Ananthoo's updates

beauty behold! all else can wait!

2012-02-08T08:04:00.000-08:00

i know, i know..so many stories to be covered here..
but the travels have been so many and in quick succession that I hardly get time to pen..
the last few days was spent in south TN- Ambasamudram and Tirunelveli side..
oh man! what a beauty.. the people, water bodies, clean rivers, many falls and all those virgin forests near maanjolai..it was a feast..
for years i have been wanting to go and spend some time in those areas..but just couldnt make it..
but a visit to one of our Model farms (hey even Kaani.org is pending here..but have a qwik peek now and about our model farms which will show case ecological and economical sustainability of a farm in eco friendly ways)in Kadaayam/alwarkurichi led to this fantastic bonus.

heard of mudanthurai tiger sanctuary? the dams above papanasam falls? man! those were really beautiful forests..and then the icing was a virgin forest- almost private one called maanjolai! even the road leading to it is private..it prolly was enjoyed only by brits and later on passed on to the Bombay Burmah tradinghttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif company who owns all those tea estates and the tea factory today..There is no commercial activity or hotel..one cant go and stay or spend time out there..then there is the Kodaiyar above this forest, which is a dam and has Electricity board active and nothing else..
all the way was pristine beauty..i dont even know if i should actually chronicle such virgin areas, lest more people go and spoil it!
some places reminded us of swiss..really! such calm, thinly populated and neat villages at an altitude..
W & me havent seen something as cute and beautiful like this after sikkim in India!
a sample here:

more fotos of maanjolai here!

some monsanto bashing..

2012-02-08T07:51:00.000-08:00

Monsanto's violations in GM maize trials ignored: RTI reply!!

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/225049/monsantos-violations-gm-maize-trials.html

no nod! yet Monsanto tried GM maize!
http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/No-nod-yet-Monsanto-tried-GM-maize-RTI/Article1-807774.aspx

and our good old Occupy wall street jumps against Monsanto to support a law suit against the worlds biggest villain!
http://www.alternet.org/health/153982/occupy_vs._monsanto%3A_activists,_farmers_fight_the_corporation_they_fear_will_take_over_all_america%27s_crops

meanwhile lets not miss this:
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120206/jsp/nation/story_15098220.jsp
big story of the failure of desi GM crop..a shame to our scientists and the institutions..

2012-01-24T08:09:00.000-08:00

Pune – organic farms, distribution of organic produce
Pune is in many ways similar to Bangalore – climate, people, easy and quick access to naturally beautiful places, and more importantly has some close friends and hence inviting. Probably it was the right time of the year (September'11), all around Pune was beautifully lush and green. If one were to go a few kilometers away from the city it was even more attractive with an undulating landscape and waterfalls and green hills everywhere.
It was not friends, food and chitchat but also peeked into a couple of good organic farms and more importantly a closer look at collection (from multiple small organic farmers) and distribution of organic produce – especially perishables .
GORUS – Gomukh centre for rural sustainability
This is a small organic collective which branched off from their main interest of watershed management and soil conservation. Ashwin Paranjpe and his friends were appalled at the fact that these hilly areas of western Maharashtra had acute water shortage from jan to June inspite of heavy rainfall from June to jan! This was the need for the watershed management and soil conservation in a scientific and organized manner. These efforts of Gomukh were fruitful in the short run, increased the water availability and with it came sugarcane cultivation. This cash crop which is both water and chemical intensive replaced paddy. So the same story – common across India, cash economy, industrial, commercial and intensive agriculture, not growing for self consumption, killing bio-diversity, moving away from food crops resulted in a economical and ecological disaster. So instead of the water shortage being resolved, a new set of issues cropped up. Increased use of chemical inputs was a source of false pride and one was only responding to constant threats and challenges. It was only natural to go the organic way to not only respect and maintain nature but also to safeguard the farmers livelihood and food security!
So they started an organic farm in a rented 2 acre field- model farm of sorts in a village in the beautiful Kolwan valley, in 2007! This demo field show cased raised bed, vermin composting, drip irrigation and slowly the results attracted some small an d marginal farmers. Today it’s a good group of them growing various crops- vegetables and fruits mainly for the 700 families who are their customers in Pune! Of this 120 are regulars I was told.
Today they have 8 full time employees (3W, 5M) working to fetch from various farmers, clean and segregate all the collected organic produce and sort and pack for each of their customers in a separate tray, with the bill. Then these are all home delivered and cash collected instantly. The demand is growing though as Ashwin observes, the collecting and distributing of org produce/perishables is a nightmare. The logistics is very tuff and demanding. He feels retailing is better than this delivery model but having pioneered this they are forced to carry this on, now. Their prices are also attractive – fixed price for whole season for a range of vegetables. They pay the farmers too uniform pricing for all vegetables. On prices he has lots of observation to make- being an agri and Marketing student! He claims the agri university system places the cost of production of tomato at 1.75/kg! economics, social, environment should be the order of concern for sustainability and he shared how they collect and store various stuff for deliveries in the later months!

GORUS also organizes cooking work shop, field day (when customers come and work in the farm a full day and eat fully org lunch!)..
A very nice social effort by an youngster – motivating and heartening! Way to go Aswin! And Gorus!!

--
Vasudha Sardar!
For someone who saw her partner suffer and depart due to cancer going organic was not a choice or an option! It was the only way..
So she not only goes organic but trains many farmers around too. She has a solid room and hall to conduct regular trainings for farmers..runs regular courses too!
These organic harvests are then sold at Bazars at 2 different venues in the city! One is an exotic place on top a hill outside a temple- where many locals come for their morning walk..tap the conscious aint? Those who walk will obviously be wary of health and so sure to listen to the health benefits of organic produce.
When we walked around their farm, we could see how healthy their plants were and what profuse yield tomatoes, chillies, guavas were all offering.
She had an interesting math to offer..requirement of veggies per family is only 300gms and this shouldn't cost beyond Rs.1500 per month! Why cant one spend on this amount for their health and for the sake of farmers livelihood she question. She is indeed strong in numbers, I shud say..she even reduces the land requirement to numbers. Going by her order and sale of veggies in each bazaar she says she just has to plan(t) 5 kuntas..and plan it in cycles – in 4 plots (totaling to 20 kuntas) from which she can cater to one Bazaar each year. Today she runs 3 such bazaars at different locations in Pune!
She, the typical enterprising lady, also has lotsa value additions especially out of unsold veggies..they are sun dried, packed and sold..some are made in to pickles..many sold as cut vegetables too! Smart, eh?
It was great to see the efforts of her team but what lingers around in my mind is why only partial conversion of her large chunk of land? What ever the reason be (lack of labour, maintenance, large extent) it doesnt gel with the serious reason that pushed her organic! Still a laudable and appreciable effort.

pongal-o-pongal

2012-01-15T06:43:00.000-08:00

this is harvest festival..celebrated all over India with different names..
hope this festival day u all will think of harvest and so farmer and farming and food so ur health and environment's health and
GO ORGANIC!

and thanks to wishes from many of you! I couldnt send a message back to most of u..
here Iam wishing u all and ur family heartily!
happy harvest festival!
pongal-o-pongal!!

2 news items of importance..

2012-01-11T19:24:00.001-08:00

i thought these 2 news clips are of great importance..
one on how the GM industry has corrupted our scientists and tech world..without any qualms of accountability!
and what all conflict of interest and compromises that happen..
on what?
our health! our future and the ecology's..unbelievable that such things can happen!!
and go scot free..

see this link:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/Khadi-admits-his-mistake-to-misuse-his-power/articleshow/11442578.cms

actually each line is a potential bomb for the industry if we citizens and the govt understood it!

and then this:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/70-of-milk-in-Delhi-country-is-adulterated/articleshow/11432288.cms
we all know that our health and food is being screwed by the day..with all the mindless commerce, loss of ethics in business and with the food industry going berserk with greed and profitability alone in mind..this is the reality check now!
but beware, we shall all be at a place of no return path!

what a shame!

