After a hectic day’s work, K Karthick IPS rushes to the backyard of his official residence in Aluva. This is where he grows a small vegetable farm ever since he took charge as the Ernakulam Rural District police chief in June last year. He spends at least half-an-hour each day in the farm where he grows vegetables like tomatoes, green chillies, ladies finger, to name a few. This, according to the IPS officer, is his stressbuster.
Karthick’s keen interest in farming was the motivation for the senior officer to come up with something interesting to inspire people to spend more time at home during the nationwide lockdown. Thus, in mid-April, he kicked off an internet challenge called ‘Kitchen Garden Challenge’, asking people and police stations under the Ernakulam rural police limit to post pictures of their kitchen gardens. If one doesn’t already have a kitchen garden, he urged people to utilise the challenge, make small steps towards starting one and share pictures of the same.
Though internet challenges are aplenty, this one became an instant hit as many people in the region started taking up the challenge. Inspired by Karthick’s idea, Kerala state police chief Loknath Behera, appreciated the IPS officer and asked district police chiefs and other top police officers to implement similar projects which will ‘encourage people for social distancing and staying at home.’
Speaking to TNM, Karthick says that he is overwhelmed with so many people welcoming the challenge.
“It was a spontaneous idea. As usual, one day I was working on my farm in the camp house (official residence). Then this thought struck me that why couldn’t I ask people to take up this challenge? Since it is a lockdown, people are mostly using social media widely, so they will respond to these challenges actively, and it clicked,” he says.
Interestingly, the challenge was not confined to people posting pictures of their existing kitchen gardens. Rather, Karthick says, people have been following it up, asking queries like where could they find seeds for their gardens during the lockdown.
“Many were responding enthusiastically and when some started asking for seeds, I collaborated with the Agriculture Department and made arrangements to make seeds available for those asking,” he explains.
The IPS officer connected with all 34 police stations under the Ernakulam rural police limit and supplied the seeds from the Agriculture Department office to each station as needed. In the process, the contact number of people asking for seeds was passed on to these stations. Then, during routine daily police-patrolling, police officers in specific areas, hand the seeds over to the people who asked for it.
A native of Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu, Karthick was previously the Superintendent of Police in Thrissur rural and Wayanad. Wherever he had been posted, he would grow a vegetable garden, he says. With the lockdown in place, the officer also has the help of his son, studying in kindergarten, who follows him into the vegetable garden.
“My idea is to make people turn to agriculture to the extent they can. This internet challenge looked like a perfect start, because people are mostly sitting bored online. Also when a top police officer in their region replies to their posts and appreciates the good work, people will be inspired to do more. Even after the lockdown, I am sure they will continue to do this,” Karthick says, happily.
When asked about the Director General of Police’s letter that was sent to the offices of all district police chiefs, Inspectors General of Police, Deputy Inspectors General of Police and Additional Directors General of Police, on April 25, Karthick humbly says he was as happy as anyone will be when they are appreciated for their work.