Jean Giono’s 1953 story, ‘The Man Who Planted Trees’ tells the tale of a shepherd named Elzeard Bouffier, who planted trees all along an Alpine Valley to recreate a desolate forest. Whether Bouffier ever existed in reality or not, we may never know. But here in the Kasargod district of Kerala, there lives a man in flesh and blood who actually did this – a man who bought 32 acres of barren land and planted a forest there – all by himself.

   Abdul Kareem, 66, of Parappa, Kasargod, Kerala had a liking to ‘Kavu’, the sacred forests of Kerala, right from his childhood. He would frequently visit his wife’s house in Puliyankulam village and it was during such visits that he noticed the barren hillside land nearby. In 1977, as if on an impulse, he bought five acres of the land for Rs 3750.

   The people nearby and even his family were not able to comprehend his action, and he became a....