2012-01-11T04:15:00.000-08:00

hmm..pretty bad my presence here has been..the last few months the no of posts have been pathetic..
yes, i have been extremely busy..I know and know that u all understand..but i just cant type any 'dog ate my home work' type reason for not blogging..
since Pune happened in september that is! oh man! its going to be tuff to get them all up here soon..also for me who refers back to my blogs (who else u thought is seeing this as often?) like a personal diary..
meanwhile had a great trip across the tribal belt in MP and rajasthan in jhabua, dungarpur, udaipur areas..beautiful and educating it was!

and BTW remember jagan??..there are many such guys out there.. JP who was instrumental in documenting and also gathering them all once a year (called the confluence of thoughts!- ennangalin sangamam!) has identified many such jagans.. see here for all such people and projects..JP called a big confluence of 600 such minds last sunday..i was privileged to be a part..i was also a special invitee to spend a day with 50 of their core team and dist coordinators the previous day..it was such a nice time with all these stars who are real ground level workers and heroes..so went my sat & sunday..the next 2 days we from ASHA had organised a round table on Farmers income and other issues involving farmer leaders from all the 4 southern states..organised at Chennai I had to play the host and ahem office boy..so much work to do, u know..

and then one gets a day off to catch up mails, calls,family etc and goes on farm visit moro..then 2 days locally with family for pongal and then off to sewagram. wardha for a week..

so here i go with some promises to make amends soon..
till then be good..

some delay in updates, meanwhile some links..

2011-11-22T05:17:00.000-08:00

phew..really so many things happening and so much to update here..
some of u who met me recently reminded me of some stories that were to be blogged in detail here 'later' as promised by me..like punjab, orissa story and some other farms..
what does one do with so much happening..other than begging ur pardon and asking for some more time..
meanwhile some more travel happening..
had to suddenly drive to Tiruvarur yday for a protest on BRAI..
see here: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/news/BRAI-Bill-faces-opposition-from-all-quarters/videoshow/10825237.cms

also for some self promotion see here on BRAI..

want to know more on BRAI? see here!

for now am in and around Sirkali, tiruthuraipoondi and the next 2 days are in interior villages of Villupuram..addressing and meeting many farmers..

so more stories coming soon..but for now apologies..

Press Conference on Biotech Bill (BRAI Bill), on 11th November 2011, addressed by farmers' leaders & national activists

2011-11-09T10:42:00.000-08:00

The Government of India's Ministry of Science & Technology is proposing to introduce the controversial Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) Bill 2011 in the winter session of the Parliament. In this context, a Round Table of farmers', traders, consumer and other civil society organisations has been organised on November 11th 2011, at ICSA, # 107, Pantheon Road, Egmore by Safe Food Alliance, Tamil Nadu and Coalition for a GM-Free India, a national level network of various farmer groups, activists, civil society members, scientists, doctors etc across India.

Representatives of farmers' unions, traders' associations, consumer groups, organic farming networks from all over Tamil Nadu along with Kavitha Kuruganti - Covenor, Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture (ASHA) and Sridhar Radhakrishnan - Convenor, Coalition for GM Free India, will address the media in this connection at 2.30 pm at the venue (ICSA). A report on "One Decade of Bt Cotton in Tamil Nadu" will be released on the occasion. We request you to kindly ensure that a representative of your esteemed media organisation attends this Press Conference and covers the same. Thank you.

WHAT?: PRESS CONFERENCE ON BRAI BILL 2011
BY WHO?: REPRESENTATIVES OF FARMERS' UNIONS, TRADERS' ASSOCIATIONS, CONSUMER GROUPS & NATIONAL ACTIVISTS
WHEN?: 2.30 pm, NOVEMBER 11TH 2011.
WHERE?: ICSA, # 107, PANTHEON ROAD, EGMORE, CHENNAI.

Sewage and Madras

2011-11-04T09:58:00.000-07:00

oh! actually we dont need that conjunction there aint?
sewage and Madras are inseparable..
9 months in a year Madras is on sewage and rest 3 months sewage is on Madras!(or is it all over?)
oh man! now its monsoon out here..its raining incessantly and u know how it is here..

Occupy Wall Street!

2011-10-19T23:14:00.000-07:00

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!

Steve Jobs no more. RIP:-(

2011-10-06T03:07:00.000-07:00

one of the brightest fella to have visited this planet, Steve Jobs was an amazing guy who delivered the best always..just check out if any one else has ever 'delivered' in their second innings, after being brought in -chucked out for his own house at the 1st place!.. This man did it..and during this time he was pushed out of Apple, he did create ripples with Pixar and went on to be the largest share holder of Disney!
The master innovator is no more:-(

Mac was unbeatable and unthinkable for the windows world..and in his 2nd innings he delivered such a master stroke with ipod..man! what a genius he was..

but one has to see how smooth a transition he effected -now or even when he was chucked out of Apple..

remember the advt of apple in 1976 when IBM came in to PC making- for the 1st time..full page ads claiming :"welcome IBM, seriously- apple"..one of the best ads ever, for me.. and the other master stroke was when windows 95 made such hulla about their features like plug and play, drag and drop, bla bla.."ok, so what? we have been having all these for more than a decade now!"

and one cant forget his speech at Stanford..can u? it did so many rounds on email forwards!
That is one of the best speeches! if u didnt see that earlier read now:
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html

;-) some eyeballs

2011-10-04T07:03:00.000-07:00

http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/ReStoring-organic-food/320058.html

travel, farms, lack of blogging..

2011-09-21T20:41:00.000-07:00

phew..it has been 30 days since i left home..went to Dindigul Gandhi Gram university for that big 3 day meet/workshop we had and where Tharcharbu Iyakkam was floated..That actually means lots of work and travel in the coming days but more on TI will come later in another post..
then went from there to Punjab - stayed in a beautiful organic farm where a 3 day training program was held (luxuries of community service in organic farming;-))and then a couple of more marketing meets in punjab followed by a couple of days at Haryana where an interesting debate between anti GM (ably handleded by kk) and GM scientist from JNU and another very gripping awareness program for medical doctors on GM! oh yeah, doctors see it as another technological development and not as safety or health issue, unfortunately..now after this many in that university have woken up!

then a grand meeting of the swadeshi Jagran manch called the swadeshi jutaan in Delhi! Thanks to Umendarji of Kheti virasat mission, punjab, I Was very happy to be in the midst of 100s of stalwarts and seriously socially conscious folks discussing variety of topics so passionately and intellectually! I happened to meet quite some interesting and phenomenal persons out there..even happened to steal some few minutes of Gurumurthyji! a good time..
Then went to Bombay, Pune observing some of the organic distribution groups and some organic farms around both cities..spent 2 days in vanvad..Vanvadi is a special place and ofcourse requires a separate post..

so reached home after 30 days yesterday and here iam getting ready for a 2 day juant to kumbakonam, tanjavur for some farmers meet..

so does that explain many of you questioning about my absence here in the blog or on mail or in various places including restore..will be back with more updates..
for now signing off with a bunch of reason for lack of posts and announcing the future slack too..but i am visiting so many interesting folks an projects but am not able to write about them in the same speed as I visit them..

Brooklyn John

2011-09-08T22:06:00.000-07:00

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.

new GM booklet in Tamizh!

