: He is the first to be informed about any illegal tree-felling or suspected damage to environment in any part of the city. T. Sobhindran, a retired professor in his late 60s, like many people call him, is a “green man” to the core and is synonymous with conservation activities in and outside the district.
For many, his “green” image is linked to the colour of his apparel, the olive green shirt and trousers he wears perpetually. Those who know him closer, however, know that his love of green is more than skin deep. Prof. Sobhindran has been part of countless afforestation drives and conservation awareness campaigns in the region for the last several decades.
He has always been in the midst of youngsters ever since he began his career as a teacher at the Government Arts and Science College, Bangalore in 1972. His close contact with Nature began when he opted to serve in a College at Molakalmuru, a remote district in Karnataka. “I used to spend hours with my students in the hills and valleys of Molakalmuru during free time,” he recalls. He has always been an easily accessible “Mash” to his students, wherever he went.
He continued his close relationship with students when he came home to the Zamorin Guruvayurappan College in the city as a lecturer in November 1975. “Only the campus changed, not me,” he says. He had already influenced generations with his message of love of nature by the time he retired from the college as the Head of Department of Economics in 2002.
As the hostel warden, National Service Scheme (NSS) programme officer and the founder of Campus Research Centre (CRC), a progressive forum, he always remained in the company of youth and influenced them to be kind to Nature. Prof. Sobhindran had already turned the 100-acre barren campus of the Guruvayurappan College into a terrain of more than 1,000 trees with the help of students.
Prof. Sobhindran never retired from his love for Nature. He continued to champion the cause. In the meanwhile, he led numerous conservation and afforestation campaigns and helped plant several thousand trees in and around the city. At 68, Pro. Sobhindran is at the helm of several environmental forums coordinating their activities. He travels from district to district talking to school students, youth and grown-ups alike about the importance of caring for Nature, its water-bodies hills and trees.
