One Life, One Change: In Tamil Nadu, a traffic cop shows the way with 24,000 saplings — and counting

There’s more to come. Over 2,500 saplings — palm, neem and tamarind — are waiting to be distributed at the sprawling 5-acre police camp on the Coimbatore-Avinashi road, all of them nurtured from seeds that Ayyar bought with his own money, and frequent donations of Rs 50 or Rs 100 from his colleagues.

Posted in Coimbatore (East), Ayyar regularly rounds off his day, after patrolling and policing, with a trip to the market to buy a kilo of seeds.

“I spend around Rs 2,000 every month from my salary to buy seeds and look after the saplings. Around 50 of my colleagues join me during their free time and we distribute these among various institutions and organisations,” says Ayyar.

This green drive, however, has its origins in a dark chapter of this communally sensitive city.

“I was a head constable with the intelligence wing during the Coimbatore blasts. It was an intense and depressing experience for me. I myself rescued at least three Muslim families during the riots that followed,” says Ayyar, referring to the serial bomb blasts of February 14, 1998, ahead of BJP leader L K Advani’s campaign meeting, which killed 58 people and left over 200 injured.

Samy blames the tension here to “communal groups using religion as a tool for their politics”. “Why do they do that?” he asks.

“I was not a believer for a long time. And now, as I am getting old, I am becoming even less bothered about all that. I don’t believe in a particular God but when my family asks me to accompany them on visits to the temple nearby, I am happy to join them. But my faith is in nature and plants,” he says.

According to Samy, his thoughts were shaped by his involvement in the Communist movement during days as a student. “Once, I gatecrashed the MLA’s house with a petition demanding streetlights in my village near Madurai. We got that soon. Maybe, that was my first success in life. After joining the police force, my superiors showed me the path to look beyond targets. In 2009, we started an informal group in the force to help poor people and strengthen this city’s green cover,” he says.

“We distribute around 400 saplings a month now. During the recent birthday celebrations of our former president A P J Abdul Kalam, we distributed over 7,500 saplings in five colleges in Chennai. My only child, a daughter, lives in Chennai,” he says.

It’s not just saplings, though. Over the last five years, Samy and his colleagues have been organising an annual sports competition for children from various orphanages in Coimbatore during the Pongal festival — around 1,250 participated this year.

Says K Magudapathy, assistant commissioner of police (traffic), “Samy does his job well and rushes back to his farm to take care of those plants and saplings. He is equally passionate about his work and his plants. “