One evening, he noticed something strange. The leaves of the neem tree were turning yellow, and the branches seemed to droop. His friend Fatima, who loved drawing flowers in her notebook, pointed at the trunk. "Look, Ravi. Someone has piled bricks and rubbish around the roots."
The Secret of the Old Neem Tree
Every day after school, Ravi would sit under the neem tree, reading his textbook aloud. "Photosynthesis is the process by which plants make their own food using sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide," he recited, tracing the diagram of a leaf with his finger.
"Who can tell me how trees help the soil?" she asked.
Hands shot up. "They prevent erosion!" "They hold water!" "They give us oxygen!"
The next day, their teacher, Mrs. Desai, listened as they explained the problem. She smiled and opened her own NCERT book to a chapter titled "Our Environment."
"Then let's not just read about it," Mrs. Desai said. "Let's do something."