2011-09-05T06:44:00.000-07:00

see here:http://safefoodalliance.blogspot.com/http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
This is a tamil version of the "Iam no Lab Rat" GM booklet in English!
Recently we had a 3 day workshop in the Gandhigram universtity, where the farming, origin of organic farming, policies and politics behind farming, the economics and skewed markets, the harsh realities, the livelihood aspects, sustainable farming, different schools of thoughts and the various idea(l)s to take it forward were discussed..many interested volunteers (young and old) had come and it was an intense 3 days where every one felt energised and were charged to contribute for this cause..
It was a a great time in a nice serene campus and Tharcharbu Iyakkam (translates as Self Reliance Movement)was born out there. we hope lots of activities will fill our calendars and this will go on to create the atmosphere of sustainable agriculture and right to safe food that we all dream and advocate.

Remember this name- Tharcharbu Iyakkam : it is gonna create waves and ofcourse bring about a great change in the way we see agriculture today and also bring in more people back to the land and agriculture.

Tharcharbu Iyakkam valarga!!

House of Kodai

2011-09-04T23:50:00.000-07:00

One of the most fortunate things that has dawned on me after this ‘retirement’ and wedded to agri causes (the organic or sustainable ones) is that we get invited to so many fantastic organic farms..in beautiful locales..incredible achievements, phenomenal people, out of the world farming techniques beckon us..
I said above that we get invited..pl include ‘getting invited’ also as a category..on hearing of good fabulous farms me and W do get ourselves invited and launch ourselves there..

One such farm is the House of Kodai..one heard of Karthik long back with his ingenious ‘Basket of Kodai’ idea..then we at restore get some plums, bananas and other stuff from HOK..later we hear that that the inimitable F is also there..F is known for her extraordinary baking & cooking skills incidentally..so more reasons to go.. meanwhile K & F send restore some pickles and jams in some matchless packing..(am sure its F’s hand)

So more reason to visit..but plans don’t lead to visits, u know..i have been promising K since last year that we will land up there in the next opportunity..KSY, other tours, some advocacy issues, other GM fights, restore tasks all play up in this perennial postponement..
And suddenly in August mid we steal a couple of days and go to Kodai..and so stay over in HOK..oh? did I say Kodai? No its only when we went there we found that it was Switzerland..or prolly a cut paste..
It was very swiss like locale and their practices and style all were very unique and added to my swiss memoirs..
It’s a beautiful piece of land overlooking a ‘north face’ like ‘grindelwald’ type hill range..
A stream running on its edge of their land, recent rains having made this whole place more than a green heaven..
Add to that K & F’s hospitality..one of the best in recent past..
K also ventured in to telecom a bit..out of sheer selfish need to get himself a broadband (for net access) he brings in some wireless equipments and weaves his magic- in the midst of no-where, (since it was surrounded by hills alla round there was no solution earlier..) he gets broadband..This solution especially working with the local youth attracted so many eyes and even the normally immovable BSNL was moved! They have now asked him to use his ‘technology’ to offer to any one who asks for in Kodai and may be scale up to other places..
So this place also is beyond farming..since it is telecom that attracts me more..I really wish it does go places, for all his perspiration!
Add to that K’s popularity all over the Kodai hills..
So we could just go around visiting many more farms and lotsa interesting org farmers..
A memorable trip..inimitable folks..one of the best farms I visited in the recent past..NO! Iam not going to get in to their organic farm, produce, techniques etc..
If I were to build a house in an eventual farm that I will settle, I will copy this house- kitchen, bedroom, balcony overlooking the hill, swiss-like wooden benches and the bath!
Actually I can write one long piece only on that bathroom..i can see F’s stamp on it..This is the best bathroom I have ever used..mind u, I have traveled really wide..across the globe and easily more than 100 organic farms across India and to say this I must be more than convinced..The best bathroom ever..may be I might even opt to just stay there in that bath next time..since Iam still traveling fotos incl those of bathrooms shall be posted only later..but their blog and site has some fotos i guess..
Till then keep checking here..
Please don’t ask me for their address, phone number etc..Iam not going to give that..if u ‘qualify’ u shall get to go there..

Chidambaram is the father of black money, says Ram Jethmalani

2011-08-20T12:28:00.000-07:00

see this!

Ban GM trials in TN says activists!

2011-08-18T21:56:00.000-07:00

yes..have been busy traveling..
was in Bangalore then to Kodai,Gandhigram, Madurai and back..
some stories in the offing..
for now see this..
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/ban-gm-trials-in-tn-activists/175522-60-120.html

Monsanto Quit India!!

2011-08-08T06:18:00.000-07:00

hey, do join the "Monsanto, Quit India" events being held all over India, to mark the Quit India Day on August 9th 2011. In scores of locations across 15 states of India, the demand is to the governments, to scrap various agreements that they have with Monsanto, Mahyco, Bayer, Dow, Syngenta, DuPont and the likes given that the governments are actually facilitating the build-up of monopolistic markets for these corporations (in the name of public private partnerships) by using taxpayers' funds, to the detriment of the livelihoods of our farmers. The demand is also to blacklist Monsanto given the recent objectionable biosafety violations found in its GM maize plot in Bijapur, Karnataka. This is also to demand that state governments do not allow any GM crop trials and do not facilitate bio-piracy of invaluable germplasm that belongs to farmers of this country in the name of collaborative research etc. The Day is also being marked to showcase community-level, self-reliant solutions that Indian farmers have pioneered, including farmers' seed breeding and conservation skills and knowledge.

VISIT: here for a list of events around the country. This link also leads you to a poster that can be downloaded, a song for the occasion and a leaflet.

For those of you who cannot join the events directly, the request is that you at least display the poster in your work place, distribute print-outs of the leaflet, in addition to wearing white on that day in solidarity with a black ribbon and a green ribbon tied on the arm.

MONSANTO, QUIT INDIA!
'NO' TO CORPORATE CONTROL OF INDIAN AGRICULTURE!
Date: 9th August 2011

“No food shall be grown, that we do not own” – that is the reported objective of Monsanto, the multi-national seed and agro-chemical company notorious for suing and jailing farmers for the “crime” of reusing seeds they purchased from the company! If you are shocked by Monsanto’s aim of controlling the entire world’s food production system, what is more mind-boggling is how much progress it has already made towards its goal. Monsanto is today the world’s largest seed company, controlling 23% of the proprietary seed market. The annual turnover of this single company is Rs. 22,500 crores, more than the GDP of 48 countries and nearly equal to five years' of financial outlay in India for National Agricultural Development Programme! Notorious for its unscrupulous practices, it is now re-writing the laws and manipulating politicians and officials in the developing world to push its GM (genetic modification) technology, herbicides and proprietary hybrids. Recently, gross violations were exposed in its field trials of GM maize in Karnataka showing the impunity with which the company defies biosafety concerns.

The question of who controls our agriculture – our crores of farmers or a few big corporations – has deep ramifications for the whole society. We all have a big stake in whether unsafe genetically modified foods will be thrust on us, whether unsafe agri-chemicals would further damage our water, soil and health, whether 10 crore farmer families will lose their livelihoods, whether our rural and urban areas will be sustainable and whether we would have safe, diverse and nutritious food to eat.

If we as a nation want to protect our food sovereignty, if we want to retain control on what we grow and what we eat, this is the time for us to act decisively. This is a call to all like-minded organizations, alliances and individuals to come together and join the various events around the country.

This Day of Action aims to strengthen the broader struggle against corporate domination of agriculture by focusing on its most potent symbol. Let us send a strong signal from all over India that citizens will not tolerate corporate domination of our food and farming systems.

