My name is Magar, and I am a crocodile—yes, a real one! I live in a lovely, flowing river called Adyar. It is wide and calm, with soft muddy banks, trees that dance in the wind, and cool water that sparkles in the sun. It is not just a river to me. It is home.
I spend my days swimming in the water, resting on sunny rocks, and playing hide-and-seek with my riverbank friends. There is Tota the talkative parrot, Froggie the leaping frog, and even Meenu, a shiny little fish who tells the funniest jokes.
Everything was perfect, until one day, things started to change. At first, it was just a wrapper. Then an empty packet. Then one morning, I opened my eyes and—BOP!—a plastic bottle hit me on the nose!
“OW!” I yelped. “Who throws garbage in someone else’s home?!” I looked around. The water was full of junk—plastic bags, old sandals, even a broken toy truck. I felt sad. I felt angry.
And most of all, I felt worried. What if my friends got hurt? What if we had to leave our home?
I rushed to tell Tota.
“Tota!” I cried, splashing up near his favourite tree. “You won’t believe how dirty the river is getting! Look at this bottle! And… is that someone’s sock?!”
Tota flew down with a worried look. “Oh no, not again,” he sighed. “It is the humans, Magar. They keep throwing things into the river. Sometimes they don’t even realise what they’re doing.” “We can’t let this go on,” I said. “We HAVE to do something.”
Tota nodded, fluffing his green feathers. “Let us try talking to them. Maybe, just maybe… they will listen.” The next afternoon, we spotted a group of school children playing by the riverbank. Some were skipping stones, some were giggling, and one girl with curly hair was trying to catch butterflies.
“Now is our chance,” Tota whispered. I took a deep breath and carefully swam to the edge. “Excuse me?” I said, bringing my head out of the water.
The kids gasped. One girl dropped her juice box. Another hid behind a rock.
“Don’t be scared!” I said quickly. “I am not here to bite—I am here to ask for help.”
The girl with curly hair stepped forward. Her name was Sasha. “You cantalk?” she asked, wide-eyed.
“Only when it’s really important,” I said. “And this is. You see, this river —your river—is also our home. But it is being filled with garbage. Plastic bottles, chips packets, even slippers! It is making us sick. Would you like it if someone dumped trash in your living room?”
Sasha blinked. “No… that would be awful.”
“Exactly,” I said. “We are not asking for much. Just for people to care.”
Sasha looked at her friends. “We need to clean the river,” she said. “Not just for Magar, but for all of us.” What happened next was AMAZING.
Sasha and her friends ran home. They came back with bags, gloves, sticks, and even their parents! Tota called the birds. I called the frogs and the fishes. The whole river came alive with helpers—big and small.
We cleaned and cleaned. We pulled out wrappers stuck in roots. We collected bottles lying all over, pushed floating cans into bags, and even rescued a turtle stuck in an old fishing net.
By the time the sun began to set, the river looked brand new—fresh, clean, and happy again. I stood on the bank, my scales glistening, and said, “Thank you. Thank you all.
Please promise us one thing—throw waste in dustbins, not in rivers. Recycle what you can. And plant trees, because trees keep rivers strong.”
“We promise!” shouted Sasha and her friends.
“And we will tell more people too!” said one boy, tying up a big bag of trash. Now, the Adyar River is full of life again. Birds sing, butterflies flutter, children come to play—and no one throws trash anymore.
And me? I am still here, swimming with joy, knowing that when we all come together—even a crocodile’s home can be saved.
Moral of the story: A clean river means a happy home—for animals, birds, children, and grown-ups too!
Student of Class 5, PSBB Millennium School, OMR, Chennai