In Santiniketan, where the red earth glows beneath century-old shade, and Rabindranath Tagore's vision of learning under trees still lingers, 29-year-old Somnath Ghosh is nurturing something both practical and poetic — a home for trees that people plant and then forget.

His Brikkho Foundation calls itself India's first "Orphanage Home for Trees." The phrase sounds metaphorical until Ghosh explains what it means.

A tree, he says, becomes orphaned in two ways: when it is cut without thought, and when it is planted ceremonially, only to be abandoned once the photographs are taken.

For Ghosh, every tree deserves more than a plantation drive. It deserves a guardian.

"If society has homes for orphaned children," he asks, "why can it not have a system of guardianship for neglected trees?"

For him, Brikkho is that family — one that plants, nurtures, monitors and protects. The goal is not simply to increase the number of trees, but to build lasting relationships between people and nature.

A dream that grew from the forest

That relationship did not begin with Brikkho.

It began years earlier, with a difficult choice.

Ghosh had painstakingly built a multimedia studio, assembling cameras, drones and editing systems piece by piece. It represented years of hard work and financial struggle.

But another calling kept growing louder.

"If I do not act right now, there is absolutely no guarantee I will be able to do it in the future," he recalls.

His love for plants and animals had taken root in childhood. Later, while working on an assignment with the Burdwan Forest Department, that quiet affection became something far more urgent.

Living inside the forest changed him.

He also noticed something else.

Many people genuinely wanted to plant trees, but very few knew how to ensure those saplings survived. The enthusiasm was there. The support system was not.

That gap would eventually become Brikkho Foundation.

A turning point during the pandemic

Like many life-changing journeys, his gathered momentum during the COVID-19 lockdown.

In Santiniketan, Ghosh and a group of volunteers formed Helping Hands.

For 150 consecutive days, they fed stray dogs left hungry after tea stalls and eateries shut down. They delivered medicines to elderly residents, spread awareness about masks, and later carried relief materials to the Sundarbans after Cyclone Amphan.

The work extended far beyond environmental conservation.

"The emotional and spiritual nourishment I received during that period reshaped who I am," he says. "It amplified my desire to dedicate myself completely to this cause."

That experience strengthened his belief that caring for nature could never be separated from caring for people.

Planting is only the beginning

When Brikkho Foundation was formally established, Ghosh wanted to solve a problem that had long bothered him.

Too often, tree plantation ended the moment a sapling entered the ground.

For him, that was where the real work should begin.

Today, Brikkho's adoption model brings together the digital and physical worlds.

People can adopt a native tree through Brikkho Foundation for a one-time contribution of Rs 600. 

People can adopt native tree species online, while the........

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