Thaaragai Arathana, A Young Inspirational Environment Hero!

By Ruchi Sharma

We all have read it since school days that we need to save environment from plastic. Adopting sustainable practices is something we all have included in our daily lives, be it using only paper and cloth bags for shopping or avoiding plastic at all costs, we are all trying to do our bit. But what about our oceans? There are truckloads of plastic in our oceans and as we all know it can’t get recycled on its own. The only option is to clean them. Cleaning ocean plastic is important. You must be thinking what can we do like the oceans are huge! But time to change the thinking, because this young lady has taken up this tough job and is excelling at it!

Pic Source:BetterIndia

Meet Thaaragai Aarathana, an 8-year-old scuba diver, who is a true environment hero. The young lady from Karappakam, Chennai has been into diving ever since the young age of 5 years! And this talent has converted into save environment from plastic campaign i.e. cleaning the ocean! Are you surprised? Well so were we, because this young hero is making us rethink that is anything impossible at all?

Pic Source: Femina

Her father, Aravind Tharunsri is a scuba diving expert and instructor who has encouraged her interest in exploring the beautiful world that lies under the sea. He has been into cleaning shores and oceans for 17 years and has collected nearly 10,000 Kg of waste already. Now his daughter is making him proud, understanding how it is important to preserve the ecosystem. She along with her father have collected 600 Kg of plastic waste. What’s more? They sell it to plastic scrap shops and later recycle it. They wish to donate this money now.

Thaaragai is also raising awareness on protecting endangered species of marine animals like Dugong (sea cow).

Pic Source: BetterIndia

She recently set a record by swimming over an 18-km-stretch under her father’s supervision from Covelong to Neelankari under the ‘Save the Ocean’ cause. Thaaragai is helping our ocean breathe free and is a huge inspiration to us to do all we can for our environment. 

Just like every drop makes an ocean, similarly every single bit matters for saving the environment. Kudos to the young lady and her amazing supportive father for their exceptional work.

Information Sources: BetterIndia and Femina