Honestly, I can’t remember the last time I held my ‘New year’s resolutions’ for more than two months. We promise ourselves that we will do our part to make this world a better place. We all have a soft spot for trees and wildlife in our hearts, but we never stand up to do something about it. It is just an everyday incident that we come across dead animals in large numbers and make a firm resolution that we will solve the issue. Jadav ‘Molai’ Payeng is not one of those people who are only talkers.
After a flood, the teenager Jadav saw many dead snakes in the sand and decided to do something about it. He wanted to do something about the decreasing number of reptiles. He wanted to provide them home and shelter where they could flourish in their natural habitat.
“The snakes died in the heat, without any tree cover. I sat down and wept over their lifeless forms. It was carnage. I alerted the forest department and asked them if they could grow trees there. They said nothing would grow there. Instead, they asked me to try growing bamboo. It was painful, but I did it. There was nobody to help me. Nobody was interested,” the now 47-year-old said to The Times of India.
Every day, the teenager started to plant seeds next to every deserted sandbar near his birthplace in Assam, India. It was his way of protesting against the cutting down of trees in that area. Later, he decided to create his very own forest spanning 1,360 acres, some 37 years ago. If you want an idea of how vast this forest is, let me tell you that the Central Park, New York has an area of 778 acres only.
This forest now provides an entire ecosystem inhabiting deer, 115 elephants, a few rhinos, and even tigers.
This man is a legend and inspiration for sure.