Suman Sangam: Ecological Forest Farm

Waking up at 6am was totally worth it! We had finally arranged with Dr Sanjeev Kulkarni to visit his 'organic forest-farm' located 10km outside of Dharwad. Dr Kulkarni was introduced to us as part of his Baala Belaga Children's School – a contemporary venture in value-based and hand-on learning, led by him and his wife (this amazing concept deserves another blogpost in itself!). Dr Kulkarni has a day job of being a well-renowned gynaecologist as well as a respected speaker on agriculture and environment. He is a Gandhian at heart, living in a simple 3 room (rented) house in Malmadi with his wife and son (who, incidentally, is taking a gap year at the age of 18 to spend time with people who interest him – currently, water-sports adventurers).

Suman Sangam is the name of this 17-acre farm, meaning confluence of flowers (or minds). And it does exactly what it says on the tin... as we walked around; we felt at one with nature as plants, trees and flowers enriched our view. Struggling to know where to look, we walked through on the rough path that had been formed. There were several ponds, attracting wild birds, as well as paddys with 35 different types of rice. We sat beside the largest lake to have breakfast – fresh guava picked off the trees, followed by some puffed rice, chevado mix, fresh chillies and onions from the farm.

Nature makes me feel closer to my truest self. It feels like there is a powerful removal of our 'materialist' and 'maya' filled life when we enter such natural environments. Just seeing the diversity in flowers and plants, makes you feel connected and joyous. I decided I will come back here for more than just a few hours – perhaps spend a weekend here and meditate upon the waters.

2-page article about the farm (from 2004):

Suman Sangam: A journey into an ecological farm

Dr Sanjeev Kulkarni at his farm

Managing Complexity: A Different Approach

The conductor of an orchestra is the most powerful person in the orchestra.  A dramatic picture of him is on the cover of the CD.  However, the conductor does not make a single sound.  He depends for his power on his ability to make other people powerful.  To awaken possibility in other people. - Ben Zander

Ben Zander, author of The Art of Possibility and Conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, gives a presentation at the World Economic Forum on changing the way we approach difficult situations. He talks about a paradigm shift in thinking that unleashes creativity to find solutions.  Being a musician, he gives a very entertaining talk, adding his musical flare to the topic he is communicating.  Enjoyable to watch and learn from.

The Art of Possibility is one of my favourite books and I can lend you my copy if you want, or you can buy one here.

To download the movie: World Economic Forum 2009 Downloads (it is no.13)

Watch on YouTube:

Photos: Murudeshwar

Residential Bridge Camps are one of the initiatives ran by Vidya Poshak, aimed at giving scholarship students hands on training in functional English, confidence, personal development and character-building.  To understand what a camp was like, I was fortunate to spend a few days at the Murudeshwar Camp, held at the scenic coastal location of Murudeshwar, near Bhaktal.  The actual Camps team have the offical camp photos, however, I was able to visit the local tourist / pilgrim attraction of a 100ft Shiva statue and 249ft Gopura (tall gate).  They are located just ahead of the Shiva Temple, built on the location where Ravana placed the holy 'atma lingam'. (read futher).

Check out the pictures: Murudeshwar Photos

World's largest Shiva statue:

We are created for togetherness

Believing in the Dignity of All

The concluding session of the Davos World Economic Forum is succinctly summarised by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who speaks about God's intention for mankind to live as a family. The Nobel Peace Prize winner speaks about 'Ubuntu', the African concept of common good, and how we would not know how to be human if it was not for others. We belong in this delicate network if interdependence – which raises the question that if we truly are a 'global family', how do we treat our brothers, sisters and the environment? Recommend you watch this one hour video to hear the words of a truly rare soul.

To download the movie: World Economic Forum 2009 Downloads (it is no.221)

To watch on YouTube:

Book Review: Power of Now

On another persons recommendation, I purchased this book last year, but as I began reading it, I lost interest.  Somehow (thanks to Dev and few other random people), this book once again ended up in my hands.  As I began to read it, this time in India during an intense fellowship, it began to make a lot more sense.  At times when I was getting upset about the past or future, what I should be doing, what I'm suppose to be working on,... etc, this book helped me to get back to the present moment.  Totally coherent with the Landmark Forum philosophy, Eckhart quotes many Eastern spiritual texts (Hinduism, Buddhism, Zen and Christianity) to explain the concept of false ego and how to become an observer of this.  He speaks about our true nature beyond ego and how to interact with other people, leading to 'enlightened relationships' as a result of this new found awareness.

From Ekchart Tolle website:

To make the journey into the Now we will need to leave our analytical mind and its false created self, the ego, behind. From the very first page of this extraordinary book, we move rapidly into a significantly higher altitude where we breathe a lighter air. We become connected to the indestructible essence of our Being, “The eternal, ever present One Life beyond the myriad forms of life that are subject to birth and death.” Although the journey is challenging, Eckhart Tolle uses simple language and an easy question and answer format to guide us.

