Record Maker Brothers Of Tamil Nadu – 5,000 Saplings Planted In 48 Hours

 

In today’s day and age when everyday should be a ‘Tree Plantation Day’ considering the depletion and destruction of the very things that give us life, oxygen to be precise for the creation of settlements, plazas, and other manmade establishments. Trees support the wildlife that live amongst the nature, conserve water, and consistently improve the quality of air amongst other things. It is clearly understandable that the nature contributes more towards the betterment of our lives than it takes.

The knowledge of this oblivious fact must encourage each one of us to celebrate every day as a new day to plant another tree and although some of us might be falling short of doing so, it isn’t the same for these 2 brothers from Virudhunagar in Tamil Nadu.

On their journey that started with the first lockdown of Covid, the two brothers first planted two saplings. And lo and behold, the seasons changed, time flied and a year later this small hobby of planting saplings has grown into something bigger than just that.

The two brothers, namely Arun aged 25 and Shrikanth aged 22 from Kallamanaickerpatti of Vembakottai have over the course of January 21^st to 26^th, in a matter of merely 48 hours planted a total of 5,000 tree saplings.

The brothers by profession are Shrikanth, being a polymer technology graduate and skilled in a variety of things, his elder bother Arun is a software engineer based in Chennai. The whole initiative and idea have been Shrikanth’s who later got his brother involved in his aspiring endeavor.

When the first two saplings they planted back during the first lockdown were reaping beautifully through the next year, they knew they needed to surpass that and go big and plant more saplings all over Tamil Nadu. This would not only help be good for the people but also help grow awareness about tree plantation, the need for the conservation of nature amongst the people of Tamil Nadu.

While the task is definitely a tedious one and would not have been easy were it just the two of them involved, they took help from other people who had a similar goal as them and wanted to help achieve this feat of turning Tamil Nadu greener than before.

To make things easier, they planned out the entire process beforehand. With a passion for cycling, the brothers decided to use that to their advantage. This involved noting that the brothers initially in October 2019 planned a 2,000 kilometer ‘Cycling for Recycling’ trip which covered a route from Kanyakumari all the way to Mumbai which was completed in a matter of 11 days. This was done with the aim to organize awareness camps on the proper disposal of plastics and ways to recycle them and was carried out in 25 institutions.

Following which came the plan to plant 5,000 saplings. This was pre-planned as well, they noted areas that had sufficient water resource available, with fencing as protection. The spots were also picked beforehand knowing where the saplings could grow faster in the long run. The trees were planted in and around temples, government offices and any other places the locals allowed.

For the purpose of getting the spots dug up for plantation, they were helped by the MGNREGS workers. And thus, in a span of 48 hours working 8 hours per day from 21^st to 26^th January, he brothers successfully planted 5,000 saplings.

The brothers for the purpose of planting the trees would use money from their savings and not long after, their friends and the Sivkasi Taluka also decided to help fund them with their initiative. A non-profit organization called ‘N-India’ is also run by the two brothers. The saplings planted are not forgotten either. The brothers occasionally visit the spots and coordinate with the locals. Turns out, at least 90 percent of the saplings have grown into trees which as per Arun was made possible as they gave careful consideration to the soil in which the saplings were initially planted.

Their hard work was sure to get noticed and has been acknowledged by the India Book of Records as they received an appreciation certificate for being ‘Efficacious Cyclists’.

What is next for the brothers is that they want to widen the reach of their initiative and spread it over to other districts in Tamil Nadu with the help of others and make Tamil Nadu greener than ever.