Seed Saver par excellence! Seed wizard?

The beauty of Himalayas is yet to sink and even before that the soft spoken smiling Vijay Jardhari and his works inundates me.
Firstly the nature, its beauty and my travails..
Oh man! A 2 hour bus ride from Rishikesh to this upper Nagini (enroute to uttar kashi in the Tehri part of shivalik Himalayas)..was such a scenic one! If it was so beautiful now at this part of the year - off season for farming..what a sight it shud be after rains or in the peak season or around harvest..one can imagine..this is all the Tehri Garhwal region of the Uttarkhand.
It’s a photographers delight..(be warned..i aint one..and i make do with my mobile only!)
I am dumped at a wrong stop by the bus inspite of me reminding that conductor so many times:-( and after all these years of travel, I haven’t learnt to travel light..next bus? forget it..one wud rather walk if its less than 5 kms..so I had to lug another 1 km with the baggage on my back..
But there - all that pain is so easily diverted by the hero standing, welcoming smiling!
He is a real hero..what then? To be a part of Chipko movement in the 70s (in his prime youth then!) Vijay Jardhari went on to accomplish so much in life and still stay so rooted and simple and never exaggerate one word..infact he says it so matter of factly as though it was just another task like eating, sleeping..
After Chipko movement won- yes the Govt had to ban any tree cutting above 1000 meters. (jardhari village is huge collection of some 17 hamlets across a vast area at some 1500 meters!)
VJ with some of his chipko friends in the village fights the mining lobby in 1984-87 and wins again. Stops mining in the Hemvalghati and dhoongahati regions!
So after two successive campaigns, for lack of anything else, he starts to work in his farm. Its then that the hybrid seeds and fertilizers land up in his village and he tries them..and the 1st year he is happy with the output too! There was an yield increase in the 1st year but he is a quick learner..immediately sees that the soil is decreasing the 2nd year itself and find out that this is a high intensive farming and the input cost can only go up.also in the 3rd year he finds that when he saved that seed and grew he just got so low output that it could only be his seed quantity.
So he stops chemical farming immediately..its then that he starts talking to his father and some elders in the village and they admonish the new hybrid seeds and state that there were so many varieties of paddy and others, where as now slowly its all the same hybrid rice.
Its then he starts going around in this whole region chasing and collecting traditional seeds.
This pioneer seed saver and one of its only kind in India has managed to save some 600 varieties, single handedly, till date! Seed saving king, eh?
His deeds and unique seed saving movement is a big hit by then in this region called the Beej Bachao Andolan (seed savers movement!). BBA does so much to reclaim the himalaya’s diversity.

Bara Naja!
It is then he comes out with the old tradition in the Himalayas- Bara naja (some where I have seen this being mentioned as bara anaaj too)..meaning 12 grains/seeds! There are 12 different seeds grown- few grains, some dals, some fibres, some millets, oil seeds, amaranth, buck wheat,a traditional variety of soya called bhaat, even bhang- not the nashaa variety he said:-)
Any 12 of these around 20 seeds are taken..infact this also means there is a nice crop rotation..after these 12 naja are grown, fallow follows and then its rice..then 12 naja follows and wheat or other rabi crop like masoor, barley are grown! He says ragi (finger millet) is the king of this! Such wide bio diversity also means only one or two will effectively fall(fail) for pest or disease. In case of severe rains or flood or drought the ones those are resistant to these vagaries survive..so they dont go without harvest, ever!

His display of seeds is such a visual treat..he wud display and talk about the various varieties without any drama or ‘I-have-accomplished’ feeling but with a small smile that conveys the pride! One gets to see so many varieties of paddy, 15 types of Rajma alone, hosts of dals. The highlight is the navrang dal which is such a colorful sight! So many colours of dal which is also so healthy and local!. The same crop gives out dals of 9 different colours!
This Bara Naja is one helluva discovery and has revamped the agriculture in this part and has done so much good for the community..in the initial days people used to be shy in doing this and wud hide these grains when guests came home..today it’s a matter of pride!

This didn’t come so easily..the modern agri cartel in garb of science, university, scientist and what not pushed for mono crop..in these parts they pushed for Soya – cash. Oil and protein crop! As is the trick these days these soya seeds came free with free fertilizer kits..
So Beej Bachao Andolan had to jump in again to the rescue of farming and farmers.. BBA campaigned and fought hard..they asked the govt who will process the soya bean in to oil or milk? And for whom was the rich protein and cash they were drumming about..the very fact that these were obviously meant for big industries, MNCs and that the farmers after selling these to the rich had to go to the market to buy cheap poor quality ones. So BBA’s save our seed campaign caught up and farmers and farming was saved..old traditional seeds and practices returning..including this Bara anaj!

