Salutes to Thimakka!!

March, 2019

He, he, he ☺ I can see all of you craning your necks in painful angles to read what is on the banner. To know what is this ‘Seed Post’. Any guesses ?? Well, here it is….

“Soak this post-card overnight and sow it in soil, water it regularly. After a few weeks the seeds inside the card will start germinating. You will get surprising plants from this ‘Seed Post’. The thought in similar way travels and propagates in our minds.”

I got this innovative card from someone who attended the Kochi-Muziris Biennale Collateral 2018, courtesy Vaishali Oak (INDIA). Wow ! what an innovative way of sharing seeds, encouraging planting and spreading ‘go green’. The last line is so thought-provoking and refreshing. All the more reason to think good, do good, see good, share good and spread goodness all around during these turbulent times. Sowing seeds of goodness is not optional !

If someone has chosen a simple, old-world style post card for seeding, this year’s Padmashri awardee, 107 year old Salumarada Thimmakka did it the real, earthy style. I recall many, many issues back I had written about her which I am sharing once again. Though denied children by Him, she adopted hundreds of Banyan trees and cared for them as her own children. Instead of lamenting on her barrenness, Thimmakka and her husband went on a tree-planting mission in Hulikal, about 70 kms away from Bangalore and planted over 400 banyan trees over 50 years and 8000 other trees. No wonder she is fondly called Saalumarada Thimmakka after the row trees planted and has also received innumerable awards and recognition for her simple, yet effective answer to deforestation. She could not beget children but she found her life’s calling – nurturing hundreds of shade-giving banyan trees that have long, long lives. She didn’t get, but she didn’t stop giving !! Salutions to the Real Mother Earth !!!