THIMMAKKA - THE TREE MOTHER

This is Saalumarada Thimmakka a great achiever from Karnataka in India who has planted 284 banyan trees and grown then tirelessly over the past several decades.  She treats these banyan trees as her children and looks after them on a daily basis with care, attention and passion.  She does not have any children and hence treats these trees as her own children.

Thimmakka is a native of Hulikal village in the Magadi Taluk of Bangalore Rural district in Karnataka State.  Banyan trees were aplenty near Thimmakka's village.  Thimmakka and her husband started grafting saplings from these trees.  Ten saplings were grafted in the first year and they were planted along a distance of 4 kilometres near the neighbouring village of Kudoor. Fifteen saplings were planted in the second year and 20 in the third year.  She used her own meager resources for planting these trees.  The couple used to carry four pails of water for a distance of four kilometres to water the saplings. They were also protected from grazing cattle by fencing them with thorny shrubs.  

There are thousands of trees and plants which were given birth by Thimmakka who is a proud Tree Mother.   She has received several awards and accolades from both Central as well as the State Government.  She has even been given a house in Bangalore by the State Government and she says she has not even seen that house.  She wants the Government to build a good hospital in her village.  She only wants the Government to do welfare measures for her village and is not interested in any other benefits or personal grants.  



She is 80 years old and has been relentlessly working for more than six decades to grow trees.  She says she derives greatest satisfaction and happiness when her sapplings grow into a big tree.  We all jointly spoil the environment so much and people like Thimmakka are sending the right message across the globe reminding us of our duty towards the environment.  We continue to get good rains because of people like Thimmakka.  I salute her for her extraordinary contribution over the last several decades.  Long Live Thimmakka - the Tree Mother.

T.P.Anand
Dubai, U.A.E.
25th September 2012