He not only changed the mindset of people in Tehri Garhwal area but also of the Govt. Today the Uttar Khand state agri dept talks and professes about his bara naaja (12 grain/seeds) system, that he is a very famous name. even more is the fact that this system is being fully spread and practiced all over!
He is also the reason for a cordial relationship with the forest authorities and so there is such a nice give and take happening unlike most other places where each treats the other as sworn enemies..

Its such a fortunate thing for the society and me ofcourse that I could meet him. Thanks to KSY I met him 1st then and now could follow up and it was such an experience..
To stay in his house and keep eating and when not eating gobbling up the scenic beauty allround – I sure am lucky!

What a person and what a feat! Such gems are the hopes for the future.
Thanks VJ!

see here for Photos!

Occupy Wall Street!

heard of OWS? see here!
Thats an amazing development where the common man & woman are fighting the might in non-violent and creative ways..
bringing to light the domination by the corporates and rich (rightly called the 1%) on the rest of us (99%)..they set out demonstrating in New york against the wall street- symbolically and significantly against the financial giants.
ok not giants but suckers..who suck our taxes and monies and pretend to be financial giants and wizards where as they have been living on doles and bails outs and convenient, illogical tax cuts..and their chiefs live on vulgar amounts of bonuses and incentives - prolly for screwing up the economy and our lives..
NO! this aint communism! its the reality..
one cannot sweep this as the struggle of jobless and poor..for once the reality is surfacing..
so watch out, read carefully, try and understand..dont see it superficially..scratch the surface, please..

For one I really admire the way the Americans (one cud say westerners!)protest..there is so much fun and innovation out there..
see how they have made that whole area look..
non violent but fun and creative..
cool, eh?

One also knows that almost all ills (evils?) emanate from the US of A! and here iam happy such antidote too comes from there..isn't it wonderful that there is space for such things too out there?

see those slogans "we are the 99%" and "1% vs 99%" are really catching up fast..
for once i say 'come on US! way to go!'

what I love the most is that now it is slowly moving across arenas..where it was concentrating on US centric ills like big bonuses, huge bail outs and the typical capitalist problems, now they are talking of the ills of all their huge corporates..
so now over to food, agriculture, agri chemicals and all..

see this: http://motherjones.com/environment/2011/10/food-industry-monopoly-occupy-wall-street
(thx Devi!)
Just do not miss reading this in full, atleast twice! its an amazing piece..
talks about all ills of the corporate giants and the consolidation of the industry forces (each one has just 3 or 4 of the major houses dominating!) and how their influence (lobbying and framing of favourable rules for themselves) has lead to major ills for the society.

thats a good development..that this mindless corporatisation, its (d)evilish designs to dominate and rule the rest of us with scant respect to the health, safety and ethics is being exposed across industry is such a great development!
But the whole media is silent (where not silent is against this) on this because they just wont open against the corporates and rich u see!
what a world we have inherited bcos of these corporate goons..
what bottomless greed barrels these are!

Thats why this is such a poetic justice- that such a movement has started in US and now spreading across the globe at such a pace..

Come on folks! way to go OWS!

Brooklyn John

Most of you regulars know me personally and how much (sense of) humour weighs a vital part..I enjoy anything toasted with humour- even sad stories;-)

One of the rare times when Iam found in splits and ROFLing..This man John and his wife Nimmy did that..the way they wud pull each other and bring out matter-of-factly incidents or info in their typical style had me & w in splits..we also saw lots of similarity..lotsa serious issues coming out as pulling each other..at some point when the conversation drifted to upkeep, orderliness etc (W & N were gaga about it!) N went on to say how things will be left all over and how she will have to place everything back in place 'always', etc..John wud let her finish and slowly look at me with a smile and say - now u know why it took ages for me to fetch that book for u? thats bcos it wasnt where i had kept but she had 'cleaned' that place and 'hid' the book inside some shelf:-)

This was one of the best meets for us in recent times..lots of info got exchanged..and its only about how there were many occasions during this tons of info exchange we ended up having lighter moments..

Firstly we visited Brooklyn John of Kodai (thanks to HOK karthik) to see their organic farm and see if we could source any stuff for restore..it ended up being beyond all that..not only about organic farm, their organic life style but about naturopathy, healthy ways and their forth coming naturopathy sanatorium in Kodai hills.

J & N turned organic some 30 years back..they were one of the first in Kodai..they also have the ‘disease’ of curing all ills of the society.so one wud see them in the lake cleaning committee, waste management efforts, Sewage treatment plan(t)s, organic produce sales..just about all honourable and noble deeds.

