Till about four years ago, this lane of Maninagar's Mukti Maidan area was used more as a public urinal and a garbage dump. Today, it's the greenest street in this part of town. All thanks to the efforts of one man who has not just transformed this smelly street but also created several oases in Maninagar and Khokhra. Meet 80-year-old Philip Macwan, who is green at heart and has single-handedly planted over 1,000 trees over the past decade. But this green angel was not always a tree lover. Shocking as it may seem, nearly 45 years ago, Macwan made a living by chopping trees to make way for African railways when he was working there in the early 60s. But the guilt of having caused irreparable damage to Mother Earth continued to haunt him. That's why when he came back to India, he decided to give back to nature by planting trees. "In Africa I used to chop off nearly 100 trees daily. Whatever I have done so far is just a fraction of the environmental damage I had inflicted," says a moist-eyed Macwan, whose conscience has made Maninagar a green paradise in Ahmedabad. And age is no obstacle to his green drive. His day begins at five in the morning when he, along with a few friends from his 'Young at 60' club, takes off to water trees he has planted with specially designed water tanks. While he also cleans nearly 2 km area around his house daily, armed with a microphone he exhorts residents of nearby societies to keep their surroundings clean and green. He has also converted two corners in his locality, where people dumped waste, into lush green gardens where nearly 50 oldies gather each morning and evening. "I could have just talked about global warming, pollution and carbon dioxide levels in the city, but I preferred to make the change," says Macwan Kaka, as he is lovingly known. Macwan has filed cases against three people for cutting trees and even won them.