The whole world is suffering from severe warming caused by excessive tree felling, and there is no alternative to planting more trees. With a message of protecting nature and friendship, a young man and a boy have set off on skates from West Bengal in India for Bangladesh.

On Monday (1 May), 28-year-old Sandib Manna and 10-year-old Krishna Ghosh set off on skates from Shyamnagar in North 24 Parganas for Dhaka, carrying the message "Plant trees, save lives". One more person is travelling with them by bicycle.

They began the journey to promote friendship between India and Bangladesh and to urge tree planting to protect both countries' environment from warming. Local people gathered from the morning to wish them well, among them Arun Brahma, a councillor of Bhatpara municipality.

Arun Brahma said the two Indians were skating from Basudebpur in Shyamnagar to Dhaka in Bangladesh to spread the message of India-Bangladesh friendship and environmental protection. "On behalf of all of us, we wish them success and hope the friendship between India and Bangladesh grows stronger," he said.

Ten-year-old Krishna is very happy to be skating to Bangladesh. To him, skating is just like a game.

They found the courage for the journey after Sandib Manna underwent long training for skating abroad. "We are moving forward with the message that India-Bangladesh relations should become even sweeter. Not only that, we will also say: plant trees, save lives," Sandib said.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.