Till date they sell organic vegetables once a week in Kodai out of their house..infact their passion has led them turn their house in to half a farm.they grow so many varieties of lettuce and vegetables in their home garden itself..add to that their 100 acre farm in poondi- 40 kms from Kodai..This is where their naturopathy health centre will come up by sep end..it will be a 20 bed hospital which shall have fully organic food served for the patients! That itself is a big great step IMO..for in most naturopathy clinics and doctors that i see organic food is not rated as high..That shud be a big contradiction bcos - if the food (& habits around that) can be the cure, then it better be rid of the major ill- poison of chemicals. ok thats a digression for another day.

I should confess here that we ended up talking about all else other than organic farming and veggies for restore..They are a data bank..of naturopathy and most other issues I mentioned above..But since naturopathy (health and natural medication) being my recent attractions, so much was on that..I could not have thought of any one better than this couple inundating me with so much info..

Some excerpts:

-'Dis-ease' is just a discomfort and its just a symptom that our body is working..only business mind can make a case out of it by ‘treating’ it

-All diseases are treatable..only some patients are not!

-It takes 17 hours to digest food by our intestines..esp in the small intestine the food stays longer.

-So ideally any intended fast starts after 17 hours of last meal

-Supper can be the best food but to be taken around sun set..

-The regular hunger pangs we all feel are false hunger he says and that’s due to acidity!

-Alkaline food is the best way to bring about balance in our body

-Best alkaline juices are banana pith/stem, ash gourd, carrots. Almost anything that can be eaten raw is alkaline. (as a rule : Anything not processed)

-All processed foods(?) like chips, packaged long shelf life products, sugar are all heavily acidic. Causing most harms

-One who eats once a day is Yogi, twice is Bogi, thrice is Rogi and 4 times is Dhrohi!

-Allopathy is the alternate medicine..’allo’ is alternate..it came in and suddenly displaced our traditional as ‘alternative’!

-Fever is the best treatment..even Hippocrates said “ give me fever and I will treat anything”

-Rubbing, wet packs, fasting etc are easy ways of removing toxins..

-Wet pack is the basic treatment in naturopathy

-Wet pack in a sprain or pain area will become warm in 5 minutes..which means blood circulation and which means ‘action’.

-Blood is the main doctor in our body..it removes toxins continuously..

-When u put a wet cloth on the face/temple of a fever patient after a while this white cloth becomes black..a prof of removal of toxins..

Actually I insist again that none better than them could have given me this insight bcos they even put their 1st son (when he was very young) thru their naturopathy lea(r)nings 2.5 decades back! They survived torrid 7 days when their kid was suffering from very high fever and the whole family including allopathy doctors in the family being anxious and putting pressure on them..They just left nature (ok, read fever) to take care and his body to fight naturally..It did and he came out strong..so did they! Their 2nd son was not given any vaccine nor any allopathy treatment and needless to say he was more fitter.

Needless to mention here that They are young strong men now!

That was one fantastic conversation and knowledge share..I shall go to their naturopathy clinic once its ready and post more here..meanwhile restore shall also benefit i would hope.

Touching and inspiring! Motivating too!!

Loganathan- lost his father when he was very young and hence had to work to win bread for him and family..but wanted to study..couldn't do due to domestic pressure..
So what will one do? He resolves to save 10% of his monthly income (which amounts to Rs 300/-) and collect over an year and donate it to some one who wants to study but is unable to pursue due to lack of money..
Not big amount..but the heart?? Yes, I too brace to hear more as I think this is stupendous..
And then? This man meets a toilet cleaner who was just out after donating blood.. so loganathan is impressed and asks him about his story.. That man says, 'I am from a lower caste and hence there isn’t much acceptability, but for blood there's no caste..so I do this very regularly..' This man is touched..so as they exchange stories, the blood donor is impressed by this ‘educator’ and says, what will u do if u get more?
But how asks Logs..and this man says, 'I have been asked to clean toilets in a few additional places but lack of time, am unable to take them up.. are u game? This means cleaning the toilet in an office that will get u Rs 400 a month and another private premises which can fetch u Rs 300/-..'
Oops- This is a 3 times jump and this means 1k a month for my contribution..so Logs jumps at it..
He now has to spend 2 hours extra in the morning and 2 in the evening..he does that with glee as he now gets a 3 times higher amount to donate!!
An amount that most of us would just throw for a dinner- has such inspiring story!!

Rajini- a student from a very poor family..gets top mark in his public exam..so is being felicitaed and gets a grant..He then checks out the value of his fees in the next year..does a quick math and tells the ones who give him the grant to take the rest 90% of the value and support 9 more poor students.. every one is blown over! Actor surya who was witness to this is flabbergasted..and so he starts his own agaram foundation motivated by this extraordinary move by a kid..

A grave yard keeper (vettiyan) in some interior TN village wants to help poor students study well and so saves money from his income and ‘over time’ and helps organise tuition for poor students to fare well in exams..

An old poor couple who have no children, suddenly get this wave to adopt banyan trees and take care of them as their own children..so when they were last visited their score was 100..so how many 100s does a tendulkar need to score to come near them?

