“We stood together as a natural barrier to save you from the killer waves;
We stand collectively providing you scenic beauty while you enjoy your ride on the coastal road;
We accommodate you and your folks charmingly and provide you with shade and comfort;
We intake the toxic smoke, we listen to the non-sense you utter, we on-look the shady things you perform;
But, why do you slash me with your broken bottles; why do you suffocate me with plastics and trash??”
The silent cry of the pine trees should have been lost in its beauty; the weep of the scenic beach must have been washed away by its waves - possibly leaving the by-passers untouched and the polluter to take pleasure in polluting.
Am convinced the cry of the pine tree and the moan of the beach were heard by a 70 year young man and a 7 year old kid who marched on a Sunday morning to make a difference within and outside. With the elderly gentleman sharing the ever-green tales about the Scenic beach and with the strong hope of witnessing the beach as it was in the past and the innocent kid listening to the tales and wanting to see and feel for him what his grandpa was telling him was “nothing but the truth”.
The morning sea breeze with its gentle smoothness; the roaring waves breaking the silence in the air; the pine trees dancing to the music of sea breeze a small group of like minded CTCians made an attempt to wipe the tears of these pine trees and listen to the moan of the beaches. The few hands and the dedicated heart started to collect the plastics which formed as a layer above the sea sand not allowing the rain water to drain. Bending down closely to the earth and listening to the cries of the beach we picked up the litter and started filling our bags.
The bunch of young gals who came to spend their Sunday morning watching us cleaning up the beach with no hesitation and second thoughts wore the gloves and picked up the bags to collect the litter along with the silent but powerful vow they took “I will never litter my mother earth and suffocate it to breathe”. Like a snow ball which draws its strength when it rolls this clean up mission attracted more hands to clean the coast, we piled up heaps and heaps of litter with our dedicated and sincere work.
With the kids volunteering to carry the sins of our fellow country-men it was an emotional scene for the on-lookers which prompted their mind to raise a question to themselves “what did these innocent kids did, to carry our sins??” with no second thoughts few more hands joined the mission to collect the litter. The other CTCians despite the pain on their thighs and hip collected the litter with much greater spirit. I am proud of the parents of these kids who had brought them to perform this righteous exercise and guiding them to become an environmental conscious person.
Although the spirit was very high to clean up the entire east coast we had very few hands which could clean up only a tranche of the pine forest. I am positive about the passer-by who stood to watch us cleaning will never pollute again; I am over-confident that the kids who joined us in cleaning will inspire more souls to swear “I will not pollute” and finally after reading this if it inspires one soul to think twice before dropping a plastic bag I would then treat the mission to have succeeded - till then volunteering hands and dedicated hearts have to do this job…
Durai Murugan
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