THE STORY OF CHIKKANNA-THIMMAKKA AND THEIR AVENUE TREES

"The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing." - Walt Disney

JOIN HANDS TO SAVE TREES - INSPIRED BY THIMMAKKA

          There is something special about the three hundred towering avenue trees on the Kudur-Hulikal Road in Karnataka. All of them were planted and cared for by an elderly couple, Thimmakka and Chikkanna.

       

SAALUMARADA THIMMAKKA

  Thimmakka was born about eighty years ago in Gubbi and married Chikkanna of Hulikal at an early age. They were landless labourers working on farmlands. Thimmakka could not have children and the couple were often lonely in the evenings. Chikkanna kept thinking of  'something to do' with their lives.

          About fifty years ago they decided to plant trees on the main road to Kudur. They wanted to provide shade for the villagers, who had to walk often on the hot and dusty road. 

          They chose the peepul tree, created a small nursery, and began planting the saplings. They built thorn guards around the saplings, watered them daily until they took root. They tended each tree until it was ten years old. 

          Every year they planted fifteen to twenty trees, until they had covered the entire stretch of four

THIMMAKKA AT WORK

km. They took care of the trees as if they were their children. In fact, Chikkanna quit working and devoted himself full-time to this task. The trees grew tall and have been providing shade for the road users and shelter for many birds and animals.

          Chikkanna died in 1990. Thimmakka has received many awards like the National Citizen's Award in 1995 and the Indira Priyadarshini Vrikshamitra Award in 1997. Now she sits alone in her little house with the picture of Chikkanna And other certificates hang too. Still she remains poor and continues with her struggle even today.

THE LONG AVENUE CREATED BY THE PAIR OF STRONG HANDS