So whats this? Where did I hear all these touching and inspiring stories??

Jagan from Pakkam village 40kms from Madras near thinanoor was the one who stumped me with such stories..He himself can fit in to one such story..that comes later..
He was given this challenge to bring some lesson (education?) to students without being part of text book, additional period or classroom..so he got this brain wave to go around identify great men from humble settings and show case them.
He travelled around TN and identified such great men from very ordinary background and small places and would take them to a big school in the near by town or city.. this way he managed to educate (open eyes?) the city students and also bring these great gentlemen to forefront..

He has 500 such stories…hmm…pant..pant..This collation of extra ordinary stories is called “ennangalain sangamam-எண்ணங்களின் சங்கமம்) he even organizes a meeting of all such amazing folks the first Sunday of every January!

So if you did some small deed somewhere, contributed an amount once in a blue moon for a cause, please come to my side and stand humbled..yes you can cringe like me..

This man jagan came to the meeting in the beginning of this year, where I had shared my Kisan swaraj yatra experiences. Even there he impressed me with a fantastic observation he made..
He came up with one of the best observations backed with stats that I have ever come across.
He said he had asked all his fellow villagers to note down every expense and income for 3 months. Then he collected it from all the 120 house holds in his village.
And found that just above 1 crore Rupees is spent on only 3 items.and this is more than 80% of the total expense!
Now take a guess on the 3 top expenses..

No u wudnt have, am sure..
Its Pesticides n chemicals, Drugs (medicines) and Tasmac (the great TN entertainer- alcohol)..
His observation was this full amount was a bleed and went out of the village..so he said it was unfair economics and a needless drain..
But what he told next was the steal..
He said if they went back to traditional farming (organic/natural) the 1st 2 could be avoided..and to avoid the 3rd he has already started youth groups to campaign against drinking alcohol and has faced fair amount of success..when I visited his village,I did meet some of the youth who had vowed not to drink in their life and also working on rehabilitating others.Jagan also runs a school for poor and orphans in his village. For more info see here. This by itself needs to be another story, for later.

Now he has turned his eye on organic farming..he has taken some land on lease and has even hired and motivated some local farm labours to work along with him in his land..he has contacted many families and asked them to be a part of this organic movement by being captive market for next one year by contributing some money in advance and in turn get organic veggies and fruits from his land.. a Novel idea and am sure it will succeed, going by his energy and pace..i for one has assured to work closely with him and wish to help him achieve his goals and even do more..

Way to go jagan..its on seeing people like you that I renew hopes on humanity..I feel motivated and start expending right energies..hats off and you keep walking..some of us will get influenced and contribute in some ways like the squirrels of Ramayana..

Energy kid

Sanjeev Rao- u r gonna hear this name in the coming years for some very interesting products or awesome projects, am sure.
I heard about this guy thru a friend who stated that this maverick had designed and implemented a wind turbine (generator?) to harvest the wind for electricity in his house in Bangalore and that he was also doubling it up by designing a hybrid version that will make use of the solar energy too!
Hmm, sounds really interesting..so I couldn’t wait to visit Blore..
When I did last week, his house was one of the main agendas.

Meanwhile I happened to see his tamil blog. So when I enquired him ‘how come a Blore Rao had a tamil blog’ he said he was from Neyveli! Oh! Now I know why all this genius and green ideas..
(ahem, am from neyveli too as u all know)
So more reason to visit.

His room has all signs of a genius at work. Spares all around! Open(ed) circuits, half broken/dismantled toys and equipments, hanging wires, meters reading..
Then when we get to see his equipment, am even more baffled. It just has PVC pipes cut across (in to threes) that make up the horizontal wind mill! There were many reused parts and the whole thing was amazing. This design itself was to avoid any questions if a standard typical fan like wind mill was installed. Now, to enhance the harvest and to get the most, he has mounted this on a circular plate which itself is isolated with another one. To ease friction I thought, but this guy had more grey matter. He had opposite pole magnets on each of the plates and so for every small rotation the magnetic levitation would aid more revolutions! Stroke of genius, eh?

So this is helping him with 600 watts- at a cost of around 25k! He is trying many ways to improve the efficiency and to better the cost.

I thought the idea of using solar to trigger the wind turbine and to to have a hybrid device is sooper! The wind alone will need a good wind speed (9mts per sec) and so the hybrid can be a great model for urban users. see video here and more here

Magnets- I mentioned their use already right? But did u know China dominates that too? He needs quite some good quantity of them and they were pricey it seems. The Chinese dominate that area inspite of them having to import iron ore! So if you do have some good contacts, do pass to me/him. He needs some 64 magnets for one turbine and the Chinese ones cost 450 INR, where as in India the same costs 1350!

