THE YOUNG GAURDIANS

Along the narrow path that crawled through the forest, Prabhu ran fast towards the village. His lungs were screaming for more air but he couldn’t afford to wait. He had to rush as fast as his nine-year-old legs could carry him. The words that Manjunath had said rang harshly in his ears over and over again. “The whole village is in trouble now because of you!” As Prabhu ran he thought about the day it had all begun…
It was just two months back. It had been a holiday because of the meeting the adults were having in their village that day. Adavimallapura is a small, remote village situated in the state of Karnataka. The village has no roads, electricity, telephones and the villagers have to walk four miles to the nearest bus stop. The people in the village were very poor and the only asset they had was the forest that stood by the village side. In spite of all this, Prabhu loved Adavimallapura. The meeting that day was to discuss steps on how to use various government schemes to improve the conditions of Adavimallapura village.
The meeting was being held in Prabhu’s school. The children in the village were shooed away from the meeting. “What will you understand? You will just get bored.” his mother had told him.
“Not fair!” Prabhu shouted as he kicked a stone in the field near the forest. It was a hot afternoon and nobody was outside. No one heard him except Manjunath. Manjunath was Prabhu’s classmate and best friend.
“I would like to know what plans they make for our village in the meeting. After all, this is my village too!” Prabhu complained.
“Oh Prabhu, you know these elders. They think we are small children. What can we do to prove otherwise?” Manjunath said as a matter of fact.
Prabhu opened his mouth to argue but froze at what he saw. Four bullock carts piled with wood were moving stealthily from their forest towards the neighbouring village. “They are stealing wood from our forest…they…they have cut our trees!” Manjunath whispered to Prabhu as they looked on.
Prabhu was furious. “This is outrageous. These men have to be stopped. What can just the two of us do?” Prabhu thought. He suddenly had an idea. He turned towards Manjunath and said “Go get the elders, quick!”
Manjunath looked at him for a brief second and said, "Be careful". He then sped towards the village. Prabhu was scared as he walked up to the thieves' bullock carts. With a stern voice he said, “Hey, cutting trees is wrong. Besides, those trees are very precious to us. I will get you arrested for this… I will not let you take them.”
The thieves started laughing at the little boy. Prabhu was prepared. He just sat in front of the bullock carts. “Very well, if you want to take the wood, you can take it over me!”
The men suddenly stopped laughing. They didn’t know what to do. And before they could even think of a way out, the angry villagers came running. Things happened very fast after that. The culprits were tied up and the wood confiscated. Prabhu became a hero in the village. The police were called and the culprits were handed over to them. There was a great celebration in the village that day.
But the happiness of the Adavimallapur villagers was short lived. The neighbouring villagers were rich, influential and had the police officers on their side. The thieves were soon released and a plan for revenge was made. The Adavimallapura villagers did not know that a false complaint had been made against them. They complaint was that they were cutting trees from the forest illegally!
Today, Prabhu had been to the forest to water a few plants that he had planted when Manjunath came running to him. He told him that there were forest officers in the village. They had seen the wood that had been captured from the thieves and were accusing the villagers of cutting those trees!
Prabhu didn’t wait to hear more. He started running as fast as he could towards the village. “Why are my people being punished? Is it my fault? What went wrong? Not fair!" he fumed.
He heard strange angry voices as he neared the village temple. He then saw officers threatening the villagers with arrest for cutting the trees. The officers were taking the wood with them. Everybody knew that the wood would go back to the neighbouring villagers. Prabhu stared helplessly. What could he do? He looked at all the women who were standing together by the side.
He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and made a silent prayer. He then took a few steps forward and looked towards the officers who were starting the tractors that were piled with wood. He then looked at the women with tears in his eyes. The women stared back at him and then looked at each other. The old neighbour aunty came to him and said "Don't worry!" and then as if by a silent mutual agreement they all formed neat lines and sat in front of the tractors. “You cannot take our wood!” they all calmly but sternly stated.
Soon the whole village joined them. The officers looked shocked and scared. There was nothing they could do. They knew that the simplicity and unity of these villagers had defeated them. They left the village ashamed, never to return back to trouble them again.
The joy of the people knew no bounds that day. The villagers had learnt a lesson. Every child has her/ his own role to play in conserving nature and should always be encouraged. Prabhu along with the other children in the village took a vow to protect and conserve their forest. The children of Adavimallapur since then have been participating in the village meetings, planting saplings, watering, watching and guarding the forest as a group.
Now, when one goes to this village of Adavimallapur, the first thing one would see is the enthusiasm and love the children have towards their village and forest. Not wrongly they are now better known as the 'young guardians' of the forest.

-Preethi Herman



Adavimallapur is a small village in North Karnataka. The village has a population of around 700 people. The main occupation of the villagers is agriculture. Their forest supports them with the non timber forest produce. The villagers control their village forest and make sure that their forest is being conserved and not exploited by anyone.
Prabhu is twelve years old now and very devoted to his village. Since the village has only a primary school he is now staying in a town 30 kilometres away from his beloved village to pursue his higher studies. He is in the sixth standard and wants to study hard and become a government officer and serve his village and country in the future. He has set an example for all the other children in the village who now keenly look forward to make a contribution to the nature and country that has provided them with so much!