This call is being put out by Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (ASHA). Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (ASHA) is an all-India network of about 400 organizations of farmers, agricultural workers, consumers, social activists and academics, working to promote ecologically sustainable agriculture and secure livelihoods for farmers, and stop corporate domination of our agriculture and food system. ASHA organized the nation-wide Kisan Swaraj Yatra from Sabarmati to Raj Ghat in Oct-Dec 2010 for “Food, Farmers, Freedom”.
for more see here

India vs Bharath!

2011-08-06T10:50:00.000-07:00

I was in hyderabad last week for a series of meeting and was in the outskirts. It was a beautiful campus with lotsa greenery. One was always tempted to go for an early morning walk and yes, Hyd was pleasant, surprisingly! As always one would try and find a chai shop for the shubh aarambh. so did I right outside the campus on the road side..an oriya lady running it! I with my tootie frootie hindi conveyed to her that i wud need a black tea without sugar (ofcourse with out milk) and light! she smiled and made it for me with all patience..what in the morning, another vessel and all new efforts for 1 cup..
and then she did give me a good one and i was happy..
so when i asked her what was the cost, she smiled again..i said what? and she said, what money? go..what do i charge for water? ok, hot water at that!
i had to force the payment..
But see the attitude..early morning, extra efforts and no expectation!
Thats the real Bharath- working with the heart!
In India - ur developed urban that is, they would have asked for 25/- atleast without batting an eye lid..no, i dont want free lunch, still!
and this is not the 1st time..it has happened twice before..once in some remoe village in TN and another in karnataka..
thats the difference!
India vs bharath that is ladies and Gmen!

Humpty dumpty NO! honest humpty dumpty..

2011-07-26T21:56:00.001-07:00

oh man! what a disgrace..
our MMS- the honest PM we ever had or so touted..
every one, just about every disgraced politico from Kalmadi to A raja to Yeddy- every one says this man, the honest PM knew!!
and i thought only the world bank (or WTO) bought him..
and here u see..
prolly a pick pocket arrested in a small town tomorrow, will say the PM knows..

so be informed we are indeed ruled by a very knowledgeable man- a Know all (thieves) man!

Ragi in the SRI way!

2011-07-19T02:04:00.001-07:00

The regulars here know our association with PR and the numerous visits. Each time is fun and new learning out there. Infact W and me go there often as farm labour volunteers. (ok, we havent been as often as we would like, but still..)
This time it was ragi transplanting..we were excited bcos it was to be done the SRI way..(fellow restorer and good friend rajeev had documented about madagascar method aka SRI long back here) There is the official sri site too here!
Today SRI is no more associated to just rice..there is the wheat grown using this method.experts these days say it is - System of Root intensification..rightly so..the root intensification and hence the advantages are plenty..
But to try that for ragi( Finger millet) is a novelty!

so we were excited..but to handle a 10 day old sappling and transplant is amazing..but the care taken means its a slow process..single sappling at 8 inches or a span apart..This was done in a heavily mulched part of the land. a 10th of an acre took us all a good amount of time..Its always fun to do anything with Sriram, Karpagam, Siddarth and DV!

and then another great event happened the next day!
guess what that is?or was??

yeah..poo! its human poo composted and absolutely no smell! be assured..its such a great feeling that human waste is int wasted actually but composted and surrendered to land as fertiliser!
see this and more on ecosan toilets in the same web site.

Bio Cotton! my new love!

2011-07-10T08:19:00.000-07:00

man! cotton is such a fascinating stuff..as a serious follower of agriculture and in the context of anti-GM politics, cotton had a different dimension for me. BT cotton is full of contradictions and flaw..lots of failures and health hazards that I didnt see the cotton there but only the politricks behind it and foul play of the MNCs.

Then I did have some stories on cotton seed oil entering our food cycle (and hence BT) and the compromise we make by consuming refined oil.
I also had the luck to go with kk on a cotton trail few months back!

But what i have now is all different from this.
an year and half ago when I visited Madurai Thalanmai, I had documented about the millets processing and how the women groups out there process the millets by hand. Then as we spoke about rain fed agri, it went on to cotton and since that is so soft on the ecology, I thought we shud do something extra..These small farmers who grow cotton organically that too rain fed shud be compensated more for their eco services..
so we thot they shudnt be selling their produce as raw cotton but with some value add..hence we pitched in and after cotton procurement put it to hand spinning, hand weaving, natural dyeing, manual stitching and buttons made of coconut shells! Can u think of a more eco friendly shirt? Low on water, low on energy, low on pollution, zero effluents!
But did it sell like hot cakes? NO! due to various reasons like no variety, only 2 sizes, it was just small sample, etc.

Now we want to go ahead and make this a more structured bigger project involving some 15 farmers which wud translate to 30 acres. this wud also offer livelihood to 15 weaver families apart from the 15 farmers. Add a few more in the form of stitching etc. sounds very interesting and noble!

So I had to try and learn more and as one goes closer, so many things are striking.
Phew..there is so much behind a garment..so many steps, so much process, so much creativity, value add..ofcourse in the chemical way- so much chemicals, effluents, pollution, sucking up of water, energy..
One wud shudder to sport a cloth if u really see it closer!
Add to that many more processes like knitting, printing, block, etc..just no end..
But the pity is the farmer at the end of a 10 month crop has been getting the same pittance for ages..a design house and hence a designer is the most benefited in this cycle. Ofcourse as my friend jai (who has done so much research and given me so much gyan) says ‘if the farmer has a clue of the value of the final product and the margins/revenue made by those he wud prolly chop them all’.
As for me I wud never dye a product and wud just live with unbleached off white stuff..
But for now, I will work on natural dyes along with machine spinning, hand weaving, manual stitching to somehow get the farmer some due. We intend setting up a replicable system so that many more such small and marginal farmers start (a cooperative or some hybrid model we come out with), run and benefit.
To share the nuances of weaving, hand spinning, dyeing etc means some reams shud pass by. Paucity and brevity stops me here. That’s all for another day.
More cotton stories later..for now wish us luck..try and read more on cotton, organic that too and other processes! value and respect any cloth and thank the farmer for having produced them year after year even though they were hardly compensated.

GM industry on back foot!

2011-07-04T22:20:00.000-07:00

It is common knowledge how corporates esp the special MNCs like Monsanto function. how they are in news world wide for one or other corrupt or surreptitious move and how they have always been noted for hazardous produce.
We also know how organisations esp the monitoring agencies across the world including FDA have always been biased and helped bring wrong products on to our plates!

GEAC the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee has been censured even by the Environment minister under whom this comes. GEAC has bent their back many times to help these corporates. The scientists within GEAC, what ever their compulsions and profit could be, unceremoniously favour the GM industry lobby. That has been brought to light many times earlier.

This time its even more blatant! nepotism!! one of the scientist Swapan Kumar Datta has pushed and got clearance for trials of GM rice to be conducted by his wife, Karabi Datta, faculty with the botany department of Calcutta University! by beating all norms and regulations, even altering a basic requirement!

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-07-02/developmental-issues/29730449_1_isolation-distance-gm-rice-crop-trials

what a shame! and we are sitting here believing our Govt authorities will take care of our safety esp in such food items. hmm...

The GM industry marched strong only because of their surreptitious moves and inglorious adjustments and backdoor maneuvers..These corporates as proved time and again have only their profit and market share in mind and nothing but that. So buying a bunch of politicos should help them move fast.
That leaves us public to be aware of such moves and civil society groups to be on vigil and save our food and farmers' livelihood from them..

