Two IT professionals sat around with a cup of coffee in hand. They invented the world’s brilliant software but didn’t know what to call it. One of them looked at the coffee mug and read what it said aloud. The other gleamed. “That’s it. That’s what we shall call our software.” And that’s how Yahoo got its name.
Simplicity. That’s what revolves all big companies and famed institutes. And Green shield is no different. Not to sound too ambitious, it’s just the way we began, seemed to have a lot of similarities with them.
It all began on one fine summer afternoon, on May 22nd 2008. We were visiting a laboratory, located in an area far from civilization. It would perhaps be appropriate to call it ‘an educational trip’.
Having past several fields of barren land, strewn concrete and tar, my eyes grew sore. I was horrified at the sight of it. I began to wonder how painful it must have been for someone to witness this green place turn grey. What happened? Why all this mess? These questions redundantly occurred in my mind. Someone should do something! Maybe... I should do something… Maybe I can form a team, and we can work together and mitigate the effects of pollutant sources. We can be the people who attempt to change the world!
So I looked at my juniors pumped with energy and renewed hope- It was time, to pull things out my thought bubble and put it in a speech bubble!
I looked at Chets- all animated as she recognized a cluster of nimbus- cirrus clouds, Kat drew a blissful smile across her face lest she seemed sleep-deprived and exhausted from her 4 hour journey to Bangalore. Madhu sits right next to Chets patiently drumming her fingers on her knee, and Yogi was lost in her day dream…
Humph… This aint the best opening scene but nonetheless...
“Ahem… Hey guys, I was thinking, maybe we should get together and form a team and do something, you know, something outside college… what say?”
“Heyyyyyyyyyy!!” Chets jumps outta her seat.
“That sounds great!” Katya adds, “That would be cool!” Madhu pitches in and Yogi smiles in agreement.
During the whole journey back and the following two days, we had absolutely zilch idea as to what we would do as a group, but we decided to tackle the issue one by one. So first we had to christen it and inform Rosh and Meg about it.
We went through a list of names we tried, Green Gundas, Ecotree, EnProtect, Green Protect… and then we finally settled with GREEN SHIELD, ‘Guarding today for tomorrow.’
Nanny(Keerthi) calls me one day saying that we probably have someone who might be able help us with Our 'No Plastic' Drive in college. ' Belaku Trust' , a support group for women( in the villages around Kanakapura ) who make a living by making Gorgeous, simply Gorgeous Cloth and Paper Products.
For Green Shield i think this was quite a big (yet mini) project in many ways. You see it was the first time we were interacting in a very business-like manner with an NGO. Up until now it was all through phone or email , very informal throughout. But here it was suddenly making it to meetings on time,visiting their office in JP Nagar, giving them dates well in advance, placing orders , talking in terms of stock & money ...and well i think you get what I'm saying.
So Rosh, Nanny & i go for our meeting (2pm-4pm slot as Ishviene called it) at Koshys. We (I,for one) expected to see a strict woman in a suit, drumming her fingers on the table impatiently (because nanny said she had been engulfed in the Corporate World for more than a decade!) ...instead however we found three women giggling away to glory( over something Barb said i assume) at a corner table .
The above mentioned name , Barb .. should give you a picture of a really ADORABLE 50 yr old hilarious Australian volunteer(she insists on not being branded a 'tourist'). She along with Malavika (Graduate in CBZ from Christ College, another clown , if i might add. Newly recruited to the Belaku Trust as Coordinater) and Ishviene( the Head of them all).
We spent a good 2 hours discussing all that had to be discussed and even radiating to other (totally irrelevant) issues, starting from the teeth grinding traffic in our city, to a typical day in Dubai.
We struck a deal, they were willing to keep a stall in our College for 4 days during the Cultural intra college fest "Cul Week". The stall would be open to all , from students and teachers, to parents and random visiters. The products which included Notepads, books, files, pens , greeting cards AND shawls, bags, belts scarfs and many such things would be sold at a Special College Discount.
Two weeks later , it was Cul Week. I as always started panicking!! well i had every reason to, we hadn't made any posters or divided the stall work (like we had promised the Belaku peeps) but again as always, everything worked out Perfectly!. We made a grand total of Rs 27, 600 over a period of 4 days, in the process making many college goers happy , spreading our message of saying NO TO PLASTIC ; to switch to cloth and paper instead , spreading social awareness and also having fun in the process (PLENTY PLENTY!!!!).
Not to forget making great friends at Belaku, with whom we hope to work with,
on many occasions in the future.
Big hug , going out to our Green Shield Members - Keerthi, Roshni, Katya( the posters u made in barely 3 seconds were great!) meghna (with your publicising antics), Madhu (who bought so much from her own stall..ahah!), Sapna (our dearest accountant!) Natasha , Aishwarya (for being a stupid and yet smooth seller) Yogi!
So repeat after me,
"Plastic ain't my bag!!"
To see the Catalog of Belaku Trust products, click!
www.belakutrust.org
Chet.
