Events & Personalities
Green guerrilla
"Isn’t it obvious why?” retorted dentist, aviator and green enthusiast Dr Firdaus Bativala (pictured) when asked about his concern for the environment, while talking to Parsiana on June 30, 2018. Since 2012, Bativala has been undertaking "guerrilla gardening” of a 200 mile area to the west of Bombay, including the Western Ghats and the Konkan areas, from his four-seater Cessna aircraft. 
The term "guerrilla gardening” refers to gardening on land that the gardeners do not have the legal rights to cultivate, such as abandoned or uncared for areas or private property.
"Even if I assume a very conservative one percent success rate (one tree germinating from 100 seeds dispersed), there would be at least two to three lakh trees” taking root, stated Bativala. How does the aviator keep track of areas where the seeds are dispersed? "My co-pilot notes the latitude and the longitudes of the areas covered... very easy with global positioning systems (GPS),” he explained.
"The sacks of seeds arrive in April and May just before the monsoons. My friends and I take the aircraft to disperse them over areas that have been strip-mined or where the topsoil has thinned out,” Bativala noted. Areas not taken over for farming like slopes of hillsides are ideal for dispersal. The seeds are of bor (Indian berries), teak wood and other species indigenous to our area, he explained, adding that "avenue trees” like gulmohar and the rain tree, though ubiquitous to the city, do not grow in harsher conditions.
"I have been thinking for a long time about this. I did not want to use the plane only for leisure,” explained Bativala, who has been flying since 1986, and has clocked 3,000 hours. He is now enthusing other members of the Bombay Flying Club to get into the greening activity. "Unfortunately, for a long time I could not find the right governmental agency or agricultural school where I could locate the seeds for the indigenous trees...I kept on asking many agriculturalists,” until environmentalist, activist, editor and neighbour Bittu Sahgal connected him to zoologist Dr Parvish Pandya of Bhavan’s College, who assisted with locating the right, hardy species of seeds.
"You cannot throw seeds balls (clay and manure embedded with seeds) from the air... they would shatter,” explained Bativala, when reminded of an article in The Times of India which inaccurately quoted him. when you want to plant from ground level,” When asked how others could do their bit for the environment, the dentist said, "Not everyone is lucky to have access to an aircraft... but one can always use seeds balls.
The term "guerrilla gardening” refers to gardening on land that the gardeners do not have the legal rights to cultivate, such as abandoned or uncared for areas or private property. "Even if I assume a very conservative one percent success rate (one tree germinating from 100 seeds dispersed), there would be at least two to three lakh trees” taking root, stated Bativala. How does the aviator keep track of areas where the seeds are dispersed? "My co-pilot notes the latitude and the longitudes of the areas covered... very easy with global positioning systems (GPS),” he explained.
"The sacks of seeds arrive in April and May just before the monsoons. My friends and I take the aircraft to disperse them over areas that have been strip-mined or where the topsoil has thinned out,” Bativala noted. Areas not taken over for farming like slopes of hillsides are ideal for dispersal. The seeds are of bor (Indian berries), teak wood and other species indigenous to our area, he explained, adding that "avenue trees” like gulmohar and the rain tree, though ubiquitous to the city, do not grow in harsher conditions.
"I have been thinking for a long time about this. I did not want to use the plane only for leisure,” explained Bativala, who has been flying since 1986, and has clocked 3,000 hours. He is now enthusing other members of the Bombay Flying Club to get into the greening activity. "Unfortunately, for a long time I could not find the right governmental agency or agricultural school where I could locate the seeds for the indigenous trees...I kept on asking many agriculturalists,” until environmentalist, activist, editor and neighbour Bittu Sahgal connected him to zoologist Dr Parvish Pandya of Bhavan’s College, who assisted with locating the right, hardy species of seeds.
"You cannot throw seeds balls (clay and manure embedded with seeds) from the air... they would shatter,” explained Bativala, when reminded of an article in The Times of India which inaccurately quoted him. when you want to plant from ground level,” When asked how others could do their bit for the environment, the dentist said, "Not everyone is lucky to have access to an aircraft... but one can always use seeds balls.
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