After dropping his daughters at SIET College, Vijayabhaskaran would water the saplings he planted along the route from the college to his house in Alwarpet. He had been following this routine when his daughters were in college. He still follows it.
Cyclone Vardah might have dampened the spirits of some people, but not Vijayabhaskaran. The 65-year-old owns a small tailoring shop on the ground floor of his residence and is an official tree warden appointed by the Tamil Nadu Forest Department in 1998.
He says he never steps out of his house without a few bottles of water, which he keeps in his scooter.
“Because of scanty rainfall this time, plants planted along the pathways on the road need more watering without which they will perish,” says Vijayabhaskaran.
The Alwarpet resident has planted hundreds of saplings across the city, and the numbers increased after he joined the Exnora. “Three decades ago, when I found out that I was diabetic, I took some time off work. This was when I started to plant trees in and around my neighbourhood. The first tree I planted was a Gulmohar. Slowly, I started increasing the count of the saplings and in 10 years I had planted nearly 100 trees,” he says.
He is currently the president of Exnora Green Cross, a tree-planting division of Exnora. Vijaybhaskaran has also planted saplings at 13 MTC terminuses with help from this organisation. “We roped in NSS students from Anna University to help us with the planting process. We have been planting fruit-bearing trees like guava, mango and coconut at Palur village in Kancheepuram and at another village near Thamaraipakkam. Our aim is to plant 100 fruit-bearing trees every year in a village. This initiative has been going on for the last 10 years,” he said.
Chamiers Road, St Mary’s Road, Alamelumangapuram, Boat Club and Kotturpuram are some of the areas covered by Vijaybhaskaran. He buys saplings from Isha Foundation, the Forest department, Thanniyar Nursery in Kodangaiyur and government nurseries.
Post-Vardah, he has decided to plant Bogan trees, a native species that is known for its heat-reducing ability. “ Poovarasu, badam, maghizha maram and vembu are trees native to Tamil Nadu that are strong and they withstood the recent cyclone,” said Vijayabhaskaran, who has also printed and distributed a small handbook about trees that can be planted in temples.
If you want to help Vijayabhaskaran, you may call him at 9176443747.
