Fukuoka’s dream: Do nothing Natural Farm on the outskirts of Bangalore!

N R Shetty, one of the founders of Sahaja Samrudda (a grassroot organization working to convert farmers to organic farming, help them sell thru their outlet and also establish seed banks) lives his dream! In the outskirts of Bangalore, in nelamangala..A fantastic 1.25 acres farm called Nava Nandana, this is a heaven created with nothing but nature and efforts of Shetty and his wife.

It’s a ‘do- nothing” farm like we all hear and read, often quoting Masunobu Fukuoka, that is being practiced here with ease.
This land/grove is only rainfed. There is no bore well or electricity (for farming purpose!)..so no irrigation or watering plans..its all taken care of by the rains/nature. Even for their drinking and washing purposes, rain water is harvested! A 20000 litres capacity sump collects all the rain water and that is the only water source for their living! This is to serve them between rains which could at worst be 3-4 months!

This is more of horticulture farm, obviously.
Do-nothing-farming does involve a lot of initial work and patience. Of course they did water (using ingenious drip technics like placing earthen pots neck deep in soil next to the roots zone or by burying small pipes vertically and pour very little water thru them directly to the roots zone!) in the initial days. All this only for the first 2 years of planting and only in the 3 summer months. That was a full 6 years ago!

Now this is a green heaven (not a square inch of soil exposed to the sky – lots of perennial legumes aka nitrogen fixers), with so many fantastic trees, plants and more useful green manure usually called the weeds by the ‘educated’ and universitywalas! Most of the trees one gets to see here is planted..of course some by birds!
In all some 35 fruit varieties, some timber trees, lotsa shorter duration plants, fence tress, fodder ones like Glyrecedia, greens, creepers, vegetables, are all there. Amazing number of diverse tree species in 1.25 acres.
They also grow some pulses and grains like ragi. So only some items like rice, oils come from outside world.

There are varieties of small cute ideas implemented to enable various beneficial activities in the farm. Simple inverted coconut shells to attract and house wasps, intelligent mixing of plants like castor to attract the pests towards itself, casurina trees that act as wind breakers and are home to fungi etc. The outer periphery had various trees to act as wind breakers and a trench to trap rain water and prevent erosion.

The sapota we plucked and had from the trees were one of the sweetest I have had in my life. As they say the fruits from rainfed wud be the sweetest! How true!!
There was the tree (creeper) potato to satiate the exotic’s thirst!

Shetty cutely says “ if you provide shelter and food (for other organisms like in a fence crop etc) our shelter and food shall not be disturbed or touched”. How prophetic and true!
Simple philosophy is to let nature ‘be’ and he says its so easy and u can never go wrong.

By far, one of the best natural farms visited in all these years. The catch is the number of species and the green cover one sees here.

Way to go Shettyji! Fukuoka will be happy.

For fotos see here!

heading back

atlast, heading back to Chennai..Mom doing better and with lotsa stuff to catch up at Madras, inspite of the heat out there, heading back!

had some fantastic last minute catch up travel in karnataka..went to some amazing farms in Belgaum and Kolhapur belt. posts shall come in a few days..

for now, leaving Blore 2moro- with some heavy heart and sort of mixed feelings:-(
but that was a long time away from Madras, some 4 months and more..
will miss people, weather, friends, etc but ofcourse not the traffic.

some interesting links!

subsidising food for poor in a small town!
http://positive-news-india.blogspot.com/2011/05/positive-initiatives-tamilnadu.html

what you need to knwo about GMOs
http://foodintegritynow.org/2011/03/08/what-you-need-to-know-about-gmos/

organic mangoes! though not in approval of all that said esp that its expensive etc..
still worth a read..
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Tasty-healthy-but-pricey-Organic-mangoes-make-a-splash-in-Chennai/articleshow/8518725.cms

Pushpa Bhargava on Satya Sai baba!

fantastic piece..
amazing clarity..
i always rated this man Dr.Pushpa Bhargava very high esp seeing his views on GM and BT..now he goes even higher..

