A Road Accident Changed Her Life; 91-Year-Old Devaki Amma Changed a Landscape

For much of her life, Devaki Amma spent her days working in the paddy fields of Muthukulam, a coastal village in Kerala’s Alappuzha district. From there, she planted a single sapling, which turned into a 3000-tree forest. Want to know more about her inspiring journey? Read on!

An Inspiring Story Of A 91-Year-Old Devaki Amma

Devaki Amma is an inspiration to many, as farming was all she had ever known. But life had other plans, as a serious car accident at the age of 46 changed everything. The injuries left her unable to work in the fields for nearly three years, forcing her to remain at home.

Talking to The Hindu, she revealed that, just to pass the time during recovery, she planted a single sapling on the sandy patch of land beside her house. Then another, and what began as a common way to stay occupied eventually turned into a lifelong mission. With support from her husband, retired headmaster Gopalakrishna Pillai, and later her children, Devaki Amma kept on planting trees year after year. Friends and relatives supplied seeds and saplings, while her daughter Thankamani, now an environmental engineering academic, grew up and helped maintain the growing green space.

Over the next four decades, the once-barren coastal land evolved into Thapovanam, a five-acre forest that now preserves more than 3,000 trees, shrubs, creepers and medicinal plants. Remarkably, Alappuzha is Kerala’s only district with no natural forest cover, rendering her achievement even more remarkable.

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Devaki Amma Earned Padma Shri For Her Remarkable Work

Built entirely through organic methods, Thapovanam is home to birds, butterflies and other wildlife, while two ponds within the forest help replenish groundwater and prevent seawater entry into the coastal soil. In an interview with The Better India, Devaki Amma stated that she relied on years of research and experimentation, adjusting her techniques to modify monsoon patterns without any formal training or organisational support.

Today, the 91-year-old is fondly known as ‘Vanamuthassi’ (Grandmother of Forests). Her work has received several honours over the years, such as the Indira Priyadarshini Vrikshamitra Award, Nari Shakti Puraskar, and most lately, the Padma Shri in the Unsung Heroes category.

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Thapovanam now draws in students, researchers and environmental activists, while Devaki Amma still manages to care for her plants every day, urging everyone to plant at least one tree. Her journey shows how one small act, carried out with patience and determination, can grow into a lasting environmental legacy.

It surely is an inspiring journey.

Cover Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons