gardening are my favourite pastime. Whenever I get a wee bit of
that precious extra time, I take along a spade, cudgel, shovel etc, in ‘garden-work
clothes’ and with a wonderful friend for company – shaktimaan in tow…
Yes, we call him
shaktimaan for the myriad and marvelous ways in which he helps all and sundry
in the lovely little neighbourhood of ours.
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| Green Drive...! |
He’s a
retired officer from the Secretariat, Chennai, and his love and fondness for
helping his society is unparalleled.
He would
accomplish any work assigned to him in no time!
During the Chennai
floods, his work was way beyond ordinary, and he was also honoured by the
Rotary for that!
And well, our
sapling-planting-drive usually happens for four days a month – shaktimaaan has
his handy almanac (kinda panjaangam) to show the time the rains come – and we
gear ourselves for this favourable season of the month, in advance!
When we go on our 'sapling-planting' drive, most of our friendly neighbours accompany us to do their ‘little
might’ that they could possibly offer - a kinda team effort!
And yes! our team has
never said a NO to anyone who comes asking for tree-saplings to be planted in
or around their residential areas, so much so that, our team is quite popular
for our society-oriented initiatives!
We each chip in
with a minimum of Rs.1,000 per month for our social initiatives. Sakthimaan gives the
highest! Most of the money is invested on good fencing for tree-saplings – tree
guards, and other paraphernalia!
[Well, yes, if
you stay in or around Nolambur or Mogappair West, do give us a call or even mail us!
We would help you plant the best saplings for your kind of soil – and give you
saplings too free of cost! The only duty expected of you is that, you promise
to guard the sapling till she nourishes herself well enough to become an
adorable tree!!!]
‘Tree-sapling
plantings’ apart, we also have a host of lovely and interesting people all around
our house as wonderful neighbours. One among them is an Excise officer, who
would spend time with all of us – describing his adventures in the ‘customs’ domain,
every other day. He extols MCC as hoo hoo haa haa, and myself in turn, would
express curiosity in his adventures as Customs Officer. One fine evening, for
over 90 minutes, he was going on and on, talking about his adventures in
Customs to Sakthimaan, Ammachi, and a couple of equally ardent and enthusiastic
listeners that includes myself! He is just around forty years! The fire in his
eyes, the passion in his demeanour and the vibrancy in his talk was very much
palpable when he was describing his work experience in the sea, checking huge
vessels for customs clearance, and airports, to check cargo containers for
clearance.
