“I would remain unfit for such an award till the flesh and blood of Mother India, in the form of precious topsoil from the Himalayas, flows down to the sea due to tree felling,” says the visionary man, explaining his rejection of the Padma Vibhushan award in 1981.
"If you truly love something, you will appreciate everything about it, so in my case, I dedicate myself entirely to the mountains on every trip." #TrueTalent #PadmaAwards #PadmaShri
With the prize money, Dr Karnad plans to develop ‘SharkWatch’, a citizen-science programme, to record data on shark fishing and landings at major fishing harbours along the Coromandel coast.
“We were surprised to see more and more people inquire about the food and other products. Some even exclaimed that they would follow this trend in the next weddings to follow!”
It all began when Pompayya noticed the scrubby patch of land on the other side of the canal, that bordered his property, lie empty and transform into a general purpose dumping ground.
"We were soaking in sweat on that freezing morning. I was worried more about Arjun and Vishnu than myself. On returning, we described the entire episode to the officials. After we did, the two other guards got a high fever."
Over the past one year, the volunteers have planted about 8000 saplings on the once barren hill. They even took over the nurturing of plants and reported a survival rate of 98 percent!