“I remember visiting Kapra lake as a kid. It was clean and blue. I still remember the cool breeze touching my skin. I visited the lake again when I was in my intermediate, only to be heartbroken. My college was close to the lake and it was heart-wrenching to see the lake contaminated and neglected. Witnessing such a disturbing site of nature, a few of my friends and I decided to organize a clean-up drive called “Ecobuddies”. We were doubtful as to how many people would join the drive and to our surprise we had 500 people attend our first-ever drive. Believe me, within 2 hours, the entire shore of the lake was plastic-free and the weed plants were plucked out.

Looking at the response, we had decided to approach several government officials asking for their help. They were convinced with our ideas and sanctioned a certain amount of budget towards the lake restoration. It felt like a dream come true. We requested them to create a small pond near the lake wherein the immersion of idols can take place.

We observed that the lakes were not only polluted by external harmful elements such as plastic but also because of a harmful process called eutrophication, where water hyacinth, a plant that grows rapidly on the surface of the water, does not allow oxygen to travel to the aquatic life and disturb the ecosystem. Giving our knowledge and research an ear, now the Kapra lake is almost free from plastic and other materials. Apart from this, we are also working towards restoring other water bodies in the city.

My love and sense of responsibility towards nature blossomed at a young age. I remember, when I was in 7th standard, there was a food brand that approached our school and decided on distributing tiffin boxes to the kids during the lunch hour. These lunch boxes were made of aluminum. Once we were done with our lunch, the boxes were dumped into the bin. What I had observed was that, these aluminum boxes were burnt which in return caused a huge amount of pollution. Bringing this to my principal’s notice, I had suggested on how the students could bring in their own empty tiffin boxes and the organization could serve in those boxes instead of the aluminum ones. The principal found my idea to be valuable. She suggested the same to the organization that was serving us food. They didn’t agree. My principal cancelled the deal with them on their disagreement.

We also work towards animal protection and Swaach Bharat initiatives. As the initiative towards Swaach Bharat started around the same time as our organisation, we had selected 100 parks including private lands for clean ups. Every Sunday we would go there and clean up the area. The pandemic had not only affected us but it also took a huge toll on the animals in the zoo. I tried to do something within my capacity by adopting a lion for a month from the Tirupati Zoo on my birthday.

With an aim to stop lake encroachments and contamination, I strive every single day. I humbly request all my fellow beings to save lakes, save water because our future depends on them. Imagine a world without water!”