“Plants are just like my children, if someone breaks or uproots them, then I get upset.” This is to say that Anupama Tiwari, who lives in Jaipur. Anupama, 55, is a , subject trainer at the Azeem Premji Foundation in Jaipur. So far, she has planted more than 15 thousand trees in Rajasthan.
The better india Talking to her, she says, “My father Vijay Kumar was a mail guard in the railway in Bandikui town of Dausa district in Tiwari, Rajasthan. All my childhood was spent in a railway bungalow, where there were tall trees of neem, surel and ardu in our courtyard. Apart from these, there were many such flowers like Kachanar, Chandni, Mogra, Gulab, Madhumalati, Jasmine, whose names I did not even know in my childhood. Then brinjal, tomato, cabbage also grew in our house. ”
She says, “As a child, Mangya Baba (gardener) used to come to our house, who used to do gardening very happily. Despite being a gardener at home, my father used to run a shovel, make beautiful furrows with hoofs, and make fine sandals on the sides of trees. Out of the four swings in the house, two swings were on the trees. ”
Anupama has been taking care of the trees since childhood. They always like to pour water in trees, collect all information about them. Gardening is like a therapy for them. About 32 years ago, when his family settled in Jaipur, his hobby of gardening remained confined to the pots.
Passion to make the city green
After marriage, Anupama, along with her husband Kamal Sharma, lived in a flat. About 12 years ago, he built a new house of his own in Jaipur. In those days even in a very small place, he planted guava, pomegranate, lemon and chiku trees and built a garden on the roof.
She used to make ashes from dhabas, sugarcane, corn and coconut shells. She always thought that what else should she do for gardening? She used the available resources at home for gardening. During this time, her husband and children also helped her a lot in gardening.
In government schools, Anupama trains teachers ,. During his posting, he has also worked for some time in Tonk and Niwai, Rajasthan. She does plantation wherever she goes. Once, during summer vacation she went to Kundanpur. Anupama took some books for the children there, to the village. At the same time, together with him, he also planted saplings in schools.
She explains, “I first planted 30 saplings in a barren park in my locality. I used to water the plants every day and take care of them. But six months later, a goat grazing brought his goats to the park. In this way, the goats took all the plant variables and did not have a single plant left. But, I did not give up and planted saplings in the park again. ”
She often distributes saplings to people according to their needs in her locality. He said, “12 years ago, I planted 17 saplings in the street of my house, now only four of them are left and trees have been grown.” So far, they have planted a total of 15,230 trees in many places such as stadium, bus stand, police post, roadside, pond side, office, government and private schools, colleges, hospitals, people’s homes.
Anupama has planted plants such as Banyan, Peepal, Sylar, Neem, Surel, Arjun, Gulmohar, Mehndi, Evergreen, Chandni, Gudhal, Belpatra, Sitaphal, Pomegranate, Guava, Amla, Jamun and Kachnar at these places. Wherever she plants, she keeps on talking to the people concerned about the care of those plants. Therefore, they keep sending him pictures of flowers and fruits planted in trees. Of the plants planted by Anupama, more than 3600 trees are healthy so far. Now, fruits like sycamore, amla, berries, guava, sitaphal, and pomegranate have also started coming in many trees.
Anupama said that when she used to plant trees on the roads during the summer days, people considered her crazy. However, she did not pay attention to such things of the people. Today, on the roadside, they planted many shops in the shade of Neem and Gulmohar. The workers hang their clothes on the branches of those trees and there sit flocks of different birds. The shade of these trees not only gives relief to the passers-by, but the animals also sit comfortably under their shade. Seeing such scenes, Anupama says, “Many times people ask me why do you do all this? What do you benefit from? So I tell these scenes as my benefit. ”
Challenges of goal
Anupama says that planting trees and plants in public places is very difficult to take care of them. She says, “Many times I used to plant saplings and after a few days, I used to go there and see if the plants were not found there. As a solution to which I started making different posters. I started writing about the benefits from trees in those posters. ”
Wherever she planted saplings, she used to put these posters around them. Many local newspapers began writing about them, seeing these works of theirs. Since then, she started to be known as ‘Tree Woman’.
She treats trees like her children. They say that today we are cutting trees and taking air from AC. Not only humans but animals also take shelter in their shade. Also, thousands of birds make their nest on these trees. These trees are supported by many creatures like butterfly, wasp and bee.
Anupama says, “Neem can produce 165 types of medicines for humans and animals. There are more than 300 types of medicinal properties found in the drumstick tree. ” She says that a banyan has a lifespan of at least 500 years. How many birds will be the shelter of these trees, not knowing how many animals and passersby will feel relief in its shade, we cannot even guess this. Apart from pure air and clean environment, these trees also provide us plenty of oxygen. Therefore, it is very important to protect them.
Service is religion
In 2010, Anupama and her husband Kamal Sharma have registered for body donation in ‘Sawai Man Singh Medical College’, Jaipur. So that they can also serve the people posthumously. At the same time, this couple has also registered for eye donation in ‘Eye Bank’. Anupama has also donated blood 10 times so far.
She considers service to nature and humanity as her religion. He has donated thousands of books at places like Central Jail, Kishore Griha, Old Age Home. She says, “Planting a million trees is the biggest and ultimate goal of my life.“She does all these things at her own expense. They believe that it is necessary to grow trees and plants according to the environment.
Anupama has planted a total of 6,064 trees this year, including banyan trees. She treats Banyan and Peepal as her ancestors.
The Better India salutes his spirit. If you also want any information for planting trees near you, you can contact them at anupmatiwari91@gmail.com.
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