Tulsi Gowda never went to school, never learned to read or write, and spent decades working in a government nursery as a daily-wage labourer. Yet she became known as the “Encyclopedia of the Forest”, carrying generations of ecological knowledge in her memory and helping nurture thousands of saplings. Her story is not simply about planting trees. It is about learning deeply, serving quietly, and building a legacy that can outlive the person who created it.