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):
Dr Sanjeev Kulkarni at his farm
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