CHENNAI: The first few minutes after you wake up is a crucial period and can set the tone for the entire day. Developing a good morning routine gets one off to a good start. Dharshini M, a Class 5 student from Kannagi Nagar, has one such routine. At around 6 am, she goes to the small pond in the neighbourhood and clears mounds of waste, picks up plastic bottles and waters plants before getting ready for school at 8.30 am.
Almost 100 other children from the locality share the same routine and every morning they set out to look after three small ponds in Kannagi Nagar. They have been doing this for over a year now. Why? The lakes and the surrounding areas were full of Seemai Karuvelam and other shrubs and this made it dangerous for children to pass through while going for evening tuition.
“Now it feels so much safer because throughout the day there is someone or the other who comes there to take a walk or just to sit and relax,” said S Lokeswari a second-year BCom student, who also helped clean the lake. Once the children began cleaning the lakes, including the Sivan Koil tank in Kannagi Nagar, their hard work caught the eye of corporates and NGOs, who then came forward to restore the three ponds as part of CSR.
Now the lakes have walkways, and benches and officials from Chennai corporation said a proposal will be submitted to install lights around the water bodies. The initiative was started by 54 students and grew to 200 students. They work mostly in the early morning, after school or college or during the weekends. Their efforts were also lauded by Chief Secretary V Irai Anbu when he visited the settlement.
“We couldn’t get many students to come to the evening tuition because they have to pass through the lane and in the cover of these shrubs people would drink, smoke and it housed reptiles and insects,” said E Marisamy, who runs free evening tuition classes for school students in the area.
Although the corporation staff come to maintain saplings from time to time, the students have taken collective ownership of the lake, taking turns to visit the lake. “Although it has been cleaned now, we want to make sure that it remains this way,” said K Tamizharasi, a Class 12 student.
When contacted, a corporation official said an estimate will be prepared for installing lights around the three lakes and will be submitted for approval.