The
Green Man Of Kerala
By K A Shaji
04 June, 2007
Countercurrents.org
His
endeavor in channelising the creative impulses of youngsters for productive
purposes is evident as you walk through the narrow track leading to
Zamorin's Guruvayurappan College, one of the oldest educational institutions
in Kozhikode City. The 120-acre campus, which was a rocky barren land
with a number of concrete structures till a few decades back, is now
turning as a botanical garden with a rich variety of trees and plants.
The green campus is exceptional
in terms of the number of gigantic trees and it stands as a living testimony
to the selfless hard work of T.Sobindran, a former professor with the
Economics Department of the college. The professor, clad in dark green,
had visualized Campus Research Centre (CRC), an unofficial platform
where students and teachers can shed their inhibitions and work as a
team for the common good of the academic community, around twenty years
back. The CRC has succeeded in providing a face-lift to the then barren
campus by plating trees, ensuring better access to water for both students
and the planted trees and inviting artists and sculptors from outside
to join hands with the talents in the college to do artistic works in
the rich green ambience of the college. Now, the campus has also turned
into an open art gallery with numerous sculptors and statues. The paintings,
which were done at the artists' camps, have been displayed in a separate
gallery. Sobindran had started all these efforts at a time when even
the availability of drinking water for students was a major problem
of the water starved college. He has not only resolved the drinking
water scarcity but also succeeded in ensuring sufficient greenery in
the campus thus creating a congenial milieu for academic pursuits. He
has turned a role model for students in constructive purposes and they
stood solidly behind him whenever he initiated any project with environmental
or artistic concern.
The statue of a girl in
though process, established at the very entrance of the college six
years back, is the largest sculptor of its kind to adorn any educational
institution in the country. It took 11 years, Rs 6 lakh and six different
sculptors to complete the statue. Though the lack of sufficient finance
had delayed the works of the statue for a few years, Sobindran's convictions
were the ultimate winners. Among the other notable statues built under
the leadership of Sobindran on the campus is that of Buddha under a
Bodhi tree. Another life-size statue of a girl was installed in 1992
in front of the college library as a lamp post. A greeting statue, made
out of laterite, was installed in 1993. Sobindran was also the driving
force behind ACK Raja Memorial All-Kerala Artists' Camp, an annual week
long get together of leading artists in Kerala and talents from different
colleges inside the Guruvayurappan College campus to give went to their
artistic impulses.
Apart from the installation
of the statues and planting of more than 15,000 trees in the campus,
Sobindran had led an initiative of students to plant shade giving trees
on both sides of the busy mini-bypass road in Kozhikode. That effort
also was an instant success.
As college level programme
officer of National Service Scheme of Union Government, he created history
in the nineties by making an artificial pond inside Tholpetty Range
of Wayanad Wild Life Sanctuary to quench thirst of elephants during
the peak of summer. Built with the manual work of students, the pond
has become a path breaker. He has also channelised the student energy
to construct check dams in Muthanga and Noolpuzha in Wayanad to construct
check dams, which were aimed at preserving water for the sake of both
poor people living close to the forests and of course the wildlife.
After retirement, Sobindran
has undertaken a huge task of greening Sathyadarsana Sailam, another
major hill with barren rocky lands in Kozhikode district. He has begun
the planting works recently. Busy with planting trees in any possible
spot in the district, he gives importance to planting trees on the banks
of ponds and rivers. He is now associated with Green World Village Research
centre set up on the banks of Punoor River at Vengeri, 7 km from Kozhikode.
``It is an effort to save
the Punoor River. We were able to prevent sand mining and dumping of
waste on the stretch before planting trees on its banks,'' he said.
Due to his efforts, thousands of kids are learning to swim in the river.
``Bring rivers close to our life. Then they will never perish,'' he
says.
Apart from the tree planting
and conservation efforts, Sobindran is also in the forefront of agitations
against willful degradation of environment. He has been part of the
anti-Coca Cola movement in Plachimada, peoples' solidarity against proposed
Pathrakadavu hydel electric project near Silent Valley National Park
and pollution related agitation against Kozhikode Corporation's unscientific
dumping ground at Nheliyanparamba. He is also in the process of unifying
all environmental organizations in Kerala to streamline agitations meant
for protecting the air, water and soil.
Now, he is the winner of
the prestigious Indira Priyadarshini Vriksha Mitra Award instituted
by Union Ministry of Environment and Forests. The award, comprising
a cash prize of Rs 1.25 lkah besides a plaque and citation, is undoubtedly
a recognition for his yeoman works, which remained unnoticed till then
due to his lack of interest in promotional and publicity works. A great
cheer goes up from the saplings he planted in and around Kozhikode.
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