Rastaa Chaap is literally translated as a wanderer but chaap also means a mark and that is what this group wants to do - leave a mark on people's hearts and minds in order to encourage them to save environment.

Neelu, 48, a communication professional and member of Rastaa Chaap narrates the story of how Rastaa Chaap took shape in an year, thanks to the efforts of 14 women who pledged to preserve the environment, equipped with paint brushes.

It was May 2015 when this group of women, mostly N M college alumni, connected with each other on social media and one of them, Sabishi Shankar, spoke of street art in Bandra.

It is then that these women realised the deteriorating status of the environment and the need to work on it. Archana Shroff, Shaheen Jaffer, Sabishi Shankar, Sherly Singh, Merliyn Joseph, Priya Bimani, Saijal Goenka, Twinkle Khanna, Rupali Shah, Shaguna Khatri, Sonal Chabbria, Neelu Virk, Anu Jasani, Jugnoo Shah - form the core team of Rastaa Chaap. After many brainstorming sessions, they thought of painting and planting trees.

"We have four artists in our group and one of us is an active ALM (Advanced Locality Management) member. We thus got the permission to paint three trees near Jamanabai school in Juhu and also planted trees. We have so far painted 15 trees in Juhu," informs a member of the group.

Priya Bhimani, mother of two and a part of the core team, says, "For every one dead tree, we want to plant two trees. That's our motive, we want to set an example for the future generations. Many people are now appreciating our work and also give us funds but more than that we want every person to plant at least one tree and take care of it."

The team paints and plants trees  on weekends and holidays with children and volunteers around Juhu and Bandra. The members however believe that the civic body needs to be more careful in its tree cutting and proactive in environment conservation.

"It's very sad that very few care about the environment. Builders cut trees but they have to ensure that they plant three more for cutting one tree. We paint trees and through art spread the message of environment conservation. It costs us Rs 3,000 to paint a tree and takes an almost entire day to paint a tree depending on the size of the tree," says Neelu.

You can contact the team on their facebook page or twitter.
Email: rastaachaap@gmail.com

Courtesy: http://www.dnaindia.com/locality/mumbai-north-west/international-womens-day-paint-plant-preserve-87265