Khurda: The period between the outbreak of COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdown witnessed scores of heart-warming stories across the nation. There were plenty of examples when actors to common people turned out to be knights in shining armour for people in distress.
The efforts of a lecturer and a student of Prananath Autonomous College in Khurda are equally praiseworthy. They have been striving tirelessly to give the college campus, which has been closed since March, a green look.
The college was shutdown in mid-March this year due to the outbreak of COVID-19. It left the head of the History department of the college, Professor Manoj Rout a worried man. He used to look after the garden within the college premises. He had planted varieties of medicinal plants, flower seeds, creepers and ornamental plants.
Rout believes in the motto ‘A Tree Needs Mind Not Money’. So naturally he was depressed with the college campus closed. It was then Biswaranjan Pradhan, a Plus III second year student of the same college, found his teacher’s motto meaningful.
Pradhan, a resident of Srikrushnapur village of Champagarh panchayat in Nayagarh district, rented a house near the college on rent. He extended a helping hand to Rout. “I have little money. Yet I took it up as a challenge. I made up my mind to save the plants and bushes from dying due to lack of care. My family members have also been supportive,” observed Pradhan.
Both Rout and Pradhan have been spending hours in the garden and, in turn, lapping up admiration from the principal, lecturers, staff and local resident. “What the teacher and student duo is doing may be of little importance but it is helping the environment. So others should learn from them and do like-wise,” said locals.
PNN