One promise, 6.5 lakh trees: Sayaji Shinde’s green tribute to his mother

For most people, grief slowly fades into memory. For Marathi actor Sayaji Shinde, it took root in Maharashtra’s soil and grew into forests. Years ago, as his mother took her last breath, Shinde stood beside her and made a promise. He vowed to plant 5,000 native trees in her memory.

But promises made from the heart grew beyond imagination.

What began with a few saplings became Sahyadri Devrai, one of Maharashtra’s largest native tree movements. Today, more than 6.5 lakh indigenous trees stand tall across over 29 locations in the state because one son refused to forget his mother.

A people’s movement, not just plantations

Shinde chose trees connected to the land and its people — banyan, peepal, tamarind and other native species that once shaped the region’s natural landscape, instead of ornamental plants.Planting was the easy part. Keeping them alive was harder. Realising survival could not depend on one person, he turned the mission into a community effort. Villagers joined in, volunteers travelled long distances to help, and local communities began watering saplings and protecting them like family members.

Living memory takes root

Over time, dry patches of land changed colour. Birds returned to places they had abandoned. Shade returned to roads and villages. Small ecosystems came back to life.

And somewhere during the journey, Shinde began seeing his mother in the trees — in the flowers they bloomed, the fruits they offered, the shade they gave to strangers without asking for anything in return.

For him, a tree became the closest expression of a mother’s love: silent, giving and endless.

Today, those 6.5 lakh trees are more than a green mission. They are living memories rooted across Maharashtra. Because this was never only about planting trees. It was about a son keeping his word.