Don't Miss

ENG

Cricket
Football
NDTV Podcast
Formula 1
Tennis
Golf
Badminton
- Kabaddi
- Boxing
- Athletics
- Chess
- Swimming
- Shooting
- Wrestling
- Table tennis
- Othersports
- NFL
- NBA
- NHL
- US Streamers
- MMA
- WWE

Dark / Light mode

Oct 8,2026 07:48 PM IST

"Surname Means Destruction": Kevin Pietersen's Viral Post On Bittu Tabahi's River Cleaning Effort

facebook

twitter

Settings

Change Font Size

A A
Change Language

हिंदी | Hindi
Focus on Story

Select Language

Languages
हिंदी | Hindi

Dark / Light mode

Featured Links
Featured Sports
- Cricket
- Football
- Formula 1
- Tennis
- Hockey
- Golf
- Badminton
More Sports
- Kabaddi
- Boxing
- Athletics
- Chess
- Swimming
- Shooting
- Wrestling
- Table tennis
- Othersports
More from NDTV
- NDTV
- Business
- Hindi
- Movies
- Cricket
- Health
- Food
- Tech
- Auto
- Apps
- Trains

Cricket

Scores
Series
- All Series
- India vs West Indies 2026
- New Zealand vs India, 2026/27
- India vs Sri Lanka 2026/27
- WPL 2027
- ICC Cricket World Cup 2027
Fixtures
Results
News
Photos
Videos
Features
Teams
More
- Players
- Venues
- ICC Rankings
- Test Championship

arrow-down reddit snapchat twitter facebook comments email printer search bell top-nav reddit-fill snapchat-fill twitter-fill facebook-fill share whatsapp-fill bookmark arrow-rgt arrow-next arrow-up refresh close link cog star book zap cricket football tennis formula-1 badminton hockey golf boxing ndtv-n check left-arrow right-arrow

Live Cricket Matches

Cricket Matches
Football Matches
All Matches

India Matches

IPL 2026

Football Matches

Cricket Matches
Football Matches
All Matches

ISL

EPL

All Matches

Cricket Matches
Football Matches
All Matches

India Matches

EPL

2nd T20I, West Indies in India, 5 T20I Series, 2026 at Ranchi, Oct 9, 2026

notify

notify

India

West Indies

Fri, Oct 9, 2026 - 7:00 PM IST
3rd T20I, West Indies in India, 5 T20I Series, 2026 at Indore, Oct 11, 2026

notify

notify

India

West Indies

Sun, Oct 11, 2026 - 7:00 PM IST
4th T20I, West Indies in India, 5 T20I Series, 2026 at Hyderabad, Oct 14, 2026

notify

notify

India

West Indies

Wed, Oct 14, 2026 - 7:00 PM IST
1st T20I, West Indies in India, 5 T20I Series, 2026 at Lucknow, Oct 6, 2026

India

172/2 (14.4)

West Indies

171 (19.1)

India beat West Indies by 8 wickets
3rd ODI, West Indies in India, 3 ODI Series, 2026 at New Chandigarh, Oct 3, 2026

India

351/7 (50.0)

West Indies

352/5 (48.2)

West Indies beat India by 5 wickets
Final, Asian Games Men’s T20I, 2026 at Nisshin, Oct 3, 2026

Pakistan

192/6 (20.0)

India

211/6 (20.0)

India beat Pakistan by 19 runs

Sports Home Cricket News Surname Means Destruction Kevin Pietersens Viral Post On Bittu Tabahis River Cleaning Effort

Story ProgressBack to home

"Surname Means Destruction": Kevin Pietersen's Viral Post On Bittu Tabahi's River Cleaning Effort

Bittu Tabahi, a BSc student from Madhya Pradesh, cleaned the polluted Ajnar River himself, gaining popularity all across the world.

NDTV Sports Desk
Updated: September 06, 2026 08:17 am IST

Read Time: 4 min

facebook

twitter

E-mail

Kevin Pietersen lauded Bittu Tabahi© Instagram

Social media has grown into a platform where one doesn't need to be a celebrity to reach the masses. In fact, many have gained followers in a short span after sharing their work and efforts on social media. One such case is that of Bittu Tabahi, a BSc student from Madhya Pradesh who cleaned a polluted river himself. As the pictures of his efforts went viral across social media platforms, even former England cricket team captain Kevin Pietersen couldn't stop himself from sharing his story.

Pietersen, thoroughly impressed by Bittu's solo effort to clean the Ajnar River in Madhya Pradesh, said that this is exactly what happens when a person stops waiting for someone else to start and takes up the responsibility of getting the task done himself or herself.

"I read this story this am and wanted to share it with you! Well done, Bhai! At 21, Bittu Tabahi stepped into a polluted river, without gloves, boots or even knowing how to swim, and started cleaning it himself. On 26 January 2026, the BSc student from Madhya Pradesh began cleaning the Ajnar River near a temple in Biaora, removing plastic and other waste that had turned parts of the river into a dumping ground. He even began turning puja waste into compost and pooled money with friends to buy tools and dustbins. The effort cost him around 30,000 rupees, and at one point, he suffered infections on his hands. Then his work reached thousands online. Some accused him of doing it for likes. Bittu's surname means "destruction." Today, he is trying to destroy something else: water pollution. Because sometimes, change begins when one person stops waiting for someone else to start. Heroic, I say! Deserves international recognition!" Pietersen wrote in a post.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kevin Pietersen MBE (@kevinpietersen)

Who is Bittu Tabahi?

'Bittu Tabahi' (real name Surendra Singh Choudhary) is a student and environmental volunteer from Biaora in the Rajgarh district of Madhya Pradesh. Appalled by the heavy accumulation of plastic, algae, sludge, and foul odour near a local temple on the Ajnar River, he decided to stop waiting for official action. He launched his clean-up campaign on January 26, 2026, on Republic Day.

While he initially started with a few friends, the initiative quickly evolved into a largely solo mission. Armed with only basic tools and operating without proper safety gear-despite not knowing how to swim-he manually extracted tonnes of garbage from the river.

In fact, he spent his own money arranging cleaning supplies to restore the river.

Boyan Slat, founder and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup, came across a post on X showcasing Bittu's work and offered him the opportunity to work for his organisation.