Aadi Pattam: a spotlight on volunteers from Chennai who green neighbourhoods

The Hindu

a day ago

The pandemic had two contrasting effects on newly sprouted initiatives. Some went into a tailspin and never recovered from it. And there were others that got their tail up, the pandemic years, strangely, providing them with a conducive environment for growth.
Deepa Lakshmi and her husband K. Mohanasundaram had barely started a hyperlocal greening exercise around their moorings in Mogappair East when the pandemic struck. Now, Deepa Lakshmi is an English teacher at Chennai Higher Secondary School on Subbrayan Street in Shenoy Nagar, and in addition to her teaching role, serves as in-charge headmistress of the school. While latching the doors of the school (and taking the classes online), the pandemic threw wide open the door to environment action. Deepa Lakshmi seized that opportunity.
'It all started during COVID. There was so much free time,' recalls Deepa Lakshmi, co-founder of a voluntering force called Team Green. 'We used to water the few plants we had, and then one day, we just planted some saplings. Neighbours noticed, and slowly people started joining us.'
The streets in the neighbourhood saw more green; and then the streets beyond the neighbourhood did. What began as a simple act became a habit not just for this duo and their neighbours in Mogappair East, but also for many eco-conscious people elsewhere in Chennai.
Team Green — as this group of sapling-toting volunteers are called — has expanded to Perungudi, Keelkattalai, Madipakkam, Gated Communities in OMR, Perumbakkam, Tiruvottiyur and Thirumullaivoyal.
Team Green provides saplings of native trees for free to residents and individuals upon request — a huge volume of such requests being honoured on special days such as Environment Day — but not before extracting a promise from them.
The recipient has to take a vow to never abandon the saplings. They would be put through a wringer of questions, much like someone adopting a puppy would be before taking the bundle of fur home.
A quick run-through of the posers high up on the questionnaire: who will be responsible for the care of the saplings? Has proper soil preparation been done? The interviewee will find themselves being edified about plant care. Team Green does not leave anything to chance. A volunteer would one day invite themselves to the recipient's stomping ground to see how the saplings are coming along. This stringent process weeds out dilettantes, and brings on board only those extremely keen on greening their neighbourhoods and personal spaces.
Residents interested in greening their patches constitute much of the demand. Colleges (through their outreach wings such as NSS units) also seek saplings for their environmental initiatives. Team Green provides saplings for free, except when they do not have the saplings of a specific tree species that has been sought. In such an event, they help procure it from a nursery, with the cost being borne by the one making the request.
Vidiyal: an offshoot
Deepa Lakshmi is part of a force driving an initiative called Vidiyal, which splices women's empowerment with environment action. Vidiyal is designed in a manner that gets groups of three to four women from an underprivileged background to gather every day at a designated school to nurture saplings. They are provided with soil, seeds and used milk packets, these materials having been collected and supplied by Team Green volunteers. The women work from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., nurturing saplings and starting new ones with the soil and seeds. In case you are wondering what the milk packets are for: they serve as coverings for the saplings. Currently, around 15 to 20 women are engaged in this work on a full-time basis.
The project operates on a community-supported model where volunteers contribute financially to pay the women for their efforts. For instance, a donation of ₹900 is enough to pay three women ₹300 each for a day's work. Those who wish to support just one person can contribute ₹300. Deepa mentions that they never have to actively seek sponsors, as there is always a steady flow of generous volunteers who come forward to pitch in and help sustain the project.
Deepa notes that Team Green is not an NGO, only a scattered but tightly-knit group of individual volunteers. The volunteering group functions on its own except for collaborations with Exnora from time to time. Deepa finds the most supportive volunteer in her hearth: her husband Mohanasundaram who has handed over the reins of his earthmoving business to his team, distancing himself from its day-to-day activities and thereby freeing up time for Team Green's activities.
For details about Team Green and its activities, call 9042594891 / 6379072259