Tulsi Gowind Gowda: Magic… in her hands – The woman bringing India’s forests back to life

He has walked for miles, deep in the rainforest, cutting healthy branches from tons of bushes and transplanting and grafting them. Her eyes light up when she talks about unusual seeds or a little tree. And when he dies, he wishes to be reborn as a huge tree, as the New York Times writes.

THE Tulsi Gowind Gowdawho does not know her exact age, has dedicated her life to redeveloping vast tracts of barren land in her birthplace of Karnataka, in southern India.

Over time, she has received about a dozen awards for her pioneering work in the field of forest conservation. However, the most important award came last year, with the Padma Shri award, one of her country’s highest honours.

When villagers see her today, they bow and children stop taking selfies with her. Busloads of students arrive at her home, where she lives with 10 members of her family, including her great-grandchildren.

“When I see them, I feel happy,” she says. “They must be taught how necessary it is to plant bushes and trees.”

From childhood, she spoke to the trees as a mother would to her young children. Gowda picked out small stones from the soil and meticulously planted seeds and saplings. Her knowledge of identifying native species and carefully collecting them and cultivating the trees cannot be found in any book.

Gowda walked barefoot to receive the Padma Shri award medal inside the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the president’s official residence in New Delhi. Throughout her life she walked barefoot and never wore sneakers, which is not unusual for members of her tribal group.

India’s 700 or so tribal groups have a population of 104 million, according to the last comprehensive census, in 2011. Of these groups, more than 600 communities are Scheduled Tribes, which means they have certain advantages from the authorities, along with choice in academic institutions and jobs in the authorities.

However, Gowda’s clan, the Halakki-Vokkaligas – with a population of about 180,000 – never got the intended seat. Gowda worked for 65 years at the authority’s nursery, officially retiring in 1998, although she continues to work there in an advisory capacity, sharing her knowledge of plants and trees.

Her son and grandchildren work on a small piece of land that they own and similarly on other people’s fields. They rely on the forests around them for firewood and medicine. Her clan is known for their knowledge of medicinal crops, which its members use to treat illnesses.

“The best death would be under the shade of a large tree with huge branches. I like them more than anything else in my life,” she added.

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