The word "mother" has a powerful connotation; it conveys the ideas of creator, nurturer, compassionate lover and giver.

Everything around us is incomplete without the word "mother." I am a mother myself, and my son is my most prized possession.

He was the main inspiration for me to start "YUGO". Our family of 3, resides in Delhi/NCR, and one day, while visiting a relative, we drove through the Ghazipur Landfill. As everyone is aware, the Ghazipur Landfill's Garbage Mountain is just a few meters shy of Qutab Minar's height. That completely confused my then-5-year-old son, who began to yell, "Mom!" What a lovely mountain, and there are birds flying too (he referred to vultures and eagles).

I was completely astounded and horrified, and it made me reflect on the kind of planet we intend to leave for the coming generations. Articles about the effects of this garbage mountain on both humans and the environment are published every day. My innocent son describes this as the beauty of nature. The toxic gases and radioactive chemicals this heap emits are severely harming the entire ecosystem and we humans are only responsible for doing this.

While visiting one of India's well-known beach destinations, we experienced another incident, not unlike this one. To my son, I painted a picture of a tranquil beach where crabs dug in the sand and you could find some seashells.He was ecstatic, but when we landed on the beach, it was a trash dump. Chip bags, beer cans, plastic plates, napkins, etc. were thrown everywhere with no indication of the beauty I had promised him, and the poor kid thought this was how beaches were supposed to look.

As my heart completely fell, I became aware that I had to take action in order to leave the next generation with the planet they deserved. We can't simply wipe out the biodiversity and leave a planet laden with plastic and dangerous chemicals for the next generation, which is how I founded "YUGO". I left my corporate job and made up my mind that I had to take up this mission; I wasn't sure how much change it would bring about, but I needed to start somewhere. I needed to bring about change and raise awareness about this pressing issue.