Cubbon Park

Bengaluru

MP Tejasvi Surya

Ricky Kej

singer Vasundhara Das

A bunch of cyclists, marathoners, and bikers got together aton Sunday morning - not to flex their muscles or to rally, but to make the planet greener. Responding to an initiative by the city-chapter of FICCI FLO, they had come to collect thousands of seed balls, which they are supposed to toss in and aroundbefore the monsoon sets in. NGOs, orphanages, family and friends of the organising team also turned up to receive the seed balls.The event was also attended by debutant, Grammy award winner, Mrs Global International Classic 2017 winner Roopa Mouli, who’s also a Pinkathon ambassador, Classic Mrs Asia International – Miss Charming 2018 Kajol Bhatia, and 13-year-old Yathaarth Murthy, an athemologist (he can sing national anthem of 215 countries) and youngest TEDx speaker from South India. Together, they planted 10 saplings at the park, and urged the gathering of 500 to do their bit to tackle the waning tree cover, water crisis and air pollution, as well as to exert pressure on the government to set things right. On the sidelines, children were seen participating in an art competition on the theme, ‘Tree is my superhero.”The aim of this initiative is to sensitise people from all walks of life. That’s why 500 students, studying in Class three to 12, and their teachers from Vyasa International School in the city were brought on board to make a total of 5,000 seed balls. Last Thursday, they sat under a banyan tree in their school, rolling red soil and manure into small balls and stuffing a moringa seed (drumsticks) inside each.These activities are part of the green vertical that FICCI FLO has started recently, and many more are to come, including tree transplanting and butterfly parks. Jyotika Kapoor, senior vice chairperson at FICCI FLO and founding member of the city chapter, shares why these initiatives were needed: “Seed balls can be easily made by children at home. And like seeds are the trees of tomorrow, and children such as Yathaarth and youngsters such as Tejasvi Surya are going to change the world and make it greener tomorrow.”Clearly, students were chuffed about the idea of seed bombing Bengaluru because, they say, gardening is too laborious. Then, one student wanted to see these moringa seeds grow and have enough drumsticks for sambhar, while others want to make seed balls of pumpkins and mangoes, and they also want to stuff in cabbage and watermelon seeds together to see what hybrid comes out of it.However, seed bombing - an economical, no-tilling method of afforestation - is not as straight-forward. Throwing seeds of invasive species can interfere with the local ecology, cautions wildlife conservationist Sanjay Gubbi. Which is why the FICCI FLO team chose Moringa. Environment activist Dr Mythri Shankar, whose organisation The Green Hub assisted the seed ball initiative, says, “Moringa is native to the South-Asian region. On that, it’s hardy, it’s pest-resistant, it grows fast, and besides providing oxygen and shade, it gives drumsticks that have many health benefits.” Plus, the seeds they have procured are neither genetically-modified nor are they chemically-treated.So have they drawn up pointers for these seed bombers - basically which areas should they throw the seeds on and which not? Dr Shankar says, “One, do not disperse them deep inside a forest. Instead, throw them closer to villages so they can be harvested eventually. Basically, in places where the rains can wash away the soil coating and nature can take its own course, much like what happens inside a jungle. Two, they should apply common sense.”