She is 10 years old and at this tender age, other children generally love to play and make fun. However, Thaaragai Arathana from the Karapakkam area in Chennai is made of different elements. She has turned into an environmental savior with her scuba diving skills.
With the help of her father, Aravind Tharunsri, Arathana is fishing out the plastic from the ocean while scuba diving. Thaaragai’s father Aravind is a scuba diving instructor, and he introduced his daughter to the water from an early age itself.
Tharunsri wanted his daughter to have early exposure to the ocean and the marine ecosystem. Now his daughter Arathana has developed a love for the ocean and deeply cares for the marine ecosystem that is under constant threat.
Aside from scuba diving, Arathana has been on a mission to clean up the oceans and make those free of plastic waste. She along with her father is also trying to spread awareness about marine pollution.
Arathana has so far collected around 1,200 kg of plastic waste from the ocean by scuba diving. She is getting full support from his family members in this noble work.
Thaaragai says that she loves spending time doing clean-ups at the beaches and in the ocean. Apart from beach and ocean clean-up, she is also trying to involve other children in the mission.
“We use plastic and throw it on the streets. During rainfall, all those plastics get mixed up with lakes, ponds, and the oceans and make them polluted. People should be more careful not to throw plastics outside to save our environment and Mother Earth,” said Arathana.
“Tamil Nadu government is taking a number of steps to save our ocean from plastic pollution. We should obey the rules and stop throwing plastics outside to prevent marine pollution,” she added.