Meet ‘Tabahi’, the college-goer who went viral for cleaning a pond

Surendra Singh Chaudhary, a 21-year-old BSc student from Madhya Pradesh, has gone viral for cleaning polluted ponds and the Ajnar River. (Image via Instagram @bittu_tabahi)

He called himself “tabahi” [devastation] on Instagram. Yet when Surendra Singh Chaudhary sneaked out of his home every day at 6 am, lying to his family that he was going to college, it wasn’t to skip class with friends – instead, the 21-year-old spent that time cleaning a local pond near his home.

“I used to see how dirty the pond was. It was near a local temple, and the people stopped attending because of how filthy it was. There was something in me that could not stand that, and one day I just began cleaning the pond,” Chaudhary told The Indian Express.

In January, that obsession to rid water bodies of plastic bottles, polythene bags, clothes and other discarded waste led him to undertake a bigger project — cleaning up Madhya Pradesh’s Ajnar River. The project took him nine months, countless hours and immense effort, sometimes by a group but mostly solitary.

This week, that drive gained him national attention – it led prominent people such as industrialist Anand Mahindra, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav and Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia to praise his work, and prompted the local municipality to provide machinery for the clean-up. It also led to what began as a 21-year-old’s solitary effort to clean a pond near his home to grow into an obsession to revive polluted water bodies across states.

Chaudhary says he began cleaning the polluted Ajnar River on January 26, 2026 – Republic Day. What initially involved a few friends soon largely became a one-man effort: he entered the polluted river, pulling out plastic, weeds, sludge and other waste with basic equipment.

He spent around Rs 30,000 of his own money on the effort and continued despite having no formal backing. By the time a before-and-after video of the cleanup began circulating, his parents still thought their son was simply a B.Sc. student who kept unusual hours. His Instagram account now has 1.9 million followers.

Asking him why he has the name tabahi gets a cheeky response: “I’m glad I have this name for myself. Whatever I am doing is tabahi only in a sense”.

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The local pond was the first of several. Surendra has since gone on to restore small ponds in Rajasthan and Bengaluru as well as elsewhere in Madhya Pradesh, moving state to state, working the same way each time: alone, unpaid at the start, before anyone had reason to notice.

Attention did eventually arrive. Scindia praised his work, and there was some engagement from within the state government afterwards, though what exactly was discussed or promised is not clear.

He initially faced criticism from people who questioned whether the exercise was being done for publicity, but the continuing documentation of the physical transformation gradually changed the response. His persistence also attracted the attention of the Biaora municipal authorities, who eventually deployed JCB and Poclain machines to assist with removing accumulated waste.

“Now everyone is claiming that they were always behind my work and want to steal my credit,” he said. “I worked alone when no one was paying attention. The local municipal authorities are annoyed at my work, and in future if they keep discouraging me then I will have to quit.”

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The work itself has a physical cost that he mentions almost in passing. “Right now, I have a bad skin infection,” he said. “It’s always dangerous to enter polluted ponds. But that is a small price I have to pay.”

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Anand Mohan J is an award-winning Senior Correspondent for The Indian Express, currently leading the bureau’s coverage of Madhya Pradesh. With a career spanning over eight years, he has established himself as a trusted voice at the intersection of law, internal security, and public policy. Based in Bhopal, Anand is widely recognized for his authoritative reporting on Maoist insurgency in Central India. In late 2025, he provided exclusive, ground-level coverage of the historic surrender of the final Maoist cadres in Madhya Pradesh, detailing the backchannel negotiations and the "vacuum of command" that led to the state being declared Maoist-free. Expertise and Reporting Beats Anand’s investigative work is characterized by a "Journalism of Courage" approach, holding institutions accountable through deep-dive analysis of several key sectors: National Security & Counter-Insurgency: He is a primary chronicler of the decline of Naxalism in the Central Indian corridor, documenting the tactical shifts of security forces and the rehabilitation of surrendered cadres. Judiciary & Legal Accountability: Drawing on over four years of experience covering Delhi’s trial courts and the Madhya Pradesh High Court, Anand deconstructs complex legal rulings. He has exposed critical institutional lapses, including custodial safety violations and the misuse of the National Security Act (NSA). Wildlife Conservation (Project Cheetah): Anand is a leading reporter on Project Cheetah at Kuno National Park. He has provided extensive coverage of the biological and administrative hurdles of rewilding Namibian and South African cheetahs, as well as high-profile cases of wildlife trafficking. Public Health & Social Safety: His recent investigative work has uncovered systemic negligence in public services, such as contaminated blood transfusions causing HIV infections in thalassemia patients and the human cost of the fertilizer crisis affecting rural farmers. Professional Background Tenure: Joined The Indian Express in 2017. Locations: Transitioned from the high-pressure Delhi City beat (covering courts, police, and labor issues) to his current role as a regional lead in Madhya Pradesh. Notable Investigations: * Exposed the "digital arrest" scams targeting entrepreneurs. Investigated the Bandhavgarh elephant deaths and the impact of kodo millet fungus on local wildlife. Documented the transition of power and welfare schemes (like Ladli Behna) in Madhya Pradesh governance. Digital & Professional Presence Author Profile: Anand Mohan J at Indian Express Twitter handle: @mohanreports ... Read More