About 10 years ago, at the age of 49, she did her first deep-sea scuba diving; and this work that Uma Mani started as a hobby has now become her biggest responsibility and goal. She has also received the title of ‘Earth Champion of the Month’ from Sony BBC Earth.
In her childhood, she did not know about corals, but she still made beautiful paintings of flowers and leaves. Then she was told that this was a waste of paper and time; girls should focus on studies and household chores!
Thus, her dream of becoming an artist remained a dream and after completing her studies from Madras University, Uma Mani got married. In 2004, she moved to Maldives with her doctor husband; and became an ideal housewife and handled all the responsibilities of the family very well.
Over the years, taking care of the family, the artist in her had gotten lost; but when she turned 40, Uma decided to take up painting again.
Now she started putting her imagination on paper through colours and started drawing pictures of various flowers, plants, rivers and scenes.
Once she saw a documentary film on coral reefs and was impressed by the beauty of corals and started painting them. Whoever saw her paintings praised her skill.
One day, Uma suddenly realised that she should actually see the beautiful coral reefs she creates.
This is how he decided to go scuba diving in the sea for the first time.
Seeing the unique life inside the sea gave him happiness and peace; but at the same time the pollution and dirt spread in the water made him worried. From here he started a campaign to save coral reefs and make people aware about marine pollution.
Impressed by Uma’s work, filmmaker Priya Thuvassery made a documentary film on her titled ‘Coral Woman’ in 2019, which also received several awards.
Seeing Uma Mani’s journey in this film and her struggle for environmental conservation, people paid attention and realized the importance of marine life.
Today Uma is going to schools, colleges and different institutions through her paintings and making people aware about this. She believes, ‘Art has the power to bring about change!’
She who was an ordinary housewife till about 10 years ago, is today known as the Coral Woman of India; and teaches a lot to the world.
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2024-07-12 05:19:55