He is in the process of designing a bigger wind turbine as a special case in pollachi and wud supply to the grid. (that’s for another day)

Ever thought about the wind throw behind every vehicle when it whizzes past on the road? Our man did and so he took this small horizontal model and installed it on the median of the highway near Krishnagiri. On an 8 hour stretch with 9600 of the 4/6 wheelers passing by, he says he could harvest so much that the numbers point to 1Mega watt a day!
Its so simple and easy and if the govt were to do that at say 400 places, u don’t need the recent nuclear project at koodangulam that is making so much noise! (its ofcourse an ecological disaster) .
Then he goes on to show how with just a small strip of solar panel(costing Rs.20 a piece) on the car roof and a rejected (re-used) CPU fan from a PC he circulates the air in small cars to increase the efficiency of the AC. He says this can be bettered and implemented in the buses in Chennai so easily (regulating the air by better circulation) and even could make it work like an air cooler, thus doing away with the AC vehicles and so save fuel and the environment!

What more – he also had made some useful gadgets from used/rejected parts, like a torch from an used up mobile phone battery. There are some other items that he had made but not in any commercial scale or even replication in mind, but just to overcome any shortcomings he wud face. (like while cycling he felt light was an issue so he made one). Even the wind turbines shall be open source. He just plans to share his ideas/experience and help people build cheap ones and generate their own power. Just reduce our dependency on the grid/government he says.

He has accepted to design a cycle operated washing machine for me. He has also offered to work on trying to harvest energy from such cycles to run standard equipments like TV, fridge, washing machine etc. Here again he is contemplating using Magnetic levitation so that more revolutions happen. This, he says, if incorporated in to our genric cycles can help with minimal energy!

There is so much this energykid can do that makes me feel so good that he is not one of those who was merited way high in our academic system. So much for our education system as Sriram rightly points here.

The best anecdote

One of the benefits of the wide travel and meeting people of varied interests and achievements is that you get to hear so much about many nice things. U will infact be loaded with anecdotes.

Gandhi is one special area in that, bcos of the enormous impact he has had across the country, nay globe. I always ask people (mostly farmers and other elders) in every village I go if they have met Gandhi. Lotsa old folks always have something interesting to say in that regard. Even in remote south TN town I have heard stories of how people have walked dozens of miles to have a glimpse of this man when he travelled that part. That is, when Gandhi went by in a train, they walked miles to have glimpse.

When I was talking about this to Jayesh Bhai, he gave me an anecdote which I rate as the best of what I have heard in a long time.

He was mentioning about an octogenarian who visited Sabarmati ashram the previous week (from my visit) and when asked what he was doing, that elderly man said he was running a school in some rural area of interior Gujarat.
For how many years? For some 60+ years now! How did it happen?
Read..
He was one of those who walked miles to have a glimpse of The man who was apparently crossing on a train. By the time this gentle man (then in his 20s) reached the station, the train started to move. So in a whiff our man shouts:
“ Bapuji, mein kya karoon” (What shall I do?)
And from the moving train in a sec the answer is “ shiksha dedho, school banadho” (give education; run a school)
And since then till date this old man (that young man) has educated scores of folks.

Talk of impact!! What a man he shud be to deliver a telling idea in a fraction of a minute and what an impact it could create!
Amazing aint?
I cant think of another anecdote beating this for some time to come.

Seva Café

How would you like when some pleasant figure approaches you and says ‘Iam so-so, a senior executive at ABCD and I shall be the volunteer to serve you this evening”.
Volunteers like him serve, clean and cook at seva café.
After you have had your food, you get a list of what you ate but no value out there. (or was zero mentioned in it. I forget. I don’t remember seeing any value. I was so overwhelmed, I didn’t see the bill properly. Che, silly me)
You are informed that your meal has been paid for by someone already and you can choose to pay (it) forward or leave even without paying.
That’s seva café for you! This is at Ahmedabad.Humble giving, joy of sharing and selfless service is the essence.It’s the gift economy in full flow. It means your bill has been paid for already and you can choose to pay it forward for someone else, how much ever you feel like. That’s the crux.
The food was really good. If not for any of the other special features I would still have gone here for food another day.
The kitchen is clean, manned by volunteers. There is also a shelf full of books, where one can just pick any book and go or leave back a book for circulation. It’s a just about giving everywhere.
They also have their accounts very transparent. The monthly accounts statement is displayed on the notice board.
Very interesting! So didnt they have any problems with people of wrong intentions? Yes they did, but overcame all that in style. The very same persons wud have a change of mind and choose to volunteer at Seva café.some fotos here.

