Today again Mohidhar has been taking his Geography class under the open sky, in the open nature, beside the river. In the middle of the river, some pieces of land have risen as the water has been reduced. These little isles covered with green grasses are very dear to Mohidhar, whenever he gets the time and chance; he sits on one of these for hours. To tell the truth there is no dearth of time for him. The reason is that he teaches in the school for a few hours with great energy, but other than that he never does any work for his family. Dharitri had a lot of arguments and fights with him over this issue, but she understood thoroughly that nothing could be gained by these quarrels except losing her own time, peace of mind and physical well-being. Actually, these green isles give Mohidhar an amazing feeling; lying down on the grass when he looks at the sky, the vision of the green grass like velvet below and the blue sky above make him think that this piece of land is the whole Earth. He closes his eyes in contentment. He ruminates on the blessings of the Creator which is scattered in the whole Earth like the soft green grasses. Throughout the whole world one Mantra or Hymn is being chanted, and that is the Mantra of loving the Earth. There are no borders between countries, no barbed wire fencings, no complexities of visa and passport. The whole world is covered with greeneries. Ah! When is that day going to come? While thinking of all these Mohidhar had dozed off.
Just then a sweet voice called him. Being startled Mohidhar got up. He saw a little girl looking at him and smiling in a naive and innocent manner. Seeing her Mohidhar realized that she was his student Susmita. He smiled and said, "What do you want to say?" "Sir you told us other days to learn by heart the names of the village where we stay, the district, the police station, the state - everything. I have learnt everything by heart."
"That's good! Tell me now".
"My village is Shimultala, the police station is Shyampur, the district is south 24 Parganas, the name of my state is West Bengal and the name of my country is India."
"Excellent! You have learnt this very well." Some other students also put up these hands - "Sir, we have also learnt."
"I knew that you would learn. All of you are very nice children. After telling you, I also have been trying to learn it by heart for the past few days, but don't know why I cannot do it. I am forgetting everything. If I can remember the name of the police station, I am forgetting the name of the district. And I cannot remember at all in which state I live."
Hearing Mohidhar's words the boys and girls started laughing loudly. Mohidhar also started to laugh with them and then controlled his laughter and said, "But I have learned by heart something else. Just like you, shall I say?
"Yes sir, please do." All of them said together.
Mohidhar said, "Since the last few days I am feeling that the name of our Village is Earth, the police station is Earth, the district is Earth, the state is Earth, and the country in which I live is also called Earth." Ratul said in an astonished tone, "Sir, state, police station, district all are same, all have the name Earth!" Shipra said. "But Sir, then in which address will all our letters come? And if someone is lost, how will that person come back home?"
Mohidhar answered with a smile, "Then everyone's address will be the Earth, no one will have a separate address. If anyone is lost, he will be lost in the Earth and will come back on his own. There will be no visa, no passport; no one will need any permission to travel from one end of the Earth to the other end. If asked by anyone I shall reply - we are not Indians, we are not Americans, we are not British, we are not New Zealanders - we are the inhabitants of the Earth, world-citizens. We are the children of the Earth, that's why our only identity is that we are the citizens of the Earth. Don't you think it will be fun?"
"Yes sir, you are right", shouted all of them.
"Sir, Palash said, "I have seen a line written everywhere - one tree, one life. Plant a tree, save a life, what does it mean sir? If someone becomes ill, he won't have to go to the doctor or hospital? He will recover if he plants a tree at home?" Mohidhar burst into laughter and then said, "oh no. It's not like that. Whenever we are ill, we have to go to the doctor, take medicines and then become cured. But many of the diseases we have are caused by the polluted environment. And one of the main reasons for environmental pollution is cutting trees indiscriminately. As a result, the natural equilibrium is being destroyed. Trees were born much earlier than men came to the Earth. So the tree is like the elder brother of a man. It is proved long ago that trees are animate. Trees have life, so trees are born, grow up and die.
Time and again we cut down thousands of trees for our own convenience. Are the trees killed so cruelly because they cannot speak? If someone kills a man, he is either jailed or gets a death sentence. Then tell me, for destroying the environment by cutting so many trees, and for thrusting human beings into great danger, how many times the culprits should go to jail. Trees and human beings are great friends. Not only that, a tree is a great benefactor of man. Is it an act of humanity to destroy such a friend? To save the environment, to save themselves men have to plant trees, save the trees, look after and protect the trees. Then only a healthy strong tree will save the lives of many human beings. Today everyone must understand this. A Man may be successful in so many spheres, he may get hundred upon hundred in all the examinations, but everything will be futile if the man does not understand that if the environment is not pure and pollution-free, the invaluable natural treasures are not completely safe, the environment of the Earth is not pristine - then no success will have any value. So before everything we have to be conscious that first of all, above everything, is the preservation of the Earth. Our existence is totally dependent on that. If we become successful in the examination of saving the Earth, then only our triumph will be complete. Otherwise not"