How This Woman From Kerala Turned Her Backyard into a Forest: One Tree  at a Time

By Krystelle Dsouza 30 May 2025

The start of Kollakkayil Devaki Amma’s journey of planting trees was serendipitous.

Recalling the story of the first-ever sapling she had planted four decades ago, she thinks back to the accident she had in 1980.

Her leg was badly injured in the accident, and she was advised to avoid walking for a couple of years.

While the men of the family were engaged in corporate jobs, the women predominantly handled the paddy cultivation.

Devaki Amma, too, had been cultivating paddy post marriage along with her mother-in-law. Following the accident, she had to discontinue it.

Three years after the accident, she planted one sapling in the backyard of her home.

One sapling led to another, and before she knew it, she had created a lush five acre green forest in her private property in Onattukara region in Alappuzha district of Kerala.

Her husband, Gopalakrishna Pillai, a teacher by profession, supported her love for trees.

From the time his wife started her mission till the day he died, he brought her different varieties of seeds every day.

Located close to the beautiful backwaters of God’s Own Country, Devaki Amma’s house is spacious, abundantly supplied with natural water and climatic conditions conducive to plant growth.

With a couple of private ponds, a wetland and animals like cows, buffalos and oxen, Devaki Amma has been single-handedly nurturing her forest for years.

The land sees organic techniques being championed. With teak, mahogany, tamarind, mango, bamboo, pine, shrubs, creepers, medicinal and exotic plants, the forest is thriving.

“Instead of restricting the birds and animals by putting nets, I have made water and nest provisions for them. As a result, you can see peacocks, monkeys and exotic birds like Amur Falcon, Bluethroat, Black Winged Stilt, and Emerald Dove in the forest,” the 91-year-old tells The Better India.

In 2019, she was awarded the Nari Shakti Puruskar for her enormous contribution to the environment.