Beware – Gowda gale!

Beware guys..dont ever stand in groups of twos or threes esp on road sides and that too in north India..This nastiest ever politrixian produced in India and worser than Weepy singh, Gowda gale is on a rampage..
He is on a major tour talking to anyone for alliance..so if any of u are out there standing and talking outside some tea shops and are invited for talks – don’t blame me for not warning you.
If u have any friends in the police, please warn them too..bcos he has been talking to all those ASP, BSP, CSP and its just a matter of time before he initiates talks with DSPs.. he might even think it’s a jackpot for he will have them represented all over India..jackpot, eh?
Who ever will have the guts to introduce age for retirement in politix or atleast introduce a meter to indicate senility?

What a race?

A very intelligent race that we are, we very pompously damage the environment so much that nature doesn’t wait these days..it just gets back at us..
Lo..we just don’t get the ‘signs’ of our designs..and go on rightfully destroying more and destructing plenty, in the process rampantly changing the climate and more..
One latest demonstration is the catastrophe caused by the Kosi floods in Bihar..a river woke up one morning and just decided to change its path! The result? Lakhs displaced, affected and rendered homeless..pathetic signs those..(one might say its a breach..then we do have too many other signs like the Greenland glacier cracks)
And we will all merrily forget the real cause and fight over some piddly freebies thrown by the govt of the day!
The pun in the title is intended..we are ofcourse racing to the end..
Good luck fellas..

Makkithitta, sakkaleshpura!

I mentioned a few weeks back about the trip to Sakleshpura. It was to a home stay called Makkithitta some 15 KMs after s’pura and what a stay it was..
This house was perched on top of a hill and the setting was fantastic like this:
Hills on all sides and a small valley overlooking the house on the south! What a site it was and so much of agri activity happening and regular drizzles added to the incredible stay.
The family that runs it intelligently pushed us to go and play football in the slurry of a field..they really egged us and said the previous day the prev party did that and they all enjoyed..yada yada yada..then we all reluctantly entered in to that field of 1 feet marshy clay and water and played..slowly with time we got engrossed and freaked out, got back tired and dirty and the rest of the evening was regular scene, ofcourse after clean up..
But I mentioned intelligent owners right? That we discovered the next day! The field that we played had been (trans)planted with paddy and the new party were playing in the adjacent one..so actually all the fun apart, we all were asked to play to plough the fields in a way:-)
It’s a great place. Their food was out of the world and their hospitality is something unbelievable! A great place for a break.

Its another matter the telecom dealers' fraternity of Blore (one time competitors and very special friends of mine) went and so needless to state the fun and laugh involved..lotsa old funny episodes in our business heydays, dealers' pranks, how we used to pull the MNC's apart esp during product launches,each other's foolish deeds in initial days, etc wud all flow thru the day.

pinch pinch..

You guys shud know this!
The famous Ananthu of Navadarshanam by sheer luck or coincidence or destiny or what ever tripped and stepped in to this Blog. really! pinch..pinch..see his comment here!
Iam elated and feel honored too!
Though I did reply there at the comments space, I donot want any of you to miss the fact that ananthu was here;-)
He is a man I wanted to visit (in that list of my must meet interesting people, you are all aware).
For the uninitiated, Ananthu is a stalwart known so well and highly regarded in the alternate India/ world. He is an amazing character who founded Navadarshanam and ,as I hear so often, a wonderful individual.
IIT output, USA project, illusion on life/style, inquiry, gandhian life style, go organic, respect ecology, life simply, blah blah... we all know that path right? heard that many times recently..there are many that travel this path, but Ananthu also made heavy impacts and has achieved great feats! Pl go visit Navdarashanam - the place itself and the site too and be privileged.
I have been thrilled a few times when some strangers when told my name ask- ananthu of navadarshanam? and I wud be ROFL..but that sheer namesake coincidence brought such cheer today:-)

note 1: Its a pity and a great loss to the 'organic' world that his wife Jyoti passed away this year. That leaves my list of ' must be met people' one less. While Iam grieved at the loss to humanity, its indeed an honor that Ananthu had to comment on this blog in her name! I sure am privileged.
note 2: I shall be visiting (& staying) at Navadarshanam soon. Hence do not want to write more now, let it rather be with 1st hand experience.
note 3: Similar sounding name, early retirement, respecting the environment - the similarity ends there! I know and so please donot think Iam carried away beyond that:-)

NOW - restore bazar at Adyar!

After our now-regular-well known saturday bazar at Besantnagar, restore launches its bazaar in Adyar area!

reStore's Organic bazaar every Tuesday.

Our first bazaar at the new centre will be held this Tuesday Aug. 19th from 5 to 8 pm at
No. 27/ 10, 2nd Main Rd., (Opp. Dr. A G Ramesh, Eye Surgeon) Kasturba Nagar, Adyar Chennai 600020.
The bazaars, as you may be aware, are volunteer-run, facilitating a market for small farmers and producers.

