A ride to save nature

All the fruits of tomorrow are in the seeds of today

~Thanks to Akbar & Abel :)

Hello folks!! You all have stories of best friends, childhood friends and so on, but what about “The Green Friends”?? Akbar Sha and Abel George - two friends from Kochi college has embarked a journey, showing their dedication towards Mother Nature by planting seeds all through their journey. Inspired by a Spanish film, “The Motorcycle Diaries", where two friends, Guevara and Granado, head on a journey by motorcycle, across South America, gain a great difference between ‘the rich’ and ‘the poor’, Akbar and Abel, along with a friend, Antony, started contemplating about one such journey. After 3 years, however they planned their expedition. But unfortunately, Antony met with an accident, leaving just the two of them with the journey.

They started the ride in June-July this year, travelling 12,538 kilometres, covering 18 states in 46 days. They took around 500 seeds and seedlings of tamarind, coralwood, jackfruit, jamun and vaka, but could plant only 150 because of the climatic differences and soil. In fact, all the leftover seeds were utilised on another trip after their return, this time to Nelliyampathy. In the course of their journey, they met Nitin Chaturvedi, the BSF Deputy Commander at Kota, who had planted 1,000 seedlings by himself. He became a great source of inspiration for the duo.

If at least ten people from a college, school or university starts planting across the country annually during trips, it will become much more environmental-friendly, says Abel. On being asked about the experiences from the rides, Akbar and Abel unanimously answered, that though the communication was a barrier half the times, as they hardly knew the language, there were people who provided them food and lodging without charging, reminding us the famous Sanskrit verse - “Atithi Devo Bhava”. They also realised how the villagers could live a healthier life than the urbans. From the experience of the journey of Green friends, we all get to learn lessons for a healthier lifestyle and a better future

We all know the well known proverb - “As you sow, so shall you reap”, and also how important the greenery is and we all talk about it, but the two friends has taught us how we can take a step forward to save our nature and give a better gift to the coming generations.