East Coast’s Little Guardian Mermaid Thaaragai

Thaaragai drew inspiration from her well known scuba diving instructor father S B Aravind who says he put her in waters on the third day  after birth. “At nine months after birth, she floated naturally and in two and a half years she swam naturally” says Aravind, who denies the little girl is being pressured to perform. “She’s addicted to cleaning up the sea and shores. She’s so interested about taking care of the environment. She has good stamina as she does serious practice. We just tell her try your best.”

Thaaragai already does  scuba diving upto 8 metres deep in the ocean.  She wants to work to protect Dugong or sea cow, an endangered marine species. “I’ve chosen Dugong because its one of the species that’s vanishing. There are less than 150 of them in India. Like me everyone can choose a species and spend time for it. It can even be a bird or a trees”.

She accompanies her dad. When asked what’s her dream, “My dream is there should not be plastic in the ocean. I clean as much I can. You also clean it up. If only the environment is safe we can be safe, so we should not use plastics” 

Thaaragai does home schooling. Her mother Tharunsri is a make up artist.