Another interesting feature is there is a donation box kept out there. Wait b4 u mumble ‘so whats new?’. Here one can not only contribute by giving any amount, one could also take money for a good cause. (ofcourse u need to tell them, the reason for taking). Hozzatt?
see this video for more!

my 2 bits: IMHO, such a place shud host organic stuff. Very simply, a place that overflows with love, joy of giving, service and Gandhi has got to be organic. I was told they tried but couldn’t get consistent supply, since they need to have fixed menu for operational reasons. I did talk to them why its imperative that this place is organic and have assured them to give the coordinates of organic farmers that I know (& have visited) and offered to liaise. ofcourse they were very receptive. Then it shall be a deadly combo- selfless service, good food and organic:-)

Ahmedabad!

That was a nice old city! The roads were really broad and nice. Looks like it was well planned. I have no clue about that, but when we did travel once across the city during peak hour, most part it was smooth! We also travelled quite some distances effortlessly and heard people talk about getting to near by towns like Anand, gandhinagar in no time!
Am glad atleast in one town, it was not the same old cribs and cries.

The number of amazing people and great projects were stunning.Is it bcos of Gandhi's influence or something to do with this predominantly vegetarian nice people?
oh man! how many nice noble folks..how many amazing projects..

The time I spent at Sabarmati Ashram is one of the highlights of my life. unparalleled I wud say.


one such extraordinary project shall be my next post.

hurray! hats off vishy!!

so the most brainy man on this planet leads from front.
Another crown for this King!
and so less noise made in our noisy media and the print ofcourse so much to guess between every move of Dhoni.

But This king silently kills Topalov esp when Topalov was playing to his strength, white and the last game! hmm, man This fella Vishy is amazing..
he is so saintly cool and just razes this guy in his area of strength and when all and sundry were saying that 'with black the best u could is to draw' and here our King shows why he is the KING!!
hats off dude..
we are proud of you, inspite of our media's slumber.

Rishi valley – not just a school!

RV was the part of our 1000km trip, thanks to Dr. Karthik and Dr.Kamakshi(Vidya).
More on them soon, but before that on the school..yes, it fully qualifies to be “The School”.
A complete place for students (of life like us too!). what with beautiful organic farm, veg garden, lotsa trees – it’s a heaven.
The students out there are given organic meal for which most of the produce is harvested in their land itself. Only in summer when there is very little that grows do they procure from known organic farms nearby.
The campus is so lively and the students look very happy. During our stay we had food from their hostel. I should mention that, just that food alone can be a great attraction for any one to spend their life there. The students, their programs, the assembly (yes, we attended an assembly too! And learnt some whole new stuff in that half hour!), curriculum, some extra-ordinarily talented (and encouraged by school) kids – all in all very impressive.
It was exam time and after many years I saw a teacher (RG) who was very anxious to see the question paper since it was her subject that day. Man! Such teachers do exist still!!
It was such a pleasant conversation that we had with her and very insightful too.
Among other things they also grew sugarcane last season and were processing jaggery. For a long time I have been wanting to see the jaggery extraction live,which was accomplished too.

Now to the Hero and Heroine of our trip!
Karthik and Vidya are 2 lovable characters. When they came to restore a few months back we just struck a conversation and when I was told they were in RV, I assumed they should be teachers.
In my hierarchy of esteem, teachers follow farmers and so I had that ‘respect’ reserved for these two. and its only when I went there to RV I found that they both were running a rural Health centre. Phewwwwwww..they just climb up so high in my esteemate..IMHO thats a dream. To serve people in rural area like this where they hardly have access to good medical attention and advise.
And to do that with sweet smile like these 2 do..those people in the surrounding few districts are really fortunate. Karthik is a doc and Vidya a pathologist! Made for each other and for such service. So RV school extends its arm to a new area few years back which is now such a big sought after service. Some 100s get treated every day. Apart from this vidya also goes to a near by town to help a lab out there. And they both are so passionate about organic farming that they help organic farmers in the surroundings.
The highlight is that they both collect (& collate) voluminous data on the effects (ofcourse ill effects only, what else do u expect?) of the chemicals – ferti and pesticides on the farmers (esp farm labours). That’s one huge exercise and when I saw their findings it was sad truth!
Next time any of you think u don’t have time or more importantly you say that to me, I pack you to RV and let you watch this couple.
Iam not going to reel out stats of the no. of persons treated, medical camps or other details..but one statement shud suffice. While we were talking to Karthick he said he even has patients from as far as Bangalore outskirts! I was amazed and asked why? Esp when people think there is better medical facility in cities. He said very modestly in a low tone “ may be treatment with a smile is rare..”
for those interested in some stats and figures see here.
Am sure it is..to dedicate one’s life for such a cause and to carry out with such smile day in and day out and to also spread wings to all avenues possible is amazing..
Such people as I always say are hopes..they infuse so much of hope and joy in to you that all our earlier depression and lack of motivation run away.

