Saalumarada Thimmakka is an Indian environmentalist from the state of Karnataka, noted for her work in planting and tending to 284 banyan trees along a four-kilometre stretch of highway.Her work has been honored with the National Citizen's Award of India.
It is said that she was unable to have any children of her own and thus, she and her husband made it their mission to plant and take care of these trees to fill the emptiness in their lives.
They started grafting saplings from Ficus (banyan) trees as there were plenty of Ficus trees near her village. They grafted ten saplings in the first year and planted them along a stretch of 4 kilometers on the road that led to
They not only planted the saplings, but also tended to the young saplings. Each morning they started from their home with four pots filled with water and watered the saplings. When the pots emptied out they refilled them from the nearby ponds and wells and continued watering the saplings while covering the whole stretch on feet and returned home doing the same thing.
They treated the saplings as their own children and each day followed the same routine. They also protected the saplings from the grazing cattle by fencing them with thorny shrubs. Their tireless efforts began to bear fruit when the saplings grew into large and strong trees.
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It is said that she was unable to have any children of her own and thus, she and her husband made it their mission to plant and take care of these trees to fill the emptiness in their lives.
They started grafting saplings from Ficus (banyan) trees as there were plenty of Ficus trees near her village. They grafted ten saplings in the first year and planted them along a stretch of 4 kilometers on the road that led to
They not only planted the saplings, but also tended to the young saplings. Each morning they started from their home with four pots filled with water and watered the saplings. When the pots emptied out they refilled them from the nearby ponds and wells and continued watering the saplings while covering the whole stretch on feet and returned home doing the same thing.
They treated the saplings as their own children and each day followed the same routine. They also protected the saplings from the grazing cattle by fencing them with thorny shrubs. Their tireless efforts began to bear fruit when the saplings grew into large and strong trees.
source