In quick succession after that blatant nepotism and dare devil move by the GEAC member and scientist, another unsafe, careless n reckless trial by Monsanto the Goliath corporate has been exposed by Green Peace and civil society members in Karnataka.
see here:
http://in.finance.yahoo.com/news/Ban-GM-crops-field-trials-ians-1307881363.html?x=0

the MSM also carried it!
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/cities/bengaluru/surreptitious-gm-crop-trials-see-new-calls-ban-714

the same story in Hindu:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2159367.ece

Wish the environment minister Jayaram ramesh takes severe action and suspends this perma villain called Monsanto from any GM affairs in India. they can jolly well screw the Americas, as has been happening for decades now. Monsanto as we have seen many times here has no end for its greed. one planet might not suffice them as said here.

expect some tardy performance..

2011-06-24T08:48:00.000-07:00

lots to post here..
but lotsa travel happening..which means very less net access as well as no time to blog.
was in Hyderabad on ASHA (Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture) matters..
from there to Salem..remember piyush? going to that farm for next 2 days..
once back in madras have loads to do..

so no promises on when more stories come..but there are many for sure..

Hyderabad was hot! and the food out there even hot...phew, my stomach had to really fight heavy to cope up with the spicy (tasty though) food out there..
Chennai was too when I left..In all Bangalore still is better inspite of the traffic woes..

Ecoli and organic!

2011-06-15T08:07:00.000-07:00

so as is the norm these days, once a while a new stone will be thrown at organic..and many who have never thought how the world and agriculture was till 100 years back- fully organic and how with all the various substantiation didnt bother to go organic would latch on to this new silly news item and question the seriousness and validity of Organic!

so here it is now- doubts about E-coli and organic..those who didnt bother to consume organic till date are quoting this..hey,u didn't worry nor question the residual chemicals and poison in your food nor the new GM food whose bio safety is a big question mark..but now u jump!!
all times, eh!

ok, organic is not like chemical- atleast one can wash..if not enough wash in hot water! thats about it..
but these e-coli etc can be a serious threat in meat per se..especially red meat and so its wise to avoid them. This new outbreak in Germany and else where is also because of e-coli from uncooked intestine and other parts of the animals that they eat.

now there are many other conspiracy theories..
see here for eg: http://www.naturalnews.com/032622_ecoli_bioengineering.html
most of which is buyable bcos the pharma and agrichem are 2 ruthless industries who wouldn't dare to kill the whole world to sell their (dubious)product.

how articulate! what answers!!

2011-06-12T06:45:00.001-07:00

This octogenarian MK really freaks out!
no coherence, no matter!
what interview is this?

how shallow and stupid one can be to take the press and people for a ride..
oh! BTW he lost bcos of brahmins! thats the highlight..u know there are 80% brahmins in TN:-0

but good..if he didnt get why he lost, chances are bright he wudnt make it again!

Egypt ot Bahrain?

2011-06-09T01:28:00.000-07:00

lotsa talks..
if this Baba is fake?
if his fast is actually a Gandhian act?
if he is backed by RSS or BJP?
and if the ramlila was an Egypt or Jalian walia bagh?

last question first - its Bahrain..not Egypt not jalian..this silly govt screwed it up by playing like bahrain and the gulf countries do to quell the protest..(why not China one may ask- China atleast does it in day light like Tienanmen)

and the only response the govt spouts is "he is RSS agent" Oh! of all the suave accented Chidambaram is saying the famous "its RSS"..
the way he talks really puts me off..
hey man! its about corruption..stashed money in Swiss!
oops, is it?? they are all conveniently forgetting it..
may be cong, BJP all are together here..create a din and let the main agenda fall by?

yeah, This yoga baba stretched his imaginations a bit..asked for the moon..
didnot have the convenience of Anna- impeccable back drop!
But aren't we all losing the plot?
for the comfort of politicos?/

one thing- the response for Anna hazare's call yesterday gives some hope..that all is not lost..civil society is still having this new found zing in them..good..
Its another matter that team anna are also losing the plot at times and are mouthing what the press and few others want to hear..
but hope they dont get distracted and lose it..
lets have a good draft or even the law itself in place..then debate rather than trying to lose it all..
why should the PM and MPs shud be exempted, may I beg to know?
so that only some third class rascal is caught for misappropriating half kilo of guavas, eh?

cong Vs Baba Ramdev!

2011-06-05T10:17:00.000-07:00

No one knows to shoot at their own legs better than congress…
In this Ramdev episode too that’s what they have done..
I cant fathom why Team baba wud issue a letter that they wud call off the fast the next noon..that is stupid how much ever they think they pulled a ‘fast’ one..
That really puts a big question mark on their intention, transparency etc..
But bcos it is congress that’s at the other end- who fell at his feet, spread red carpet, held ‘talks’ so many rounds and finally goofed by such an action-hence team Baba can actually get away..

What can one say for such an action at midnight? They suddenly say that Baba got permission to conduct yoga not political sermons!
What crap? The whole world new there was to be a fast at ramlila against corruption…there were even reports about how grand the place was being revved up..
And here cong suddenly woke up, at midnight that is, and are stunned that this man was trying to be ‘political’..only cong can come up with such ridiculous spouts..
Ok, if indeed he said yoga and was talking politics what will a govt do? Come disturb the gathering and lathi charge at mid night?

Oh man! Shabby on the whole..
And this problem of corruption will take a back seat now..
May be that’s what cong wanted..

another bone from MKs closet!

2011-06-01T23:02:00.000-07:00

see here:
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/minister-steals-a-telephone-exchange-loots-bsnl/156127-60-118.html

what a loot! in the open roads..and you now know why Sun TV has such a big reach and plush with money! they have the best technology- all for free (just steal them na!)and all our money too!
Nail them..infact get them pay back in multiples..

ok, now let the next wicket fall from the multi rich MK family.

and did u know who is the hero of MKs family now?? Kiran bedi!!
guess why? its bcos she revamped Tihar jail, its such a haven now and the family's meeting place!

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

2011-05-31T01:01:00.000-07:00

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

2011-05-28T09:36:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-05-23T10:23:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-05-15T08:50:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-05-13T10:36:00.000-07:00

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..

2011-05-13T10:29:00.000-07:00

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

2011-05-07T07:52:00.000-07:00

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?

2011-05-04T21:29:00.000-07:00

Obama Sin laden?

AI. pilots, politicians and mediocrity

2011-05-03T01:03:00.000-07:00

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?

2011-05-02T09:26:00.000-07:00

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!)

just missed..

2011-04-29T23:37:00.000-07:00

so the GEAC meeting of the experts did happen on 27th April..and luckily, by the skin of teeth, we have escaped..ok, it would have been just a recommendation to the ministry to allow, still..
The pace of the industry and the intensity with which the scientists and the industry are hobnobbing, its amazing and shocking!
Its good to remember what Dr. David Suzuki, scientist, geneticist, and environmentalist recently commented about GMOs: “Any scientist that tells you they are safe is either ignorant or lying to you.”

So the simple question here is- even if a few scientists stand up and say GM is not safe why are we even considering it until they all discuss, test and come out with the safety in clear terms.

But then its not just about scientists ain't? Infact they have failed us more in the recent past..almost all the products they delivered had more ills and negative impact than positives - including the supposed medicines!
still if we give the scientists some rope, we should also look at the long term impacts like water, soil, other species, farmers' livelihood, seed sovereignty, etc.

so for now, keep your eyes and ears open..Voice out where ever you can against GM and esp this BT brinjal now, which is in news.

Say No to Bt Brinjal.
Will you???

to hell with the World cup!

2011-04-26T23:02:00.000-07:00

a very nice article..really resonate with his thought..
http://www.hindu.com/op/2011/04/24/stories/2011042453592000.htm

Bt brinjal - inching to our plates? wake up!!

