Jeevitnadi - marathi word for 'Living River'

The fun part of being a blogger is that you get invited to cover amazing events by inspiring social activists!

I got an invitation from Jeevitnadi (an organization that works on environment issues) to see their river cleaning efforts for Mutha river. I am embarrassed to say I had no clue where river Mutha runs & what state it is in. This morning I showed up at Mutha river by Deccan to see what it's all about. Almost 300 people wearing masks & gloves were cleaning the area, I call it area since unfortunately as you can see in the picture I took there is no river water due to our rain situation!

Niranjan, one of the key activists spent good time talking to me about this initiative. He has organised a week long festival call " Muthai" which comprises of such fun activities (contact Pallavi Jacob at 9890013779 if you want to be involved)

2^nd Oct – clean the river

3^rd Oct – paint the river (noted artist Milind Mullik and many others will capture essence of river on paper)

4^th oct – click the river and send photos for their exhibition

4^th Oct – Saritayan, a cultural program on Mula Mutha

6 th to 8^th oct – Photo exhibition and street plays (they had to cancel the street plays due to funding constrains, what a pity)

What a fabulous way to kick start Daan Utsav (Joy of Giving week - Oct 2 - 8)

This group (jeevitnadi.wordpress.com) also works at policy levels with the government to tackle the source of pollution – inefficient sewage treatment and lack of regulations for industrial waste management. In addition they go to schools & corporates to give presentations on small/practical/easy ways we can keep our rivers clean and use fewer chemicals at home. Please invite them to speak to your employees & children.

My favorite part of this visit  --- I got to see the inspiration behind all this - Niranjans 2.5 year old son wearing a bright yellow Tshirt & cap & walking around the place. Niranjan proudly told me that he started this when his son was a year old  & what drives him is that he has promised  his son to take him for a swim in a clean Mula Mutha river on his 10^th birthday !