Note: BTW they grow tomatoes in their garden, though we didn’t get time to see that. But K was to give us some tomatoes from their garden as per instruction from V but he forgets. We don’t know that yet.. but when we reach Madras the next evening a courier reaches us at the same time. It’s a small box of tomatoes grown in their garden. I dunno if he had to rush them by courier to save himself from V’s fury but that was the beginning of our tomato week.. infact it was this couple who introduced us to prabakar and asked us to visit his organic form and from there our tomato story started!

Go play god!

Joss Brooks!
Have you heard this name?
Haven’t I mentioned it before??
If you remember this you can give yourself “the cutest reader award for 2009”.
Pass me a beer coupon too as a note of celebration.

Ok now to more interesting stuff..

I had more luck coming my way to spend more time with this genius of a man..who incidentally wouldn’t even take claims for mammoth achievements (more on that will come as sidelines soon)
In the Adyar Poonga itself am amazed each time on the details that he has concentrated, time n energy he spends, the knowledge that oozes in various forms, patently Joss & co style of granite arts and so on..

Then one day I go with him to Ooteri, a sad suburb of North Madras, where again in another dirty dump site infested with all possible grimy activities, he converts a 5 acre to a magical forest. Now he intends converting that to a satellite of Adyar Poonga so that students of that part should be able to go there for environmental initiation/education.
Hmm.. to see how a dirty dump (part of the surrounding is still that!) has been converted to such a pleasant forest is bliss!

So am even more interested to visit his other earlier creations- PFC and nadukuppam. see here too!

That’s an amazing turn around for a dingy non-performing school to become such a model school..they even have an organic garden from which they get veggies for their midday meal which is otherwise a pathetic govt sponsored rubbish served as food. They even add spirulina from their own farm which is a high protein nutrition! The students there have eco clubs, environment programs, youth parliaments, awareness programs, a fantastic sewage treatment for their toilets, 150 species of trees in what was a barren land school, garbage group, etc. ya, I can keep bla blah-ing but since I hope to do more with them in the coming days lets keep that for another post.

If you think that’s too much for a single post, am yet to start on PFC.
So this genie called joss came out of some lamp somewhere in 1973 and suddenly had this urge to create a forest out of nowhere..


see this pic on left?
The same place now is as below:


actually more than this. (will link the fotos here soon)It’s a fantastic forest which is so much of an ethno medicinal forest as much as a bio resource centre or a tropical dry ever green forest with native flora & fauna or conservation forest or…hey, there is no end to it all..This is a great effort to be portrayed here in a few sentences. IMHO its not even possible for one man to achieve so much; or is it possible? Yes, if you are Joss Brooks.
This 60 acre heaven that he has created out of nowhere is today having almost 800 species of plants..many medicinal! ofcourse all native! Add to that the local birds that have (re)surfaced and the insects that have shown up.
So I ask this gman, if he started it all alone or as a team..BTW he never used the word “I” during my interaction in those 3 days..he wud never take claims to all that he has done..(believe me am just scratching the surface and chronicling the tip of the ice berg) he wud coolly mumble ‘those days most projects here at auroville were individual efforts’ which shud actually mean “like hell its my bloody work..” but JB wudnt say that u know. So Adyar poonga, PFC, the nadukuppam school or otteri forest or the new 30 acres eco forestation project at nadukuppam is all by his team..ok, I understand there is a big team motivated and well lead by this genie er genius but not to take personal credit and in these days is a bit too much, isn’t?
Oh yeah! I said I wud give some more quotes rit? Here it is before i forget..
('Seeds are the biggest wealth of this place')
('I cant pretend to be everywhere and doing things; need more able people to carry out stuff like this')
('I need to be here at PFC often..as u see its my duty to prune the thorny shrubs on the walking paths here')
('replication at more places; atleast small satellite parks with environment education centres at different parts of the city is the way to go')
am so glad to rub shoulders with this hell of a man..hope to spend some meaningful time and ofcourse add value..but for that I shud first come out of my awe.
Finally for u guys- if u have access to some place (1 acre or a few acres), take a leaf out of JB- Go play god!! Yes, go create forest /park like him and add value as Joss would, by adding fantastic features like education centre, resource centre, seed resource bank and so on.
Hats off Joss brooks! Thanks for all your efforts!!

xerox, revaluation and some hope..

The said nephew(in the last blog ) of mine was very dejected he got some 190+ out of 200 in 2 subjects in which he was expecting 200 (centum)! In those days we would be sitting dejected, angst over the one who corrected and cursing the system.
But these days you can apply for 'xerox' and 'revaluation! Revaluation was there then too, but mostly you would never get any positive response.
I find this Xerox thingy very impressive. All you do is go and fill up an application, pay up some nominal money and request for a copy of your answer sheet. yeah, that's why this is called xerox - the proper noun that has become a commonly used verb today is here the 'function' or procedure too!
So we did request for his xerox:-)
Its amazing! you get a copy of it. In his case they were dead right. this fella had committed very silly mistakes and so didnt even think he wud go wrong in those areas and hence was expecting 100%. But he had indeed committed small mistakes. His dejection after receiving the xerox or his parents anguish is not what I want to cover here.
Is it not amazing to be so very accountable? Its something Iam yet to overcome yet. esp, coming as it is from our state board, iam really surprised that we have such huge responsibility & accountability set in the system. We can be sure that the marks one gets and such an accountable and dependable system is rare.
Hats off to TN State Board!

