The Beginning

We have begun. Finally, we were able to plant our first set of trees. The experience was really good. On Saturday, 18th June 2005, at 8.30 a.m. we started towards our destination. Deepak Dandekar and his wife Parinita had arranged all the things for us. Buying trees and fertilizers was done because of their initiative. Five of us, Chaitrali Mane, Ketaki Varunkar, Amol Phalke, Ajay Ambegaonkar and the great Vivek Joshi, (Mr. and Mrs,. Dandekar could not join us as they had some other important work.) with lot of enthusiasm, collected all the instruments to dig the pits and started walking on the hill. We thought we will be able to start the project at the bottom of the hill, but to our surprise, we reached on a rocky hill. Everywhere we found big rocks and no “Zamin”. We climbed up and up and reached at a sufficient height. What a lovely view. The beauty of this hill is, it is unexplored, by a dangerous species called Human.
In front of us was a land, dark black, soft, ideal for growing trees. Amol was the first one to start digging pits. It was a hot sunny day. We were already tired after climbing the hill. And soon we realized that digging pits is “Apne bas ki baat nahi”. In between, Ajay suggested an idea. Near this hill there is another hill, which belongs to IRDA, and is protected by them. A few people are already doing this activity. Ajay said that will join them. We had a discussion and we agreed with Ajay. But, having reached this high, we had to do something and we decided to plant five trees there. After half an hours “Mehanat mashakkat” we were done with five pits. Now, where are the trees? They were lying at home with water, Fertilizers, insecticides etc. Ajay and Amol had to live. So, Chaitrali, Ketaki and I went home. Brought the trees and planted them. We also decided to plant two more trees on the way back. At 1.30 p.m. we were done with 7 trees.
Deepak was smart. He took a professional “digger” on Sunday morning and planted 14 trees in an hour. :) His experience was fundoo. He found a very good place for tree plantation. There is a small stream of water on that hill and a decently plane land.
We have to go a long way. Everywhere I see an empty land where trees can be planted. Pune requires a lot of volunteers. More than one thousand. We have a long way to go. A very long way……