Eckhart Tolle Website

Buy on Amazon

Photos: Himalayan Pilgrimage "Char Dham Yatra"

I have finally got round to uploading photos from a two week trip to the Himalaya's we did as part of my volunteering time at Manav Sadhna. I was there from March to May 2009 and this was there annual vacation.  There were 43 of us in total lead by the Shiva-bhakta himself, Virenbhai Joshi.  Unfortunately, Jayeshbhai was unavailable to be with us during the trip and we missed him very much.

Going to the Himalayas is a once in a lifetime experience - which left me speechless on many occasions.  No words or pictures can convey my feelings during the trip, but its fair to say that I now see why many Hindu's see these majestic mountains as the connection from Earth to Heaven.  I have a new awe and inspiration of nature and spirituality.

Himalayan Pilgrimage Photos

Photos: Bangalore

I went to Bangalore for the first time to see what they hype was about... all of our students dream of working there.  Here are some photos:

Photo's from Bangalore

My favourite:

A picture is worth a 1000 words...

Set up a Flickr Web Album to share my pictures with you all. Please click on this link:

Pramal's Flickr Photo Albums


Enjoy.

Food for thought

"We have stolen this food from a hungry family", he said, as he walked around the classroom with a plate heaped with left-over's. Faces of the students began to turn in disgust, as the strong smell and messy pile of wasted food was taken in front of each seat. Just moments before entering the classroom, the same person had rolled his sleeves up and started collecting the wasted food deposited in large plastic box used for finished plates. Whilst wiping each of the 40 plus students' remnants onto one large dish, bewildered catering staff tried to stop him from this insane act. Several students who were passing by on route to class were equally shocked to see this formally dressed Westerner getting his hands dirty in 'waste'.

I thought the creative sign I put up in the dining hall would stop the wastage. I thought the polite warning in class would work. And still, there was food being thrown away. Having read up on Indian development, I became aware that some 400,000,000 Indians are living below the poverty line, i.e. they do not have enough food to eat or other basic needs met. Given the relative economic hardship of the students concerned, I figured they would understand - yet they did not.

Out of my desperation to communicate this message, I decided to roll my sleeves up and take action.

In subsequent days, the students did dramatically reduce the amount of wasted food. How long into the future they will continue – I don't know. I came here to be part of a project that not only secured employment for economically disadvantaged graduates, but transformed them into role model citizens. Value-based education is required for these degree holders to turn them into employable meaningful Graduates.

It was through the desire to create community that resulted in the above crazy act. I did not plan to do such a thing; however, it was all that came to mind and that to coming from a space of family rather than anger or disrespect. I genuinely wanted each individual to feel responsible and accountable for each other, from which they could develop a sense moral responsibility for the wider people of this nation. The search continues to understand how we can create this sense of oneness amongst our people – after all, "The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problems" - it just requires us, all of us, to actual want to bring about change.

Simple livin’

Life is driven by the choices we make. How we make these choices is based on the years of information and experiences we have stored deep inside our heart and mind. Time has taught me that even an instance that was experienced many years ago can influence my decisions today. After all, who I am is merely a collection of experiences, in the form of thoughts, sitting in my cerebral matter, right?

As an Indicorps Fellow, we join (at least for one year) a collection of people who live by simplicity. Gandhi said: "Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed". As you walk out of your room leaving the fan and light on, a studious child in the slums of Mumbai reads in earnest under dim candle-light to remove the poverty of his family situation. As you let the tap run whilst you brush your teeth or wash your dirty clothes, just think about the 1.1 billion people in the world who do not have such clean water to even drink.

To be placed in a community so different from home and to engage with them requires empathy and understanding. It requires connection and trust. Every action is preceded by a choice, which non-verbally communicates what my values are and what I stand for. Going to the local supermarket and casually bringing chocolates / fizzy drinks to an office where students would only buy those on special occasions creates one more unit of distance between us.

Whether my shirt is hand-washed or machine-washed, the people around me will merely see me in a clean shirt. The shift occurs in my thinking, or rather my feeling, to know that I cleaned this myself. To feel empowered simply by washing my own clothes was not something I expected, but it's very much present. Self reliance by doing things yourself makes you realise that you possess most of the attributes you need to live life. Many people will say that it is not in these 'material pleasures' that you find true happiness – however, it has only been when I've completely cut them all out I see the deeper joys of the not-so-material way of living.

This is certainly a year of introspection, which hopefully leads one to become closer to ones 'true self' – whatever that may be. It is my personal belief that when we are living as an expression of our true self, it is when we shall be at our best and most happy. The challenge is to allow our false self; what we think is our real state, to get out of the way, to be silenced, so that who we truly are can finally emanate into reality.

"People say that these small tools of ours will not work in this machine age. But we gave them a trial and found by experience that they do work even in this machine age. We plied the spinning wheel and the hand mill and we found that, in spite of the machine age, the wheel gave us the yarn and the hand mill the flour." – Vinoba

Muddy trousers

Today I spent more time with the students.  After spending many hours on my laptop working on my project plan, I feel the need for break and go join the students in their personal time (after 4.30, they have flexible time for a set of activities and mentoring).  With the first student, I simply sat down in one of the rooms and started a conversation about his village.  Then I asked what he would like to develop, to which he responded his ability to express himself confidently.  This turned out to be a common thread in the handful of students I was able to ‘mentor’ this evening.

