The Hill Asked Us to Think Bigger

Every weekend teaches us something. This weekend, Baner Hill taught us that restoration doesn't always arrive according to plan.

Our goal for this monsoon had been simple: plant 50 native trees. We were already at 39. Then the hill surprised us!

Someone had left behind 45 saplings. Healthy enough to save but after a relatively dry week, very much at risk of being lost.

At first, it felt like a problem - with no pits prepared, no watering plan. Then we realised it was something else. A reminder that perhaps we had been thinking too small. If the hill is ready for 95 trees, maybe it's asking us to grow too. The first task wasn't planting, it was rescue.

Carrying dozens of saplings across uneven ground with just six volunteers wasn't going to be easy. So we asked. Almost immediately, people walking past stopped what they were doing. Within minutes, strangers had formed a human chain, passing each sapling from one person to the next until all 45 were safely moved. 

Back on our part of the hill, work continued. Something special happened. Two volunteers who had worked on this very slope two or three years ago returned for the morning. They had helped build many of the original trenches long before we arrived. Together, we created one new trench and used freshly excavated rocks to create a sturdy bund that will slow rainwater and allow more of it to soak into the ground instead of running downhill. We also extended a trench that we had prepared over the last few weeks.

One sapling was accidentally uprooted while being moved. It found a new home before we left. Perhaps the nicest moment came after the work was done.

Aniket unpacked a flask of hot masala chai and a packet of biscuits.

For the first time since this journey began, everyone simply sat together on the hill. No digging. No carrying. Just conversations over a cup of chai & biscuits. It felt less like the end of a morning's work and more like the beginning of a community.

The hill is slowly changing. So are we.