Hats off Roy!

Roy Jacob, our protagonist, was born & brought up in The US of A!. A texan to the boot, till 5 years back that is, Roy was a happy 2nd generation (or 3rd?) NRI, happily working in some IT dept as a consultant at Enron (where else can the contradiction dawn- to make it a perfect switch?) Roy was interested in Gandhian philosophies and was an avid reader of anything to do with Gandhi. Slowly reality caught up. Firstly he was not very happy with his chasing money life style and then the controversies & contradictions of the US polity & ofcourse Enron’s role in most parts started hitting. Then the Iraq war was the last straw as roy started thinking, is he after all supporting some 1000s being bombed at some other part of the world. So he quit, came to India and visited many places associated to Gandhi like wardha, Gandhi institute, auroville & other ashrams .
Then he wanted to live close to nature, live of his own work and most of all lead a very simple Gandhian life. Now this word Gandhian has become an adjective by itself for a frugal, simple, eco-friendly, truthful way of living- what ever one’s view of Gandhi is.
So our hero decides to live off a small piece of land. After a good hard training in a 3 cents piece he buys a 20 cents piece of land at Wayanad and settles there. For an idea, 100 cents is one acre, so this is one fifth an acre. There he constructs a small hut/house for himself. When I say constructs, its literally! He got help only for some intricate parts like the foundation and cross beams(?) of the structure. Rest all was hand made by him. So he is one person I know who can claim “I built a house”. He has this cute small hut with a small cute bedroom too in that! (see the foto!) He parades me in there with such pride and shows me the bedroom saying he wud sleep over that room in summer and inside in winters! Then there are the functional windows that would open out from the main wall which is ofcourse bamboo and such like. A nice earthen and natural house. A small stove on the ground (see if you can make out the stove adjoining the bedroom wall in that foto?) where he cooks his own food.
So what of the raw materials for his food?
He farms himself. Ofcourse organic! In the remaining place of the 20 cents our man performs agriculture. He grows his own rice, vegetables, tapioca etc. rarely he buys from outside. Many days he just lives on jack fruit.
In essence he lives off his small piece of land, literally.
He tries out various styles in his farm and by now has accumulated so much of knowledge on organic farming. He prepares his land himself. Plants and transplants all alone. De-weeds, maintains, waters, harvests – hey everything on his own. I even feel tired thinking and typing this:-)
He spoke of danger and other Nitrogen fixing plants (like cow pea, soya,, sun hemp) which is what he had now. Also about his trial of Fukuoka method of sowing along with a harvest! (remember clay balls – fukuoka style?) Now he would immediately sow/transplant 3 traditional varieties of paddy that will see him thru the next few months and take care of his rice needs the rest of the year!
When I asked him if it wouldn’t be boring he said “ infact a regular office work or an agri labour job could bore. Here I have to explore and experiment regularly. Each day is new and challenging. The minute I think its boring I have plenty of option to switch over to another task For eg if deweeding is boring, I can immediately think of watering, mulching or something else. Its co-creation with nature. Exploring is the order of the day. Its fun. You never get tired of it”
Phew..aint that too much?
Iam amazed at the knowledge he has amassed and the ease with which he states lotsa facts. To think that he was born brought up in plush western conditions without even an idea of how and where farming is done! Most importantly there is no air of achievement or cockiness but just matter of fact statements. So cool and admirable guy, this Roy! Hats off to him. Iam so happy & glad I visited him, his farm and the farm house(!) at wayanad!

Another day I shall post about his tribal neighbours, the small theft that happened and his next plans now.

Kudos Sevalaya!

Remember me mentioning of a very interesting and great orphanage – sevalaya? They have done it again! They have done extremely well in the 10th & 12th exams.
100% in 12th and 98% in 10th! The topper in 12th has scored 1100 out of 1200!!!
While there are talks of the exam results, scores, performance of various schools everywhere, this stands out for me.
Imagine all students being 1st generation school-goers and to think that none shall coax or tutor them back home! No tuitions or extra efforts..school is the only choice..for a school to take up only such students and to bring out such extra ordinary results is amazing!hats off Murali! Kudos Sevalaya.
Note: those of u who really want to help a genuine and deserving orphanage/oldage home u can go here and help sevalaya.