In what can be called as a rare inititaive by an Assamese, this man from Dobia Borigaon in Gohpur sub-division started what can be called as a green revolution in this part of the country to fight the rage of global warming. He went on to popularize his concept not just in India but his experiments have been replicated in countries like England, France, Nepal, Bangladesh and Indonesia. He did not buy gifts for his friend on their birthdays when he was young. Rather, he opted to spread the cover of green and gift them saplings. And he kept this practice alive as he grew up, only to expand it in a different magnitude altogether. Meet Bokul Gogoi, a gentleman who has come up with his own unique experiment of controlling global warming. Staring his movement with a small nursery named “Green Assam Nursery” at Gohpur in 1997, Bokul Gogoi went on to start his own NGO “Amar Bonani” in 2006, of which he is the director, and has so far distributed more that 1.50 lakhs saplings across the State without any government aid or outside funding. Gogoi says that this task is not arduous, given one has a right bent of mind. He says that if one is certain of what one wishes to achieve, no task is hard enough. And he proved this too. Gogoi has been organizing awareness camps on environment, launching plantation drives and providing free saplings to organizations, several tea estates to expand the green cover. He says, “The only way to control pollution and global warming is to plant trees and there is no other substitute.” And his way is named ‘Bhupendra Brikha or Sandalwood.’ Bakul Gogoi named the sandalwood tree after Bhupen Hazarika and popularized it as the Bhupendra Brikha after the maestro himself planted a sapling at Kalakshetra in 2010. It was the beginning of his mission to financially empower the youths of the State. He hopes to spread the sandalwood plantation scheme throughout the State since it could be used for the development of one of the major industries of the State--the tea industry. Gogoi also stated that they have already experimented with this new idea in some tea gardens of the State. Gogoi has taken up a mission of planting a sandalwood tree in every household of Assam. “We have already planted 50,000 sandalwood trees across the State and we hope that every household of the State will have this tree soon at their homes,” Gogoi added. Meanwhile, Gogoi has started a similar initiative with the Agar tree and named it after renowned litterateur Dr Mamoni Raisom Goswami. In October 12, 2012 under his leadership, around 1 lakh mango trees were planted throughout the country as part of the PV Rajagopal’s Ekta Parishad’s Jal Jangal Jamin campaign. He is now spearheading a Jana Satyagraha Brikhya movement. “We aim to make India a green country and hope to plant 10 lakh tress in the coming year,” he said when asked about his future plan. On the hurdles faced by the man during his journey so far, Gogoi said, “As far as the problems are concerned, I can only say that transportation of sapling has been the only hurdle.” He further adds that he has so far not taken any help from the Forest department to materialize his dreams. Bokul Gogoi has been a recipients of many awards, including the Chief Minister’s Special Award in 2011, the Naba Chetia Memorial Award by the Tezpur Environment Awareness Society and has also been conferred the title of “tree man” by the New Delhi based Gandhi Darshan Samiti in 2012. He believes that instead of exchanging materialistic gifts, one should exchange trees amongst themselves. His dream is to bring environment and people close to one another. He further appealed to all to cooperate in his endeavous and wished that all citizens should embark on a mission to plant trees.