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!

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..

Farmer's fighter

Kavitha Kuruganti!
Yes, That’s what the agri tamizh magazine, Pasumai Vikatan called her- ‘vivasaiyigalin poralli’ meaning the farmer's fighter..combatant..warrior!
If you had followed the BT brinjal issue, the consultations and the moratorium, u sure heard about her. And you sure accept that post fix.
She was a driving force and was one of the main players who took the fight in to the corporates’ and GM camp.
I first met her 2+ years back at a restore organized meet, when she had come to talk on GM food. It was an impressive talk and one could make out that she was a driven activist and the passion was really high and obvious. The way she articulated and the content was all fantastic.
Then our paths didn’t cross much until the recent Kisan Swaraj Yatra. When I got one of the mails circulated about the yatra, its objectives,agenda, schedule, I was thrilled to see them and was ready to join it. But before that, the striking thing for me was the thought and effort that had gone in to the whole planning of this mammoth yatra. Then I came to know that she was behind most of it and when I called her to get some further info, I must admit I was way impressed.
But I never knew that all this was to become under statement. Once I joined the KSY, I noticed the amount of thoughts and planning that went in and most of it was credited to her. She was there everywhere. She had saw thru all the requirements inside the bus for the 75 days- like an UPS, immersion heater for the distant winter of north India, buckets, dharris, blankets, banners, extension boxes, water keg, stickers n posters, print materials, hand held mike, big amplifier mike set and what not. So as I slowly watch all this in awe, I get to see more. The planning of each state, route, every event to the last detail and the involvement impressed me. Then the striking feature was deliverance- whether there are others to take responsibility or not, if the ones who took the responsibility were standing up to deliver it or not..phew, incredible.
That small impatience hanging almost always, just wanting tasks and issues to be done with, eagerness to deliver perfectly, the 'second driving', consistently chasing people to accomplish their resps, being very wary of time commitments, all those reminding me of a young me..and so the impression increases multifold,naturally:-)
Its not just in planning or the OCD level discipline or the seriousness but also being able to play all the roles effortlessly and efficiently, that steals. She was also our star speaker.Talk of diverse roles!
She is the one the whole KSY wud look up to whenever there was a debate with scientists. IMHO, those were instances she wud freak out and stand out as the super star of the whole campaign. sample: once to a group of scientists who were crying hoarse that GM and biotech was after all science -she just said “ yes, its science but do you all get the point that science comprises physics, Biology esp micro biology too apart from chemistry..” and at another instant where a scientist was heavily gasing about pesticide problems and how GM technology wud do away with pesticide usage, bla bla..she just asked pointedly “if pest was their problem or pesticide was their problem..if its pest, we have lotsa traditional ways and if its pesticide why don’t u ask urself why is it there at the first place?..” I for one was sold to her talks at each of the agri universities and can keep reeling statements about how the scientists were countered factually, statistically, historically and scientifically too..
Then comes the rare side- dare devilry:-0
This was at Jalna, where we were protesting outside the Mahyco (Monsanto’s Indian arm/distri) head quarters. There was heavy police deployment bcos they were obviously getting calls from the ‘whos who’..Then after sometime the police comes up to us and asks us to wind up and when folks point hands towards KK , the police goes up to her. She just ‘shoos’ him away saying she is quite busy and that we had permission for this protest and we had 3 more speakers to talk and only when its all over we would think of winding..when the police persisted again she coolly points out that if he disturbs now, it wud only delay the proceedings and carries on. Cool, eh?
The amazing and incredible part above all is the fact that she has vertigo problem and hence cannot take bus travel easily. The only way she can take a road travel is by being on the 1st seat so that she has a clear view of the road on front, failing which her head wud spin and she wud have a bout of giddiness. So for such a person to plan and dream of a 75 day yatra and with half the travel thru ghat roads..add to that a bakhwas bus that we had..I wud shudder to go thru this..and here she was ‘driving’ the whole scene- the crew, the yatra, yatris and all..
Add to all these woes, her itch to finish any open task irrespective of the so many difficulties, she wud also take her laptop and type her way to glory bcos an update for the website or a press release wud be needed as soon as we reach the next venue.
Yes, that was this small wonder called Kavitha, who was there to get the press releases ready on time always, fantastic reports done immaculately, coordinate the next programs, fast on her feet with alternate plans and place of stay in case of any problems, plan and execute accounts, prepare for speeches (for demanding ones like at univs and special events), the long term policy document – u name it and she had to have a hand. All this meant her average sleep thru the Yatra was a sheer 2 hours a day! Still she had this infectious workaholic nature that spread to me so fast.
It was a pleasure to watch such a smart devil at work from such a close quarter and to see that one could accomplish so much with such perspiration, but getting it all executed so effortlessly was a treat.
So it was no wonder that there were so many stalwarts to support this massive yatra and that lots of interesting folks participating and pitching in with so much enthu all over India. yes, her enthu, seriousness and hardwork is infectious.
Add to all this the knowledge fountainhead that she can be, the information glut that she can present, superfluous confidence she can ooze and all that with the passion and sincerity that she showed, it was no wonder what she has achieved this much in such a short time.
Glory to her. Long live her commitment and let the number of people influenced and guided by her increase and let her 'just' cause prevail.

