By R.Swathi
I am so proud to be part of this Adyar neighbourhood. I truly am! It is a neighbourhood that is suffused with people concerned about the environment. From doing everything to save the beaches and water bodies, save the eco-systems (like saving the turtles, advocating rainwater harvesting systems, opposing stormwater drains near the coast etc.), implementing and expanding the concept of source segregation by conducting waste collection drives and thrift sales, to get the community together to resolve the issue of dog poop on the road, resident’s concern for the environment and their ideation has more than often blown our minds.
While it is impossible and unfair to name all the people making / trying to make an impact in their quest to save their environment, Adyar Times would like to give a shout out to the youngest and the oldest residents championing the cause.
- Kamakshi Subramaniyan: This nonagenarian is a go-to person if you want to understand what, why, how and when of anything in our neighbourhood. Despite her age, if you tell her of any issue impacting the environment, she will be the first person to come and stand with you. “I don’t know where the world is heading and I am so concerned about it. My blood boils when I see people not having civic sense and disregarding nature,” is her most common statement; and I try to tell her that she shouldn’t get her blood boil as there are many more fights to come!
- Bhuanya Bharath: This eight year old champion has been advocating the cause of source segregation since she was about four! When I asked her what inspired her to the cause, she quips, “My name means ‘blessed daughter of Mother Earth – Bhu + Anya’ so it is my duty to take care of her.” Bhuanya has been associated with waste aggregator Wasted 360 Solutions, since then. She doesn’t miss any waste collection drive that happens in the neighbourhood. She personally goes to each house in her locality, collects the waste items and brings them to the nearest drive.
Adyar Times, through its articles, hopes to inspire many more people to take up the cause of the environment in some way or the other. Age is after all just a number, but time and effort is what matters. This World Environment Day, before forwarding messages wishing everybody about the occasion, we request our readers to associate themselves to any cause for the environment and dedicate time for Mother Earth. “We do not inherit our Earth from our ancestors; We borrow it from our children!”, is the Truth.
Kamakshi Subramaniyan is a resident of Besant Nagar and can be contacted at 99400 61810. Bhuanya Bharath is a resident of Thiruvanmiyur and can be contacted at 99625 84517.
