Courageous Canbacer Saalumarada Thimmakka

As part of last year’s World Childless Week, I published a guest blog about being “Childless in Indian Communities” for someone who didn’t have a platform of their own. Later in the week we provided a link about a childless couple in India who decided to plant and nurture trees as they could plant and nurture their own children. In this today’s Courageous Canbacer I want to take a deeper look into the extra ordinary life of Saalumarada Thimmakka (“Row of trees” in Kannada).

In last year’s blog for WCW Shafali writes “Once the wedding festivities had come to an end, many members of the bride-groom’s family and even members of the wider community expected further celebratory news of a baby on the way!  For many couples, conceiving doesn’t take too long. However, for others conceiving can be a battle that challenges their identity as a wife as well as a daughter-in-law.”

This certainly seemed to be the case of Saalumarada Thimmakka. Rather than receiving sympathy from their fellow villages she and her husband, Chikkaiah, were subjected to crude remarks and treated with suspicion. There is a saying in Indian that “Your children are who will remember you lived”. This is a belief that is so strong that couples without children are seen to be accursed and women who cannot have children are presumed to have no life at all.

It was this opinion that Saalumarada Thimmakka and Chikkaiah decided to challenge. As they continued to remain childless, year after year, they began to face up to their reality. They could either wallow in self-pity or make the best of their situation. Saalumarada Thimmakka recalls their decision: “On day, we thought why not plant trees and tend to them like we would our children”

Their plan stated in a relatively small way. The first year they grafted 10 saplings from the Banyan trees that grew near their village. They planted the trees on an empty piece of land about 4kms away from the village. They then fill four pails of water in their home and made the long trek to the saplings each and every day. They protected the saplings from drought. They built torn fences to protect them from cattle and other animals. They nurtured their trees, as they would have nurtured their children until the plants had grown strong enough to fend for themselves.

The next year Saalumarada Thimmakka and her husband planted 15 more saplings and tended them daily until they were well established. In the third year 20 samplings were planted. They continued in this work until they had planted 384 trees which now line a five kilometre stretch of road between the villages of Hulikal and Kudoor. There are reports that between them they have planted over 8000 trees. However, I am having trouble confirming this and the figure could include trees planted on her behalf by her adopted son Umesh through the afforetstation projects that he organises.

Chikkaiah died in 1991: however, Saalumarada Thimmakka is still alive at the grand old age of 106. She lives with Umesh and they both continued to work on environmental related issues. Her work has been recognised both in India and around the world.

You can find out more about the remarkable Saalumarada Thimmakka by clicking on the following links:

BBC honours 100 Women (2016)

The Thimmakka Foundation

They raised trees to fill a personal void

Saalumarad Thimmakka on Wikipedia

The 106 year old woman who planted over 8000 trees in 65 years

India’s 105-year-old mother of trees

Saalumarada Thimmakka had/has so little and yet she gave so much resulting in a huge positive impact on the world and creating an amazing legacy. A very courageous canbacer and such an inspiration!

In CANBACE friendship!

If anything I have written resonates I’d love to hear from you in the comments. I appreciate that this can be a difficult subject to speak openly about so if you don’t want me to publish your comment on the website please let me know and I will keep your words private.