2011-04-25T06:05:00.000-07:00

There has been mention of Bt brinjal here and here..

A very important GEAC meeting is to take place on 27th April on BT Brinjal.

This is following the Moratorium that was passed by the MOEF under Mr.Jairam Ramesh last year against the commercial release of BT Brinjal. after that historic public consultations by him! One of the first times a democratic process in full flow in India, thanks to Mr.Jairam Ramesh, happened then. Amongst the various issues raised by the Minister for Environment & Forests in his moratorium decision note, there was a crucial point on alternatives to chemical pesticides.

Now a 16 member panel meets on 27th April to review the situation!

Meanwhile there were also lots of questions around the members of this panel itself, because many were seen to be part of the GM industry and were obviously floating in conflict of interest. The constitution of this 16 member panel is very questionable. No social scientists or genetic toxicologist!

There has been no improvement on the ground situation from the time Moratorium came in to effect.No specific development to re-consider Bt brinjal at all. Infact there has been major setback for this technology and GMO food in general with many independent analysis and tests across the globe showing inadequacy of safety of these foods as well as risk assessment.

No independent analysis or testing conducted by the industry nor the regulatory Govt body.

The independent analyses that was undertaken by American and New Zealand scientists (Prof David Andow and Dr. Lou Gallagher) of the Bt brinjal biosafety dossiers of the company (Mahyco) have already shown that the test protocols were inadequate, that findings were masked or wrong interpretations made, and that our regulators don't take up detailed independent analysis, leave alone independent testing!

All of this is apart from what emerged during the bt brinjal debate, which includes what state governments and their experts pointed out and what jairam ramesh himself pointed out in terms of lack of conclusive evidence on the safety, including through long term tests for chronic impacts etc. The entire bt brinjal biosafety dossier as it exists today should just be rejected.

Ofcourse when so many scientists across the globe questions its safety and necessity, there is no urgency to consider the commercial release of the Bt brinjal.

Especially when sensible states like Bihar are even asking for ban of GM trials where is the question of commercial release?

Beyond biosafety, it is clear that issues around farmers’ rights and sustainable livelihoods, as well as consumers’ rights have not been addressed so far. It is also known that there is no liability regime in place with regard to GMOs in our food and farming so far in India.

smirk..smirk..

2011-04-22T22:14:00.000-07:00

see this..
http://savethehindu.blogspot.com/
hmm..theres more to the hindu story am sure..
more linen will get washed or may be like last times they may just have them in closed doors..
but u know the smoke keeps showing..
and if more skeletons come out, u will tell yourself
"oh! bovine excreta! was i reading this all this while.." if u r still reading it,that is..

Compromised:-(

2011-04-21T06:19:00.000-07:00

My yahoo id has been compromised..Many of you have received some sexy mails from me..
Am sorry, it’s a virus or malware..

So don’t think I have taken new dealership and click on those 'enlarging' invitations;-)

I always thought only Gates was very obsessed with enlargements..what with hotmail full of such mails of Viagra and equivalents..now yahoo too has fallen for size, I guess..lucky that its my rarely used yahoo..(used only for subscription to yahoo groups)

Oh man! Long back I was really jobless one day and wrote back to the invisible and famous Nigerian! But here I don’t dare..

I see that some of you tried clicking on the links..brrr…high hopes..I might have forwarded many interesting mails and jokes..but don’t stretch ur imagination and click on these very innovatively named links..if u did click, hard luck..join the fun.

Mistake is mine, I guess..In January, inadvertently, when I was hard pressed for time to finish some compilation and typing of docs, I just disabled the anti-virus in my laptop bcos it was so slow. I told myself, I shud enable it again later..which never happened..and it ended here..

Meanwhile if you can help me, throw ur ideas how to save myself from such raids.. wud anti virus alone suffice?

Touching and inspiring! Motivating too!!

2011-04-18T10:21:00.001-07:00

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..

Tea- organic, hand made and hand rolled!

2011-04-12T10:56:00.000-07:00

Tea is the largest consumed beverage on this planet, after water ofcourse! Tea is not just a beverage but more than that, as the Swiss would vouch for. There are so many versions of tea that a swiss would consume and sincerely believe it addresses most ailments. (ok, confession, I have believed it too and been a part of it;-))

Tea plants live for at least a 100 years and are hardly propagated naturally any more. BTW, it was a news for me to hear that tea is a tree and not a herb or shrub as one would imagine. This grows over 10 metres in to a big tree, if let free. . It could have come from China but there are so many million hectares covered by this..yes, a dreadful monoculture after all!
We not only abuse it with mono culture practice, but just don’t let it grow to its natural height either. There was a story that I heard which adds to the woes of agriculture, monoculture especially. In the Nilgiris from the time tea was propagated (earliest ones being brought in 1820), the lovely land of grassland and various trees was lost to all but one crop. Nilgiris’ bio diversity being the main sufferer. In effect the huge trees that mingled with the clouds above Nilgiris and helped condensation and hence rain, no more was the scene and so the lesser rains. The other fall out being soil. The grassland arrested the soil erosion and also helped in some water retention before it rolled down from the hills. whereas tea has led to water and soil depletion. And let us forget the ramification of chemicals – fertilizers, pesticides, weedicides, etc. for now that is.

So what was essentially a visit to look at tea, organic at that and especially hand made and hand rolled Organic tea in the Nilgiris, ended up in such ecological awareness.

Kothagiri is a beautiful place in the Nilgiris – away from touritsy ooty. Tea plants probably planted a century back is what is seen as far as the eye can see interspersed with Silver oaks to provide shade. Tea, as said before, is actually a tree (not a shrub) which is pruned regularly (once in four years or so) to make plucking easier and to maintain quality of the tea leaves.

Tea plants can be propagated by seeds or cuttings. Seeds are rare, hybrid saplings are the norm -a variety unimaginatively labeled B661 is what is prevalent.
This is what Nilgiris is full of! A clone from one particular farm is what found all over Nilgiris. The clone from one particular plant - the 61st shrub in the 6th row of a farm called Brooklands or such like!. want to talk of monoculture here? Hmm..

There is, like every where else, a big shortage of labour and tea which is such labour intensive faces it even more pronounced. So as a way of escaping the shortage, mainly thanks to NREGA and other industry/urban run, weedicides are used excessively. Since labour is a must for harvest (there is very minimal mechanization in harvest front ) weedicides are used to avoid labour employment in de-weeding. So Round up and cancer are increasing phenomenon here now.
Small and large farmers alike use weedicides to kill whatever else dares to grow between their precious tea shrubs and pesticides are also sprayed in abundance esp for the red spider “pests” which is prevalent. Ofcourse these red spiders are less in organic farms and easily controlled with bio-methods.
Essentially the teas are either China or Assam variety. Assam ones have broader leaves. Assam has more liquor (strength?) as they call it and grows in low lying areas too. World wide Darjeeling tea is rated the best. The altitude out there is just right it seems.
The tea leaves are harvested every 15 days- the top 2 leaves and the bud is what is harvested. When I tasted it, I found so much similarity to neem leaf. Seriously! On average a kilo of leaves fetches Rs11/-.
These green leaves then are withered, heated, rolled, then ready!
Green tea- is not withered but steamed or pan roasted and sold. This is supposedly more healthy with anti-oxidant property being the steal.
CTC is crush tear and Curled and Orthodox is the old process.
But what we get in market Blended! The last quality and blended will ofcourse be blended not with best for customer but best for business economics.