pick: Sai Baba's death was not a national tragedy. The national tragedy was his being given a state funeral, a state of official mourning being declared, and the country's political leaders — cutting across parties, including the Prime Minister and the Chairman of the NAC — spending precious time and resources to have his last darshan, relegating to the background the nation's constitutional commitment to a scientific temper.

http://www.hindu.com/op/2011/05/15/stories/2011051558501900.htm

As the dust after the death of Satya Sai Baba has largely settled, it is time to evaluate him, his work and its implications, objectively and unemotionally, for there is a good deal to be learnt from his life and death.

His rise to fame from an ordinary, even humble background, was based on (i ) his claim that he was the reincarnation of Shirdi Sai Baba ; (ii) his claim that he represented divinity, that is, God himself ; (iii) that, consequently, he had powers that no mortal man had ; (iv) that he could provide succour and mental peace to people who came to him with problems of various kinds ; and (v) that he engaged himself in charitable works like opening hospitals and providing potable water to villagers.

Let us examine his above claims and actions one by one. There is not a shred of evidence of rebirth; the very idea of rebirth goes against all of science. Every claimed case of rebirth that has been investigated has been shown to be fake.

As regards his being a reincarnation of God, the only proof he provided was that of performing miracles or miraculous acts. The fact is that he never performed a miracle. In fact, no miracle has ever been performed by any one. All miracles attributed to religious leaders are inventions of the clergy. An example would be that of Mother Teresa whom I met and who never claimed to have performed a miracle in her lifetime. But for her to be canonized after her death two miracles had to be — and were — invented and attributed to her. Every single act of Sai Baba that was a miracle in the public eye could be performed by ordinary magicians.

My colleague at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology at Hyderabad, Dr. M. W. Pandit, performed them publicly. So did the well-known rationalist, the late Premanand. Invite Dr. Narendra Nayak by sending an e.mail to and he will come and perform for you every miracle that Sai Baba ever claimed to have performed — be it producing a ring or a Japanese watch or sacred ash from nowhere, or his photograph shedding sacred ash.

As regards the miraculous cures he claimed to have performed, we never heard of his failures. A distant cousin of mine had her young son suffering from an incurable disease. Sai Baba who blessed him said he would be cured. When she went back to him after the child's death, Sai Baba told her that he felt it was best for the child to come to him and that is what he caused to happen; so there was no reason for worry.

The cures that may have been effected were never established to be directly on account of Sai Baba's 'divine' intervention. They were probably natural or psychosomatic, of which numerous examples are known. After all, what do neuropsychologists or psychiatrists do? That is why he never allowed rationalists like Professor Narasimhaiah, former Vice-Chancellor of Bangalore University, or Premanand, to come anywhere near him. It is believed that it were his men who actually once beat up Narasimhaiah.

The late Dr. Y. Nayudamma, the former Director-General of CSIR, who died in an Air India crash near Canada years ago, told me of his visit to Sai Baba with a once ardent follower, Dr. S. Bhagavantam, a former Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister. Nayudamma stood in front of Sai Baba with folded hands and most respectfully, requested him to produce a blade of grass between his palms. That would have been a miracle. But, instead, Nayudamma had to leave.

As regards his acts of charity, there are innumerable people in the country who engage in such acts to avoid undue attention focussed on their ill-gotten wealth. Accounting of his enormous wealth has never been transparent.

Sai Baba's unusual accomplishment was to recruit such a large number of the rich and the powerful, politicians and bureaucrats, law-makers, law-keepers, and law dispensers, amongst his followers. Perhaps this is more of a reflection on his followers than him!

Sai Baba's death was not a national tragedy. The national tragedy was his being given a state funeral, a state of official mourning being declared, and the country's political leaders — cutting across parties, including the Prime Minister and the Chairman of the NAC — spending precious time and resources to have his last darshan, relegating to the background the nation's constitutional commitment to a scientific temper.

