Thimmakka and her husband Bikkalu Chikkaiah, a childless couple of Hulikal village in Karnataka, decided to adopt children. But the children they chose to rear were 284 banyan trees along a 3km stretch of what is now National Highway 48 in Karnataka. The trees filled up a void in their lives. And just recently, Thimmakka received the National Citizens Award (for social forestry) from the Prime Minister. In the 1950s, it was a Thimmakka, who tired of her neighbour’s jibes directed at her childlessness hit upon the plan. “Why not plant banyan trees and rear them like our children?” she thought. So the lonely couple decided to plant trees. Thimmakka’s husband was a disabled person, hence she had to work as a labourer every day and did not have the time for much else. But firm in their resolve, they took great pains to dig pits on either side of the road. Their next task was to choose suitable banyan saplings. They finally planted 300 saplings and put up thorny bushes around, to ensure that the cattle did not eat up the tender trees. Thimmakka brought water in pots from a long distance and poured it at the foot of the saplings every day. During the rainy season she poked at the roots of the trees to make them go deep and, as the area was not fenced, she kept a constant vigil and nursed the plants for 10 years. It was time spent well, as it gave her fulfilment and pride. Even as the couple nursed the saplings, she was working in a quarry for their hand-to-mouth existence. If she could not go to the quarry they would have nothing to eat that day. True, her work was back-breaking, but she could not neglect the trees either. She would go to the Kudur road and attend to the saplings before the break of dawn. And the trees, like children who live in an atmosphere of love and caring responded to her call and grew up. Now in the prime of their lives, the 284 that took root provide a green canopy for 3 km, nests for birds and prevent soil erosion. They are also worth an estimated Rs. 85 crore.