Woman in India is considered ‘the mother’ of more than 8 thousand trees

One of the greatest wishes of young couples is to form a family, fill the house with incessant laughter, little steps that run through every corner of the place and beautiful memories that they can treasure forever. Unfortunately, sometimes this cannot happen.

The greatest desire of Saalumarada Thimmakka and Bikkala Chikkayya, a married couple from Karnataka, India, was to be parents, but after 25 years unsuccessfully seeking to have children, they took refuge in another activity, which without thinking gave Saalumarada millions of children, whom he cares for and protects.

A couple with a lot of love to give

During the first two decades of marriage, Saalumarada and Bikkala wanted to have a baby, but as the years passed, disappointment and sadness invaded them. For her, life was over, because she could not be a mother, but with the great love that Bikkala gave her, she knew that one way or another she would succeed. In the mid-1940s, they began planting fig trees, making this activity their life purpose.

Saalumarada began to reforest India

The first trees he planted stretched along four kilometers of a city highway. She was in charge of fencing them and watering them when they needed it, she gave them love and when I least imagine it, her plantation increased year after year. Bikkala never left his side, he remained his faithful companion in that adventure that was just beginning.

For 50 years the noble action of this woman to reforest the fields of India was not taken into account, but in 1995 the media noticed it, since despite her advanced age, she continued to plant and take care of the vegetation. Saalumarada would have loved for her husband to accompany her when the world began to see her, but unfortunately he passed away five years earlier.

Now she is called the “Mother of the forests”

In 1995 she received the National Citizen’s Award, which motivated her to continue with her noble action, becoming a living legend in India, as people began to call her the “Mother of the forests”. This led to the creation of the Saalumarada Thimmakka International Foundation in 2014, in charge of environmental work in India.

On her way, the “Mother of the forests” met Umesh, a young man whom she decided to take care of like a son and who is now in charge of continuing with the plantations, because although Saalumarada is the founder, she is 109 years old and her energy it is not enough to continue with these activities. Despite this, in 2006, the BBC considered her as one of the most influential and inspiring women in the world, because due to the great dedication she had for more than 80 years, India has returned to focus on environmentalism.