You cannot do any good to anyone by torturing yourself – it is a crime – you have to decide your happiness is important than the pleasure you may give to someone by hurting yourself – you are the light of your life.

You pave the way to your destination and trust this light – trust is the answer – trust and let go.

Written by Mrs Manasi Sose on her blog. Her Work: My Centre India

a trash-covered creek in Manila, Philippines, where slums often adjoin rubbish dumps. The country's poorest sift through the garbage to find discarded objects they can sell on or re-use, or even scraps of food to eat.

How long until we realize that we are sitting on a chair with a bamboo growing under our @ss and when it’s time to move out, it’s too late ‘coz you are freaking stuck to the chair and the bamboo continues to grow, unperturbed about what it’s going to touch. It will continue to grow with a lot of force: Like it fu*&ing has a brain.

But, we do.

So what are you doing, as an individual to combat climate change, fight Global Warming and prevent it’s ill-affects? Celebrate another “world environment day” until the bamboo … do I need to mention !

There’s a small story I want to tell you.. the wash room at my work place has a paper-napkin vending machine. You don’t need to drop in a coin to get paper… but just pull it out, wipe your hands and throw it in the bin. Why can’t these guys, bloody carry a handkerchief? I didn’t care to ask them. I dont’ want to educate, “educated” people. Nature help these “educated” people; I don’t think it cares. It must be happy that it will get rid of us.

Now getting back to the Great Bamboo Story, if it begins to hurt.. .. dude… I will move the chair.

An employee works inside the Caivano dump, near Naples, southern Italy, where rubbish is turned into bales. Neapolitans took the law into their own hands after the city ran out of space to dump rubbish

A huge mound of waste at a dump in New Orleans, a year after Hurricane Katrina struck

Carrier bags from the British supermarket chain Tesco contribute to pollution in the Shunde district of Guangdong, China. Italian, Dutch and British waste is recycled in the area, but as many as 3bn plastic bags are used in China every day

Computer parts lie on the ground at a dump in Accra, Ghana. Thousands of discarded computers from western Europe and the US arrive in the ports of west Africa every day, ending up in massive toxic dumps where children burn and pull them apart to extract metals for cash.

A cow feeds on plastic bags and other garbage along a stream in New Delhi, India

Farm waste and used pesticide containers pile up in a natural water reserve, which has become an illegal dump,according to environmental group Ecologistas en Accion, in El Ejido, south-east Spain

Birds on a tree among plastic materials in Changzhi, Shanxi province

Sheep feed off rubbish left on one of Albania's biggest beach resorts of Durres

In this photo released by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, marine debris has been washed ashore on Laysan Island in the Hawaiian Islands

Picture source: guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2009

I dreamt of being a saint when i was 11. We were studying about religions then. Jainism and Buddhism fascinated me; which eventually earned me a nickname in St Pauls, ‘saddhu‘. A year later, physics enthralled me. I got down making motor boats, vacuum cleaners, lifts, models of aero planes and jets. I loved my name then, kinda Hollywooddy, ‘Mad Professor Dugar‘. My love for Physics sprouted into my dream of becoming an engineer and later taking up a profession in the marketing line. But in all these years, there was a dream, a constant dream in my sub-conscious mind, a dream to do something for the cause of the environment.

Last year i founded ek titli, Experimented by sending money to people to plant trees. It didn’t work. This year, I took it a step further. A few of my friends and i distributed potted plants for free at a multiplex in Pune [for details, please click here]. This was basically to test the waters. I wanted to understand how serious the recipients were about plants, about global warming. They were serious. There were many who were willing to help us and support us for the forthcoming activities. We took it as an achievement and pride. It was very encouraging for us, very encouraging for me. My obscure dreams were getting clearer and defined. A dream of clean roads, clean cities. A dream of purity in air, purity in water. A dream of green technologies and green energy. A dream where we will all be self sufficient. Everything will be recyclable and renewable.

It’s said that if you want something, shoot it to the universe and the universe gives it to you. So here are my visions for ek titli:

1. A company dedicated only to the betterment of the environment.
2. Educating children on the impacts of global warming and how they can make a difference.
3. Increasing greenery in towns and villages in every possible way.
4. Building an “all natural township”. Also considering adopting a village/town/city where every form of energy used is naturally acquired. Either through Solar, bio gas, wind, etc.

A couple of people have shown their enthusiasm and interest. Meanwhile Bhavik and me are getting the website ready and looking for details on registering the name. We plan to take the free distribution of potted plants further, Do it at multiple locations and cities so that the importance and urgency can be felt by one and all. If you would like to be of any help do mail me at vaibhav {at} ektitli {dot} org

Unitl then, I’ll work towards building my dream ‘coz I believe that The titli needs a tree, the titli will survive.

links: ektitli.org | Event Blog | Event Pictures | FaceBook Group