Rajasthan bans plastic carry bags

Yay! Thats a great news!
We have seen this in many touristic places like Kodai, Darjeeling etc.
As a state Sikkim had implemented this long back! But that’s more or less like a touristic place.
But for a bigger state to seriously pursue this is a great news.
With time the whole state would become sensible in handling plastic and that would show up on road side garbage, water percolation and how easily people can cope up with its absence!

Wish more states go this route soon.
Till then lets encourage and bless such daring rare moves!

Jayesh Bhai - unparalleled Hero!

When Sri told me about Jayesh Bhai my antenna didn’t go up that much. I was still a bit skeptical about how one man can so easily spread love n affection ( as sri says) and lead/guide people of different walks of life to do something extraordinary. Ofcourse all of that very useful to society.
I have met many people who have spoken about love, compassion etc earlier, but have been shallow. They have been delivering such words for the heck of it, without any deeds on the floor. Its easy to just sound empty rhetorics and steal the lime light (for a short while) or genuinely sound them thinking for one’s self that they are doing wonders, where as the reality wud be silly.

Here with this back ground I go and meet Jayesh Bhai and with my own skepticism about love conquering people/deeds etc.
What a pleasant surprise. What a man he is!
I don’t think I can enumerate his association in various fantastic projects. I cant get a hang of the number of people he has influenced and guided, no. of projects he is associated with and the ease with which he just throws info/ideas and coolly carries on 24x7.
His eyes and body conveys so much love (I have never believed that cud happen) and he is so casual about all his feats. Infact he hides his part in almost all the projects and acts like they are happening by themselves and its just a coincidence he is there.
Its just unbelievable.
After all, his father has been there from Gandhi’s days and has dedicated the last 6 decades on his pet area- sanitation. I was told about the passionate way Ishwar Bhai patel has been doing this for years and the story goes that when jayesh bhai was in teens and said he wanted to take part in community service (its in the blood u see), the first thing his father told nay gave him was a broom and asked him to go clean toilets! Since that initiation Jayesh Bhai has gone miles. But not without his school and college mates ragging him of being a toilet cleaner. Iam sure he stands tall amongst all of them.
One has to listen to him talk about sanitation. The father and son combo have toilet museum in the Sabarmati ashram as well as in the new campus of Environment Sanitation Institute, on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. Their research has resulted in various types of toilet, various workable models and most importantly various villages and public schools with eco-friendly toilets.

Its no wonder Jayesh Bhai had a big role in Seva Café. The ESI campus is fully designed and built by him (again he wud never refer that. u get to hear that only if u talk to others out there). He is on top of most good projects, passionate efforts and almost all people around by name. I naively asked him if he was involved with some schools, then I reframed my question if he was involved with the Govt (rural) school children. NO! Manav sadhna and hence JB runs so many schools which is like parallel governance. He is a major influence for some 1000s of slum children by involving directly in the rural schools.
Amidst all this he played a terrific host, always seeing to it that we had breakfast or lunch on time where ever we were in Ahmedabad and also of our transportation. The royal steal was he took us around the Sabarmati Ashram explaining every bit of it, strewn with so many anecdotes and spent so much time. I have no words to express how fortunate we were to have been taken around By JB himself . Manav sadhna runs out of the same campus and he also runs an orphanage out there. Some 70 kids of varied ages live and school there. Ofcourse the toilet is his design and the waste is recycled. The gas is captured in a gas chamber and used for cooking (60% of the cooking needs of the orphanage’s kitchen is met with from this!) and then composted. But u wudnt find his name in that website. Infact not much about him can u find in the internet. So much for humility and under play. He is all of that and just doesn’t publicise not spells out big about all his work.
For more on him see here. (I know sri beat me to it, not only by time but by class too. Still my posts goes to print here.)
So all of us who complain about lack of time- laugh at (o)urself.
I was put to deep shame and severe inferiority complex. Not that I have done anything to even compare but the very fact that some one has done so much and coolly talks to us and spends so much time and doesn’t take a slight cognisance of his achievements is incredible. As he took us around the Sabarmati ashram, when ever some group of kids (mostly slum kids who come as a part of their school program) he is in full swing. Brushing their hair, making fun, showing them his nails and asking them to compare, talking about sanitation and cleanliness with such an ease, giving high-fives to the whole group..amazing man he is.

Sriram had this to say: when sri was working with slum kids’ education in Bombay, one visit to Jayesh Bhai by those students and they wud be totally transformed. I thoroughly believe this for I have seen so many puddings of Jayesh Bhai.

Long live Jayesh Bhai. I wish he trains a couple (or even better clones) and send south. We need many such JBs here