BENGALURU: Two brothers—nine-year-old Parth and seven-year-old Arjun Choudhary—have shown the way on how to save trees from the axe.“We want to live our full life, why can’t the tree too live its full life?”—this was the message the two students of Greenwood High School in Karnataka gave to donors. They went door to door for two months during their summer vacation to create awareness on their campaign.
The campaign was to save a large country fig tree (Ficus Racemosa) near Bellandur lake. Residents say tree cover around the water body has been destroyed to make way for apartment complexes.The tree was seven-eight years old and its roots had penetrated the sewage system of Euphoria complex comprising 225 apartments. The building management then decided to chop the tree. However, the two children were upset as the tree was home to birds. The children resisted the idea of four saplings being planted in the place of the tree, saying they would take years to grow.
Their parents, Prashant Choudhary and Dr Harshita, found tree doctor Vijay Nishanth who said it was possible to save the tree by introducing a root barrier.Choudhary said, “With Nishanth coming out with a solution, I told my children if they could collect money, we could save the tree.
For two months, they went from door to door, did a paper presentation and a video appeal on a WhatsApp group comprising family and friends. I told them not to collect more than `200 from one person. They chipped in with `2,000 from their pocket money.”The duo collected `7,040. Seeing their enthusiasm and of other children in the complex, residents in the apartment complex agreed to pitch in.