PANAJI
It’s in times of crisis that humans awaken to the truth and the current pandemic has pushed mankind to the edge of a cliff where there’s no safer side to take refuge. One either has to stay close to the stoned walls or slip to a steep fall in the valley below.
Here’s a team of 11 nature-loving youth who are setting an example of how to respect and nurture mother nature, to survive and thrive “ Hasiru Sanmitra. The team which fondly calls itself ‘Seedball’, will be bombing the borders of Goa and Karnataka with 3,000 seedballs on World Environment Day (June 5) so that these forest covers become thicker and are abandoned with fruit trees for the wild animals that live only on them. An artist by profession, Manjunath Kambar, has taken the lead to form this small organisation, roping friends from Goa and Karnataka into this green mission. Manjunath who hails from Karnataka has pulled his artist and sculptor friend from across the border “ Damodar Madgaonkar, a Goan from Ucassaim to help him carry on their mission of throwing seed bombs.
“I was invited to join the mission from this year onwards and will be getting 300 seed bombs to throw in Goa. A nature lover myself, I am looking forward to contributing more to this noble cause of making the earth greener,” says Damodar.
Goa already has her seed bombers like Suprajit Raikar, Manasi Dhauskar and Rajashree Khandeparkar who have been working to translate seeds into a green pasture. “You don’t need any superpowers to save the earth, all you need is a seed bomb in your hand,” smiles Manasi while inviting people to join her in making these irreplaceable gifts for Mother Nature. Rajashree and her family make seed balls and gifts them among friends, with a request to throw as many as possible. Suprajit, an IT engineer turned agricultural entrepreneur, has been throwing seed balls on his visits to farmers across Goa.
Manjunath’s team has volunteers from various backgrounds but that does not stop them from sitting on the cow dung flooring and rolling seed balls. Vikram Nandayyagol, Parashuram Petkar, Vinayak Kambar, Ranganath Chanapagoud, Husen Nadaf, Mahesh Ganiger, Somu Patil, Girish Koppad are few who have been consistently in the team for the past five years.
“This year we prepared the 3,000 seedballs of ten different types of seeds directly sourced from the natural surroundings in a neighbouring forest and it took us a month to collect them. Our aim is to create a forest, by throwing these seedballs, especially, near some treeless forest land and we will do it on the World Environment Day,” shares Manjunath.
“Our goal is to create 1,00,000 seed bombs next year and expand our activities to other States with treeless forests. We will join hands with other nature lovers who are willing to shoulder the responsibility of throwing these seedballs in the forests, systematically in the monsoons,” he adds.
