I want to sincerely thank each and every of the 230+ garbage busters who contributed their bit to restoring the beauty of Tada. I want to thank our many core members who contributed to the organization of this trek (transport, food, interfacing with media & forest officials, GB team leads, poster/banner/flag/ribbon design/printing, etc.). This was CTC's largest mission so far - largest in terms of headcount, largest in terms of organization and largest in terms of positive impact. It really felt good to see the stream so beautiful and clear again during our return. We filled up 500 large bags of garbage, 20 gunny bags with broken bottles, easily mounting to a staggering 2 tons of garbage.

Although our cleanup mission was a big success, during our return when carrying back the garbage we were confronted with the real evil that pollutes and makes Tada unsafe - the numerous gangs of drunkards who were consuming alcohol and showing anti-social behavior, walking around in their undergarments, abusing us vocally, vomiting in the streams, mocking our cleanup efforts, breaking bottles and throwing garbage again, some even threw bottles of alcohol at the members of our group, some were taking photos and videos of our female members, they are basically mutilating Tada and harassing families and true trekkers. I don't know about you but I personally had a very hard time controlling myself as my blood was boiling when observing these gangs and their active harassment of visitors. The situation here is gone extremely bad and has in fact gotten worse since we previously visited Tada.

While we are sharing our experiences of our first cleanup drive, our organizers have started planning Save Tada phase 2 - "Tada alcohol free!" - to stop all entry of alcohol. For the next several Sundays we are pitching ourselves near the check post with a team of 20+ volunteers to assist the local guards and forest officials in searching incoming vehicles, confiscate alcohol, file complaints to mount pressure on officials and fine violators all in front of the media. We will have the local police present to handle any irregularities and put drunkards behind bars if required. We will again display our catch in the papers and TV channels to expose what Tada has become. We are discussing with the forest officials and police to get their support/approval.

We are designing banners to be put up at the entrance gate to make it clear to drunkards that they are not welcome anymore. If we uphold this for a number of weeks the gangs will quickly get discouraged - travelling so far from Chennai and other places in vain, loosing money when we confiscate their bottles, clear presence of enforcement and "No alcohol" boards on the entrance gate, putting them ashame in front of the media, making them feel our strong presence and determination to convert Tada back to its original splendor. If we stop the inflow of alcohol, we stop the drunkard gangs and we can restore Tada to what it was originally meant to be - a place where families can get in touch with nature to build more awareness on preservation (as the forest officer told me last Sunday).

Our volunteers will need your support in the coming weeks to assist us in realizing Save Tada phase 2. We will again do it CTC style of course - complimenting our duty with some good trekking fun - setting up camp, cooking some good food, water fun in the nearby stream and team spirit. We also need your help in designing banners/posters (using photos and clipart/cartoons) to visualize the "old Tada" vs the "new Tada" to put up on our web site, in news papers and on the check-post -

  > "old Tada" - corrupt locals/officials misusing Tada by making money from drunkard gangs who are mutilating the place by polluting and harassing + a big red cross over this picture
  > "new Tada" - a clean and safe natural paradise for families to picnic and enjoy near the stream + a green check over this picture

A picture says more then a thousand words. Let us visualize the current situation and what the place was originally meant to be. We need the help of the media to make it known to the general public that Tada is becoming clean and safe again such that more families from Chennai and nearby places start visiting Tada again in big numbers, generate revenue for the local community and show that there is an alternative to making money from drunkards and alcohol. Once the public and the locals are convinced there will be little opportunity for the minority of drunkards to conquer the place again.

We have build some momentum with our initial cleanup operation, let's keep up the momentum now and convert Tada back to its original beauty and vision.

Peter.