I wanted to really get to know them and understand their position, so I tried to make any conversation as constructive as possible, whilst being insightful.  I gave the interview-type simulation by asking them to talk on random topics – such as GFS (Graduate Finishing School) and the word ‘poverty’. It uncovered a lot about their perceptions, both of GFS and poverty in India.  One particular girl used the words “poor” and “backward” to describe her student community – to which I felt personally uncomfortable. Having asked her what she felt, she agreed that it did not empower her but rather make her feel upset.  It was an opportunity to take ownership of my role in GFS and so I explained to her why those terms are redundant and have no value on anyone here – and that we are working on re-wording to ‘economically disadvantaged’.  This merely implies lacking funds to pursue higher education, rather than being lower, or unequal compared to the rest.  It felt good to connect with students – hearing the responses to questions such as “How will you make your parents proud?” One girl was lacking confidence to talk to new people and so we spoke through her fears to realise that there was nothing really to get so anxious about, resulting in her freezing up.

On my walk home, it was very muddy and my trousers were getting dirty.  My bags were heavy and I suddenly caught myself complaining.  I became an observer in that moment, and stepped out of complaint and into possibility.  I realised that this is the space where growth occurs.  The area is so muddy because roads are not built and houses are in construction.  Migrants build small huts out of bricks without cement, housing their whole families.  My temporary walk into a clean, well built and relatively insect free house is something I realised I was incredibly grateful for.

The Indicorps Orientation

It has been over a month since I arrived in India and thought it would be good to share my experiences so far.

Indicorps Orientation aptly started on 15 August 2009 (Indian Independence Day) and we began by going to a local village school to participate in the flag raising ceremony.  As the 27 fellows and a handful of staff walk through rural India, we become fully aware of this new home, with its muddy roads and wandering cows.

The purpose of the month long ‘boot camp’ orientation is to introduce us to India and the Fellowship.  To challenge us and push our boundaries, both physical and intellectual, the staff put us through various activities and vigorous experiences.  To give you a better understanding, I shall mention a few of the main ones.

To move away from the typical tourist / visitor mindset, we are introduced to the ‘Safai Schedule’.  All of the new residents of ESI (Environmental Sanitation Institute), our beautiful suburban home for the next month, are divided up into groups (which included staff) and then allocated different areas of the building to clean (ranging from toilets, dorms to open spaces).  We are also taught how to wash our own clothes (we are expected to do our own laundry), as well as wash our dishes after eating meals.  It's all part of the Indicorps philosophy on simple living.

On the very first day, we are tasked with the rather fun exercise of taking 2-3 local school children (who live in the nearby slum) on an adventure trip to the Zoo.  Regardless of language abilities, I think we all enjoyed walking around with the children, who towards the end were the ones walking us around I think!  To experience a connection and relatedness to children was true joy and gave an immensely practical introduction to the future of India.

Village Stay: this was probably the most I’ve had to operate out of my comfort zone.  We all went by sleeper train and local bus (for 5 hours) to a cluster of villages, where we were divided into smaller groups.  I went to a small village called Mogyabeh.  It was very interesting to be living with a host family in this village of farmers.  On the scale of Indian villages, this particular village is considered to be very much developing, due to the fact that certain facilities are not available (constant power or water connection) and the startling knowledge that there were no toilets in the whole village.  Working on the farm, carrying bundles of grass on my head, sleeping next to the goats, bulls and cows (considered family members), lots of flies, bathing in a well... we’re among the obvious experiences.  Five very memorable days.

Going beyond the physical challenges, it was more about understanding how rural India lives.  Spending time with the family, trying to communicate without using words.  The language they spoke was a very different dialect of Hindi, which pushed me to find ways to communicate beyond just words to build rappor and connection.

Understanding the emotional drivers behind each family member and how the unit operated was insightful.  I saw that women had respect, but we’re still treated very differently.  Men did work hard in the fields during season, but out of season, there was pretty much nothing to do.  I have to say, going through a bout of Diarrhea was the most memorable and involved me letting go of worry about what other people think – especially when having to walk through the whole village to get to the open field multiple times during the day (carrying the local trademark ‘white bottle’ for obvious reasons!).

Overall, I’ve spent a lot of time with new people and although you learn many things about them, the experience also enables you to reflect on yourself, your personal qualities and weaknesses.  Now that we’ve started our projects at our sites (Dharwad, Karnataka), there is more emphasis on personal growth and starting the phase of understanding ("look, listen and learn") – so that we can soon start implementing some of our objectives.

The NGO I’m working with here is called Vidya Poshak.  My project focus is developing the Graduate Finishing School, a 3 month full time course aimed at developing functional English, self confidence and soft skills in economically disadvantages students so that they may secure well-paid employment, alleviating poverty from their families for good.

I look forward to posting updates / sharing my thoughts soon...

Thank you for reading.