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A green trail is emerging along the Buckingham Canal in the Navalur region and the initiative bears the unmistakable footmarks of resident-volunteers. The biggest of the footmark belongs to R. Shankar.
At the height of the pandemic, when people across the world were discovering the obvious, the commonplace and the immediate with a twinkle in their eyes, a discovery along similar lines was being made by a clutch of residents from House of Hiranandani Upscale in Egattur.
They had taken to walking in the precincts of their gated community, along the Buckingham Canal. And this trail, many galaxies removed from how it looks now, came to light. Back then, the greenery lining it largely consisted of prosopis juliflora. Among these walkers, Shankar saw that greenery replaced in his mind’s eye, and was able to transfer that idea to other green minds.
A tree plantation idea had been planted, firmly and truly. It was the pandemic and “cabins” were parked in living rooms, and that meant drumming up enthusiasm for the initiative was as easy as rolling off a log, in fact easier still.
N.L. Senthilnathan, a resident of Upscale and a volunteer just like Shankar, notes: “The volunteer strength was 20-plus people at that time. Among them, they made contributions over the next three years amounting to around ₹3 lakh. From the beginning of the imitative to now, Shankar has contributed around ₹8 lakh, and the overall outlay towards creating, maintaining and sustaining the trail has been around ₹11 lakh. Unlike the rest of us, Shankar sees the trail as his second home. From morning to evening, Shankar looks at the trees, tending to those that need it.”
Who is this Shankar?
Sixty-six years old, this resident of Upscale has been into social service since his retirement from a corporate environment six years ago. Shankar was a marketing professional and had retired from a top position in Archies.
“I enjoy taking up social service. Along with Aditi Sharma, I run the happiness club for seniors at Upscale. And I try to get involved in any social work outside, medical camps among them,” says Shankar.
Back to the green trail, with the pandemic loosening its grip on the world, and return-to-office mandates being issued, volunteers dropped out of the initiative. And with thinning numbers, Shankar’s zeal for the initiative kept it going, says Senthilnathan.
“For a long time, the greening exercise was restricted to a 200-metre stretch along the Canal, and then in 2022, Shankar was talking about pushing it further. And it meant further removal of prosopis juliflora through a labour force. Now, the exercise covers close to two kilometres. Shankar decided to approach the Forest Department to support the exercise, and the effort met with the desired result in the second half of 2023. The Forest Department provided around 4000 saplings. They recommended that we plant athimaram, alamaram, neer marudhu and jamun trees. They provided saplings of these four species, which dominate the trail.”
From the start of the the greening exercise (more so now than ever before), there has been a steady outlay towards labour and establishment of infrastructure.
Senthilnathan elaborates: “As resident-volunteers are involved, the place has to be regularly deweeded to make it safe, free of snakes. Labourers are in constant employment for this. Besides, water supply had to be ensured. The resident-volunteers might be of Upscale, but the exercise is not. It is a greening exercise independent of the Association. Eighteen tanks complete with water-carrying systems have been installed along the trail. Now, the rains are helping and in the early months of the year, considerable resource had to be spent towards buying water and filling the tanks up.”
The volunteer base for the initiative has shrunk — eight people. But according to Senthilnathan and Shankar, it has achieved the critical mass it has to.
Muttukadu backwaters
Along with this trail on the Buckingham Canal, a greening initiative along the Muttukadu backwaters behind Upscale completes the picture of green consciousness. Senthilnathan notes, “A trail along the Muttukadi backwaters, behind Upscale, is lined with palm trees, planted by outsiders in 2018-2019. Residents of Upscale have added their signature to it by planting pungan maram, thaiyella maram, neem trees and bamboo trees, among others.”
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