NATURE'S SAKEA Story by SANDEEP SHETTY this story is about the way environmental organisations work and the blind approach of todays teens towards society The students
thought I was mad or something similar when I was looking for the plants, but I
really had no clue of how the plants vanished abruptly. Just then the head
master of the ZPHS School approached me. Though he was a few feet away he
appeared closer. People with huge bellies appear closer than they actually are. “Hey Uday, I
was looking forward to call you. You said that you would mail me the photos.”
He said. The other week we conducted GO GREEN, an environmental awareness
program on behalf of our organization NATURE’S SAKE, headed by me. And he was
referring to the photos taken that day. “The photos
are there. But where are the plants? We actually planted them right beside your
office and the ground adjoining class rooms.” The
expression on his face altered with my inquisition. It was occupied by some
sort of sorrow. “Look Uday,
you need to be strong enough my boy. You now these kids, they are very annoying
at times. The other day two boys of second standard rolled over them while
quarreling with each other. I really felt bad and couldn’t eat anything that
day.” He somehow
managed to shed one drop of tear from the right eye and a half drop from the
left eye along with a mourning expression all over the face. It was
nothing new to me. The same was the situation with THE GREEN WOOD and THE
LITTLE ANGELS Schools.
**************************************** So this was
it. I wanted to end it up here. I headed straight to my office to make the
announcement. Office! Initially it sounded great. Setting up a work place to
discuss the organization’s activities was really exciting. My office was a
small room in my friend’s house with not more than a small table and a couple
of chairs. May be today
is going to be rather exciting. All the team members were informed to gather at
the office. “Bro, I have
an awesome idea”, Avin jumped over me as soon as I entered in. Avin was my
junior who always tortured me with his ‘awesome’ ideas. He had an exceptional
personality and it took me pretty amount of time to digest the fact that he was
my junior. “Avin, I
always say you something.” “Oh yeah. I
should first relax, take two deep breaths and then speak. But bro, I have done
it before you came in. Now listen how would it be if we gather around hundred
people and go on a rally howling ‘go green’ holding the candles?” “They will
blow away.” “Minds?” he
asked. “No. The
candles”, I replied. “Ok. Now
listen I have got a rather important announcement to make to you. Will you
please pay attention?” I told them. There were
about ten members in the room. All of them were my juniors and they obeyed me. “Look I
didn’t expect this day would come. I am sorry to say that NATURE’S SAKE is
going to shut down.” I literally
ran out of the room before any one raised an objection.
************************************** “You are all
going to die. Better leave this place”, Danny Barrings, my favorite actor was
reciting his dialogue from the movie Haunted house-6, looking at me. Why should
he look at me? I thought of
a better place than this screwed up earth. I couldn’t find any. I turned the
TV off to open the official NS page on facebook. The cover picture consisted of
Chandu, Preethy, Rajeev and me. All of us were beaming happily. Preethy was
holding a South-Indian Uvaria. Some extra editing was done to make the plant
look greener. I looked at
Preethy and she looked gorgeous. A woman is the real catalyst in any story. She
accelerates it to a great extent. I remember
the day I interviewed her.
************************************************ “So Preethy, how do you like
the nature?” I asked her. Chandu was along with me as a company. But I asked
most of the questions. “I like the nature because it is green. Green is my
favorite color. Green is my favorite color because it looks natural.” She was
jumping off her chair as she was speaking and she was chirpy. Chandu chose to ask her the next question. “What have you done so far in order to promote green?” “Well, I played Farm Ville on facebook.” “That sounds crazy, Preethy. Anyways we will let you
know if you are in.” I said and she left. I looked at Chandu. Chandu and I together started the organization.
It was my idea to select him as he had lot of contacts outside and a good
social circle. It was because of him that we managed to get permissions for our
events so easily. But now he looked different. His eyes were gleaming. “You know what Uday, besides the fact that she is in, I
want to say you that I am in love with her.” Now that was quite a news. I couldn’t guess the pros and
cons of the situation. So I stayed silent.
******************************************* Another
important member of NS was Rajeev. It was the photos he clicked that I saw more
than him. In fact his photography career started with NS. People started liking
his photography page on facebook and it kept growing. But everything
goes wrong some day or the other. I had to hear from Rajeev that he is going to
quit NS. I checked his official page on facebook. It reached 10K likes just the
day before. 10K is really a good number! Initially I had to struggle for photographers but things
got better later on. We were able to manage it with other aspiring
photographers of NS. Meanwhile Chandu was getting closer to Preethy. On my
behalf I always put them in the same team and that was the only way I could
extract the maximum efficiency out of him. Then one day when
all the planets were aligned in the ugliest way, Chandu proposed Preethy and
she rejected. “I didn’t see you that way”, she said to him. “I didn’t expect that you would reply this way”, he said
to her. “F*** off. Let us get parted in our own way”, they both
said to each other. Can anything worst happen than this? Yes it can, if
Preethy proposes me. Unfortunately she had seen me that way! Malnutrition is
better than starving to death, I guess!! ** ******************************** I kept
looking at the pictures. They were too many. Why the hell did we click too many
pictures? I started getting tired. One picture
showed Chandu and Preethy giggling awkwardly holding a plant. Chandu was
literally crushing the plant to convey his crush. Something I hadn’t noticed
before was a bunch of children at the corner of the picture. They were staring
at my car. Some
pictures had my juniors working seriously initially. In the later pictures they
too turned naughty playing with mud and all that. I always
wondered what my juniors thought of me. Leader, loser or a mere idiot? And now I
wonder whom I anticipate out of me!
************************************** The other
day I woke up early in the morning and informed all my team mates to gather at
the office. Besides coffee and shower I also had some hope. We need to survive
anyways! I avoided my
car and used public transport instead to get to the office. Things had to
change. As usually
Avin jumped over me with an awesome idea. “Bro, where
is your car?” he asked me. “I am not
gonna use it, for NATURE’S SAKE!” “Wow! So are
we going to continue? In that case I have an awesome idea”. He was very desperate. “Oh really?
I will be pleased to hear that but only after I give a small announcement.” “OK bro,
meanwhile I will take two deep breaths” he obeyed me. I turned to
all my juniors and said, “No matter who ever quits, NS is gonna continue” All that we
needed was a little inspiration. I made the
announcement finally. This time I didn’t run away!
© 2013 SANDEEP SHETTYReviews
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