Now to Organic! SLOE is a 10 acre organic farm owned by our courteous hosts Ramesh babu and Susheela. There is a strong belief (myth?) that tea can be organic only in huge acreage and not in small holdings. To break this and to ensure many small planters can and should venture organic Ramesh Babu is trying to set an example- economical and ecological.
Theirs is a fantastic 10 acre land beautifully surrounded by reserve forest on 3 sides and a deep ravine on one end. So not even the run off from neighbouring lands add chemical unmindfully in to theirs. Their farm looks very different because it has a variety of trees and lots of plants (weeds?) grown and also has grass in-between. This grass was cited as a reason to reject subsidy for them by the Tea board! (oh! The ‘educated’ and ‘university specialists’ can only encourage ‘fast forward’ practices, not eco-friendly ones). BTW the subsidies for tea is a big story that has to be reserved for another post.

Before machines were invented for tea processing, tea was rolled by hand for centuries in China, Japan etc. At SLOE they hand roll their tea, and this is a very laborious, exacting and highly time consuming process. Tea rolled at body temperature gives the best quality, as opposed to machine rolled teas which generate high temperatures, due to the high volume of tea and the high speed of the machine. The high temperature interferes with the enzyme activity in the tea. Modern tea factories produce thousands of kilos of tea daily. Small organic ones can only make around One kilogram of handrolled tea daily.(Scaling up production of this product is not an easy affair, if QUALITY has to be maintained). One character of this tea, is that the Leaf regains its original shape and size, and greenish colour after steeping. Thus Organic hand rolled Tea is a speciality. And if you value quality, organic, traditional methods- consuming organic hand rolled is the way.
Once you taste organic tea you will realise that all this colour, fragrance, strength that are advertised by the industry,are all external characters (obviously more chemicals and unhealthy entrants)

Did you know adding MILK is a NO NO for Tea! The right way is to just pouring hot water in to tea leaves, then cover it and let it steep. In the process witness the leaves unfurl. From now on drink tea like Tea connoisseurs – without sugar or milk and prepared as said above.

Now where do you get it? For Organic hand rolled tea or hand made tea which is made without any mechanization but hand rolled and hand processed, go to restore. We at restore get them from SLOE, Kothagiri, from Ramesh babus organic farm all processed by manually by him and his wife.

Barkha Dutt hoi hoi

2011-04-11T03:26:00.000-07:00

see this!
am happy that people shouted at her when she visited India gate during the lokpal protest..
ha ha..she deserves it:-)
but this wud never surface in the media..
even when she and Vir Sanghvi were embroiled in that scandal, the media kept mum..they (MSM) are really a cartel, ain't they?

secularism again..

2011-04-10T08:36:00.000-07:00

oh yeah!
our skewed secularism is surfacing again..
to hit back at Anna Hazare - the cong and NCP cohorts are trying their best..they poke at Anna not being secular bcos he, apparently, praised Modi (and Nitesh too, but thats to be sidelined) as a performing CM! Oh! how can he?
come on..atleast contextually,it suits..Modi is supposed to be incorruptible..atleast ManMohan's bosses the Americans too think so..Infact RahulG said so recently..so do all of them become anti-secular?oops will any cong man think that way? against a G? hmm..how preposterous..
meanwhile, i am happy NCP is training its gun on Hazare..wish this boils in to a bigger fight and Anna wipes Pawar out..i really salivate at that thought..

Fair ending to Annas fast!

2011-04-08T22:53:00.000-07:00

atlast after 98 hours Anna Hazare ends his fast. There was such an overwhelming response from the public, its a great thing to happen. The media showing interest (prolly bcos the cricketers were on a small hols- between world cup and IPL) was a big fillip..i saw the print media had more restraint and reason, surprisingly.

Meanwhile this fats and the swelling of ordinary citizens on the road is not the end of it..not even will i describe this a victory..
But a welcome change..
for once the public mind was expressed clearly across India..
also this was a fantastic way of communicating our wish and will..

may be the bill needs more thinking..there could be pressing practical issues..
for once the public participation in articulating, understanding and even communicating about a law was intense..democracy at work in a very welcome way..
hope this is the beginning..hope there is more transparency in all the bills from draft stage..hope there is more active civil society participation and more sanity infused in to our hitherto non-functional democracy.

Another very striking feature was the large participation of the youth..hope this sustains and continues to be a watch dog and walks the full distance.

Its also commendable how people like Kiran Bedi conducted..its a great sign..an understanding of why a single tall leader is always important for movements..

Go Anna go! as was demonstrated, whole nation is behind you. now accomplish the 'asks'. set the stage for more victories.

King Hazare

2011-04-06T20:38:00.000-07:00

Anna Hazare, the living Gandhi, one of the greatest examples of ‘be the change’ is on an indefinite fast in his fight against corruption.
Anna has been a great personality who changed the face of a whole area in Maharastra by employing water harvesting and many disciplines. Thus changing the whole area water sufficient from water starving and also the livelihoods from labours to self contained farmers!He is an unparalleled social reformer.
(Iam ashamed that I have not done one long post in my series of ‘interesting folks’ about Anna, bcos I was never happy with my half done piece on him. Will do soon. My experience of meeting him and spending 2 days out there is one of the highlights of my life!).

Now he is on a fast and I urge all of you to participate in any which way you can. Go and participate in the various cities where there are many solidarity fasts and events held by locals (in Bangalore go to Freedom park).. Spread the word..make as many forwards as you can and popularize it..He is ably supported by great stalwarts like Kiran Bedi, Arvind Kejriwal, Prashant Bhushan and such like..
This is one chance we get…
IMHO this is the best shy at corruption in India ever and we all have aa big responsibility of pitching in, not just showing solidarity.

I am so thrilled with the media coverage and the response he has evoked this time..I see lots of activities in support all over India. The MSM is covering this heavily (now that even tendulkar's maid and Dhoni's dog have all been interviewed exhaustively) and that’s a welcome move..
Please make a lot of noise..This is our only chance..
Else theres no point in us all talking in private parties about corruption being such a big evil..
Go do something! Asap..

See here:
For actions at various locations here
To write to the PM and for more info see here!

If theres any one who hates sharad pawar more than me, its him..and I really love it when ever he takes a dig at Pawar.Even now the first wicket has fallen:-) Pawar has shied away from the GOM on corruption.
Way to go Anna and co..we are all with you.

WTF?

2011-04-04T23:46:00.000-07:00

what??
did i hear it right? ICC doesnt want to pay the customs and our enlightened BCCI (some top BCCI official blabbered on the TV) claims that Customs has no national pride and are 'charging' for the cup to be brought to India!
WTF???

are these guys so nuts?
if u can make 1000s of crores on one tournament, paying a few lakhs to customs,a right fees, is found anti national and illogical, eh?
hey..if at all some one shud get something free in this- it shud be the ordinary citizen..bcos he wastes his time, goes stands in queue, gets caned by police, screws up the nations productivity and lives thru a match a full day with meagre facilities (nasty stinking toilets, no water, sucking food,etc on the ground)..
so next time on, let the gates be opened free for these crack cricket fans instead of for the pawars and tendulkars..(yes, its important to remember tendul the great was cheapo too- he pulled all strings to avoid paying the tax n customs for a ferari he got free in 2009! see here)

and to see that many states are jumping to give the cricketers (who are richer than most of our industrialists today) loads of money and free sites, is such a shame.

finally to see that cricket minister who also feigns as agri minister at centre to jump and announce some crores to these 'poor' cricketers is nauseating.. This man Pawar who hasnt bothered to look in to the lives or loss of lives of the farmers or the man who hasnt visited Vidharba- capital of farmer suicides- in his own state is such a shame..and that he doesnt miss any match nor miss an opportunity to announce a few crores as reward to cricketers..

are you all able to digest the way these cheap politicos and the media are jumping to share the moment of glory, which is actually belongs only to the players?
its all a huge bundle of WTF?