• Farm-fresh Organic vegetables
• Groceries: Rices, Pulses, Nuts, Ragi, Bajra, Jowar, Thinai, Samai, Atta, Cold-pressed Oils, Powdered Jaggery.
• Healthful snacks!

Natural soaps
No synthetic inputs or chemicals were used in the production or processing of these groceries. Please bring shopping bags as we wish to avoid plastic packaging. Return your oil bottles and get Rs. 5 credit.
For more information please visit: http://restore.org.in
Join us for this lively community event. We are looking for volunteers who can help during the week and on the bazaar evening. Contact us if you can help!
Contact reStore:Email: restore_AT_restore_DOT_org_DOT_in

Those of you not in Madras, kindly fwd this to those in whose health you have concern!

Masanobu Fukuoka RIP

The most popular farmer- philosopher and the father of organic/ natural farming passed away last Saturday. He was 95 years old when he died at his now-famous Ehime Prefecture at Iyo.
Thats a very sad death for the farmers around the world, but lets cherish his findings and advises and hope the world walks in to a better era. If only his way of ' no human intervention' in farming were to be followed world over, it wud be a far better place to live.
His 'One Straw revolution' has influenced thousands around the globe (including yours truly) and his natural farming methods are a folklore for all farmers, where ever they are. He was active till very recently, when he visited India a few years back, has won many awards including from Govt of India!
I always use to wonder how some one in some corner comes out with a grand idea and it spreads all over the world. His is one such amazing achievement, right up there. To start in some small farm in a south japan island and to be celebrated world wide is really mindboggling.
Thanks Fukuoka san! for all that you have contributed to the whole farming world!! RIP!! !

Howzzat?

some knife, eh? fully hand made by yours truly! yeah, under the great teachership of Lowel!

remember my solitude workshop? There was the forge too there and this maverick called Lowel was the brain behind that. He is an young fella, school drop out, from Boston, US who is an all in all azhaguraja! a sooper drummer, fantastic farmer, genial cook and above all a prodigal mettalurgist (who cares if that word doesn't exist!). ok, I forget to mention here that he is a great company, but thats ok..theres more..the way he has totally acclimatised to Indian way of life and the ease and no-fuss style of his amazes me no ends. he is one hell of a character!

So some of us from the workshop added this forge thingy also to our schedule and so hand made a knife with the guidance of Lowel. In the process learning more about metal, how iron behaves and more..what could not have been bestowed on us in prolly 4 year course of metallurgy he imparts with such ease.

so now we cut veggies with this in our house:-) a knife made by meself..

I never thought I would ever say ' oh! that Knife? I made it myself''

so here aim ladies and gentleman! pan your eyes up again and see that photo to believe it!

JANA GANA MANA in China!

yeah, our National Anthem in an Olympics after a loooong time (after 1980!) and first ever Gold for an individual event!
am actually shamed as stats like this reel off! >1billion and now is the first ever indiv gold:-(
But sure, Bindra & co needs all applause, media lights , that site in some (or every) city outskirt..
btw whatever happened to that military taking up the 'operation gold' for olympics some years back? How wish that really materialised and we hand atleast a handful gold..

Sadhana Forest

We visited various farms at Auroville during this workshop at Solitude, and of all those interesting places Sadhana stands out.
Infact almost all the organic farms that I have visited in the last years have been unique and amazing in their own style, but one point common is that all of them have some fruits (or results) that are being enjoyed by themselves or the community. They may all have a great vision and might have the ecology in top of their mind. They might practice very enviro friendly methods, but at the end of the day they all are producing some thing for their intake (like rice, millets, veggies, fruits etc). Here at sadhana the main objective is reforestation! They might have the additional activities of building a vegan community, improving the water table of the locale, being a big hub for alternate energy and construction trials but their reforestation stands out. That is purely a very altruistic activity, doing something just to rebuild the lost Tropical Dry Evergreen forest of that area.
Reforesting 70 acres is no joke! A project that only Governments can nurture and here the Israeli couple of Aviram and Yorit are doing that. Their consummate technics in the various areas like compost toilet, vegetable beds, soil enhancement, water conservation, solar energy outfits (even that tandem cycling to charge batteries), nursery etc is mindboggling! Their 7 year old daughter, Osher ,is not only cute but really nature savvy and is the best guide one could get for a tour of Sadhana! Osher does not go to the school like the other kids, but is being ‘educated’ the best and natural way possible at Sadhana itself- a rare education that!
All this is done by volunteers (short and long term) across the globe. The striking fact is that there are more foreigners than IndiansL. I wish, like Yorit, that there shud be more Indians as volunteers here, but hmm…

Namma Bengalooru!

just came to Blore on a v short trip..phew..cool clime here!
am jealous really..
its so pleasant and fantastic, I was dripping of J! till I went out, that is, and reality caught up!
am sure i cant last 3 more days of this traffic jhunjut..
I feel really sorry for Blorites..
I say this fully aware that Madras traffic is following Blore way fast, still..

btw am off to sakleshpura for 2 days with my old telecom folks here..just to check out the place, clime etc for a trek later after monsoon:-0
so off I go..gimme a few more days b4 I complete the auroville experiences..