In the morning of the 19th of October 2019, a Saturday, a bunch of students entered the campus with hands full of rakes, buckets, ekel brooms and what-not! It was in response to the invite for the Shramadana (a clean-up day) organized by the Green Army.
As boring and unappealing as the word “clean-up” sounds, it started off with a bunch of us feeling reluctant to get under the blazing sun and clustering into huge groups to weed overgrown grass and collect trash lying on the ground. But our attires spoke differently! Most of us were all dressed up with gardening gloves (or surgical gloves), a cowboy hat and a pair of shorts that scream “let’s do this!” Eventually, our lazy, subdued bodies adapted to the open-air and served justice to our outfits.
After a quick break with soft drinks and comfort food, the cleaning continued. While some of us engaged in weeding, others pruned the flower bushes and tall trees. We even found a snakeskin during it! The branches and flowers on the floor were later accessorized by us for good laughs! In the process of pulling out weeds, it intrigued us how weeds have the prettiest tiny flowers. And there! We pulled out the unappreciated flowers and gave them to each other. Though it wouldn’t have been as fancy as an exchange of a flower bouquet or an expensive red rose, our flower exchanges were definitely rich in love and genuine happiness. Dislodging huge logs and stones and observing an ecosystem of bugs and pests, brought us to reminisce the moment in Lion King, where Timon and Pumbaa taught Simba to eat their everyday delicacy. The wheelbarrow that carried the stones and logs took turns of carrying people too!
The collected weeds were used as compost and also to level the ground. While sweeping the weeds into a pile, the boys posed with brooms and shovels to replicate a Call of Duty poster. Our stomachs were knotted with laughter.
The day ended with our institute premises being free of non-biodegradables like plastic and polythene. It is of great pride for us to say that The Spectrum Institute of Science and Technology is a space free of polythene and plastic, beginning from this day.
Our hearts are filled with gratitude to Andrene Joseph, Green Army Vice President and Avinash Selvaratnam, Green Army Director, for arranging a well-organized event as such, that brought all of us together and created memories and happiness that was much unexpected.
