There are so many pictures to choose from. Perhaps one of those shots from nature documentaries, zooming in close to insects swarming over fallen leaves. Or maybe those weather forecast graphics featuring colorful swirls of hot and cold air. These images all portray the idea of a natural circle. Maybe even tempestuous. Ideas of sprouting and lending, then returning it all back to the soil, to the climate and to the course of human history. It is an idea the whole planet shares, but that comes back to haunt us on those days when the circle is prematurely interrupted.
A little girl in the village of Piplantri.
Shyam Sunder Paliwal’s daughter left Piplantri and this life when she was only seventeen. Her father wanted to commemorate her name, Kiran, and so planted a tree on the edge of the village. Today there are hundreds of thousands of trees on Shyam Sunder’s land. 111 seeds are planted for each girl whose family guarantees that she’ll get an education and won’t marry until adulthood. These seeds will sprout in the soil of Rajasthan and grow into the first tree named after a child, the only tree called Kiran.