Vrikshamitra started with a small group that had seen how beautiful Bangalore (the Bengaluru as it was called then) was. We loved the greenery that surrounded us, the clean lakes, and the climate that could have easily defeated many hill stations of today. But the unplanned expansion of the city and the short-sightedness of government as well as the citizens, have brought the city to a very sad state today.

We could not accept what was happening around us and stay quiet. We knew the five of us couldn’t bring back the glory days of the city but ignoring the actions that were worsening the situation was not something we could live with. Each of us was determined to do our bit, no matter how small it was. This involved opposing people that were encroaching into our neighbouring lakes, trying to stop them from getting converted into landfills, and highlighting the illegal dumping of toxic effluents, among others.

It is our efforts here that made us realise the powerful of those that we were up against, and that they had absolutely no qualms in misusing their money and political power. More importantly, we realised that there were a few if any, willing to stand up with us and support us in any way. We were not going to get anywhere as one-person armies and the risks we were taking against ourselves and our families did not justify the results.