(The writer is a former Vice-Chairman, National Knowledge Commission, former member, National Security Advisory Board and former founder and Director, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad. His email is: bhargava.pm @gmail.com)

Mk caught Kanimozhi bold A Raja!

That was the best I heard since morning:-)
Man, DMK has been thulped and that’s a great statement by the TN people..
It’s a good thing to happen not because a deserving or good candidate takes over, but a mindless and limitless corruption has been put on hold..
More importantly many thought that the votes will be bought..what, with the amount of money at stake from one scam one could even buy votes all over India! So there is a relief there..
TN folks didn’t sell themselves for votes..its a great relief indeed..
Else the days ahead would have been even worse..
Another front the domination of one family, oomph..that was nauseating..every movie was produced by one or other ward of MK family..
Every other satellite channels is owned by one of the family..every other hotel, furniture shop, magazine, newspaper, cable, what ever..
That’s mindboggling..
Hope some sanity sets in out there..
But what off all the 1000s of crores that has been stashed? That will never come out except in the form of 1000 per vote, hmm..so a contradiction there, eh?
Personally, looking at organic and GM status MK wud have listened to activists am sure..hope JJ party hears and settles in our favour..

As for other states- for the 1st time I wanted a communist govt to win..In kerala, esp with Achutanandan going all out for organic and against endosulfan, I wud have even gone to campaign for him..His agri minister was darling of an organic admirer..but still for a see-saw state that Kerala is always, this close fight (its not over yet..let the fat lady sing) is a great statement – that people are indeed giving a nod for their decent performance..one of the rare govts that haven’t been accused of any major scam..so they deserved to come back..

WB- is a joke..they like TN will have devil and deep sea here after I guess..this lady who has never proved an iota in any of her stints is there winning big time..is it just an anti commie mood that helped her..she has promised lots out there..like making Cal in to London, some part as Switzerland, blab la..but that’s a sweep..am happy Reds have been given a lashing but what has come instead? Poor bangla babus..go reap what u sow..

Pondichery: its really nice that a non-corrupt and simple man like Rangaswamy could win! he was thrown out of congress (yeah, he has such an in-corruptible image that he is unfit;-)) and i was wishing he get there..though he had to tie up with ADMK, its heartening that he won! He is some one who leads so simple life..goes around in cycle or bike..mingles with people casually..lives in a small house (hut?)..

Assam is regulation and I guess another decent performance and lack of any alternative has been the reason..

On the whole nothing that will change the national scene though it’s a strong statement esp in TN about corruption..and there is no sense of cong learning though..

Big winner ofcourse is the Election commission..after TN Seshan, for the 1st time it was felt big time..one shud ponder about this: how come the same admin babudom works so efficient under the Ec where as under the politicos it freaks out.

Mango mania..

Regulars here know of the 'eat mangoes till u drop down' contest that I throw..
And the delicious and fantastic range of organic mangoes that we get at restore..
Its from this man..

Last week due to some heavy unseasonal wind, Bharathi has lost tons and tons because they have all been dropped off the tree premature. Sad sad:-(

He cutely calls and asks me to inform the orphanages I know to come and pick up the mangoes for free..how organic, eh? When I ask him why cant he sell to some pickles manufacturer or some biggie who ma use it for long term..he says ‘ they wud offer pittance..instead of giving it for nothing to those rich, lemme give this free to some poor and deserving lot..”
So ladies and Gmen! Pl tell me if u have some orphanage that wud need some raw mangoes to pickle or what ever..but they will have to go and pick up themselves..

But don’t forget..the season isn’t lost..mango mania with fantastic organic mangoes will rule restore for the next few weeks..and once am back in madras will have this drop challenge too!

PS: due to some problem with the blogger server, there was a delay in featuring this here.

MMS and Osama

what would our honorable Pm, our dear MMS, be thinking post Osama?
what else..
che shud have watched atleast one India Pak cricket match with him..

hmm..now what can he do? poor thing..
if he had any sense he shud hurry up and atleast see an IPL with MK or KM or AR..

Osama bin laden?

Obama Sin laden?

AI. pilots, politicians and mediocrity

So they are at it again..pilots on strike, AI and politicos to mediocrity..

Air India, like most Govt run establishments shud be one of the worst run. Add to that the corrupt-to-the-boot politicians who always had their hands on it all through..plus the callous nature of the public sector employees and their never-want-to-work-but-increase-my-pay attitude..
U got the worst ever concoction for the horribly run firm.

Firstly there is no professionalism nor pride in the way AI was ever run..and they have been having these always - disparity, pay problems, union problems..
Remember an old joke ? < an old (that’s a redundant word in AI/IA flights) hostess comes near u and asks " coffee, tea or me” and anything that u opt for falls on your lap>

There was just no improvement from those monopoly days of theirs..
Bunch of airlines and the resultant competition didn’t do anything to improve them..
But that’s a digression..

This strike is for an issue that’s hanging for last 4 years we are told! So as suffering public what wud u think? The striking pilots are at fault right? But for a 4 year old problem what else wud they do??

And as some pilot asked “ would u public have cared to look at our problems if we didn’t strike? Would all this dirt of how bad AI is run have come to forefront if we had not struck work?”

Hmm, point..but I don’t buy that spiel of his- that their strike is bringing forth the mismanagement issue..NO! it was always there and the striking pilots just don’t care about how bad their organization is run, if their salary ask is met with.

So we have a bunch of ‘don’t care’ guys on all sides of the problem.
Hey, did u nod?? So did u realise what u read in that previous sentence? That ‘don’t care’ guys include us all- the passengers and public- whose money is being looted, as always..

The Govt esp under this wonder man who just doesn’t care for anything other than some stupid world bank liked stats and numbers, wouldn’t just bother about the airlines or pilot or image or passengers..or even the fact that all the ‘holy than thou’ private airlines are fleecing the passengers.

So a perfect Indian soup!

Now as many think, is this a ploy to close down AI or sell it to private party?
Ha haa..

You should be nuts to think so..

Just for an argument if we assume the politicos do have such a plan? What will they do later?
How will they, their dog and maids travel free of cost at any time to any where?

How will Praful patels daughter cancel a commercial flight and take it to attend an IPL match?
How will sharad pawars kith fly all the cheer leaders privately for a private party??

So don’t kid yourself..
The govt, even if there are dumbos in it, will not dare to give away their rights..even if MMS is always seeing the other way for every problem and scandal, wouldn’t dare to ditch this..
They need a National airlines- not for national pride or purpose,
But for their selfish needs and deeds.. for free and filth..
dear readers..
So don’t worry about that last aspect..these politicos wudnt let AI go..
Now, set that thought aside and watch this episode..
Till another inefficiency or mediocrity or scandal hits the roof, that is..

Osama Bin laden dead! or is it?

so one of the most dreaded terrorist in world has been killed by the creator themselves..
by the CIA that is..

and poor Pakistan, as we all know they are so short sighted, couldnt see Osama walk around 1.5 hours from their capital.

Good..but now the fun starts..
who is better?
- Americans who thought Paks were their ally?
- terrorists who, rightly, thought they were ruling pakistan and so nothing can happen to osama or who ever had a bomb?
- ISI who were throwing mud in to all eyes?

and then to see who defends whom and who pulls down whom..
for eg Pervez is already saying its a shame US carried out an operation in their land!! ha ha..who? Pervez!!

already lotsa noises all round about how this could have been carried out- with or without pak army or ISI!!

but the most funny noise was being made about no phone connection or internet in Osama's Bungalow! hey, why does he need it when he can just walk in to that pak Army institute and make all calls and browsing with high security- i mean firewalls and all!

and as always with US- conspiracy theories are on already!
(remember they have fantastic conspiracy theories on moon landing to 9/11 to everything!)