This and that..

2011-04-04T05:03:00.000-07:00

have been traveling for the last weeks..immediately after that organic mela in Chennai, I went to OOty (yes, that beautiful organic tea story is coming soon), Coimbatore, Tiruchengode etc..the last week was in orissa! was on a fact finding tour - reg the hybrid invasion in East esp in Orissa and checking on the Monsanto juggernaut..had lots to learn from that inimitable KK..lotsa learning, lotsa travel, lots to document now..
an official report wud come and then a personal post and insight from my view point also to feature here soon..

meanwhile- I know that the whole nation was very busy with wars esp shown live..like the one last week between India and Pakistan was nauseating..all channels, all talk shows, all and sundry just devouring that one item..oh man! the very few times i had access to TV showed how much these TV channels had nothing else to cover..dunno how all of you just could go thru such a grind for so many days..
whole nation immersed in cricket..now in the glory..am happy that for the next 28 years u all can have a new footage:-0

In my home state TN, there is lot of fun happening..iam sad that am not there during this build up to the election..but its nauseating out there too..with so many freebies by each of the parties..from next time on there could be some competitions run to come out with wild ideas to offer for freebies..

Monsanto – will one planet suffice?

2011-03-24T04:07:00.000-07:00

The (in)famous Henry Kissinger once said: "Control oil and you control nations; control food and you control people." The new world’s corporate villain has taken this too seriously and is venturing to control every grain and through it, farmers across the globe. Small wonder that their vision statement is - “No Food Shall Be Grown That We Don’t Own”.

That is Monsanto, the perma villain, for us! This agri-chemical business company from the US is the largest seed company in the world today. Huge share of Genetically Modified seeds across the globe is theirs. It should be clearly understood at the outset that they have no fancy to feed the world, eliminate hunger or help the farmers with seeds of high yield. Their motive is to simply monopolise food supply across the globe- in any manner, no matter what the irrevocable cost to the health of humans or the environment.

Monsanto, with their first product Saccharine (Yes the artificial sweetener) set the trend for the increasingly ecologically harmful products to follow. In comparison with where they are today, pushing Genetically Modified food, it was a comparatively benign beginning. From Saccharine they ‘graduated’ to basic industrial chemicals followed by synthetic fibres and plastics, including polystyrene, the production of which generates some of the most hazardous waste. Then came the notorious and destructive Agent Orange from which the user and the used are still suffering. Agent Orange which was used liberally in Vietnam War had very high concentrations of dioxin and is proven to cause birth deformities.

This Goliath corporate then began concentrating on the manufacture and ruthless marketing of chemical pesticides, herbicides and the dubious Bovine growth hormone. The latest and ecologically most harmful in their “product line” is Genetically Modified seeds. Monsanto has single handedly been responsible – through the production and widespread use of its products – for some of the most widespread contamination of earth’s water, air and soil.

Monsanto markets Genetically Modified seeds under the dual pretext that GM seeds are the panacea for world hunger and that it reduces the need for pesticides or for crops to withstand herbicide usage. The claim on yield and ability to address world hunger is patently false and Monsanto as well as other GM manufacturers are well aware of the same. Similarly, chemical usage went up with GM crops and ‘super weeds’ are becoming a reality. This marketing style is nothing new to the industry. Before GM technology, fertilizer and pesticide manufacturers marketed their chemical products as THE panacea for world hunger. In reality, conventional (chemical) agriculture did nothing but start a chain of destruction to the health of everything on planet earth – all fauna, flora and microbial life in the soil. Harmful pesticidal residues can today be found in everything from the umbilical cord of newborn infants to ice in the polar caps.. The Green Revolution, at best, should have been a short term tactical solution to tide over a crisis and not a strategic long term ‘opportunity’ to fill corporate coffers.

The same companies that unscrupulously started the environmental catastrophe with chemical farming are now pushing a new technology – Genetically engineered food with tall claims about saving humanity from the very problems they created in the first place. The products of this new technology are neither proven to be safe for human consumption nor can they be contained once unleashed. With the interference at the genetic level, humans are irresponsibly meddling in unpredictable ways with the slow safe ways of natural evolution. While the green revolution introduced “killer” chemicals into the environment genetic modification goes a huge step further and tampers with the very genetic structure of the end product that we eat – fruits and vegetables. This in turn could spawn off harmful effects in every species that consumes this.

GMO foods not only affect health and environment or the safety, security & livelihood issues but end up making irrevocable changes. Such irreversible change will result not only in health loss but loss of traditional varieties, livelihood, bio-diversity and seed sovereignty.

It’s no wonder that traditional seeds of soyabean, cotton and corn in the US can no longer be found. Marketing strategies ensure that all such non-GM seeds are unavailable now and farmers have no choices left.The same is the fate of cotton in India. In essence the wily company controls the seed well after the farmer has bought, planted and harvested. Their one sided agreements, contracts and patents ensured that farmers can’t save seeds in traditional ways (how easy to kill a 10000+ year old tradition!) but only buy seeds from Monsanto season after season!
Today contamination of seeds (cross or otherwise) is a big concern world wide. No certification of traditional seeds is possible today as was ascertained in Canada, Mexico and elsewhere. Non BT seeds in cotton crop India are not easily available today. Veteran Indian organic farmers confirm that parental lines of traditional cotton have been contaminated by BT.

Earlier, Monsanto had the audacity to declare a product like their weedicide Roundup (whose main ingredient is glyphosate – a proven toxin for animals and humans) “Safer than table salt, Practically non toxic, Biodegradable, Helps produce higher crop yield”! Infact it took a court verdict to force them to remove these false claims from their labels.
That’s not the only occasion that they have been caught lying or mislabeling. Such a careless attitude towards society, ecology and truth has been a way of life for this Goliath corporate.

So when Monsanto decided to market their new synthetic poison called the rBGH (recombinant bovine growth hormone), they went on a carefree advertisement spree. How the FDA gave such a proven carcinogen a go ahead inspite of major safety concerns is material enough for another article. The risk of breast, colon and prostrate cancer was so pronounced and still the perma villain not only went ahead with active marketing but sued dairy farmers for publishing the truth about their milk being rBGH-free!
That they even twisted the rules in such a way that the non-GM or GM free food could not display that fact on their packs, showed how farcical the regulation and monitoring can be.
Monsanto sued so many small farmers for seed patent and in most cases the farmers relented to settle out of court since they could not have carried on the cases against this organized vendetta. Thus this Goliath corporate amassed wealth even without selling.

Monsanto has filed thousands of lawsuits against hundreds of farmers across the world and has used heavy-handed investigations and ruthless prosecutions that have fundamentally changed the way many American farmers farm. In the USA, Centre for Food Safety has taken up investigations into this anti-farmer behaviour of Monsanto and brought facts to light..

Such is the infamous route pursued by this Goliath corporation that lies, omissions, commissions, sleaze, false statements, human rights violation, illegal dumping, wantonness, trespass, political maneuver, willful wrong approvals, bribery, falsification of data, willful submission of wrong data and contents to pass various regulations, twisting and tampering test data, wrong labeling were all the order of the day.

Monsanto has an established history of unscrupulous behaviour packed with law suits that went against them too. Sample here:

• The law suit they lost in Anniston, Alabama, for dumping of dioxin and PCB
• $180 million settlement made to Vietnam war veterans exposed to Agent Orange
• Fine of $1.2 million in 1991 for trying to conceal the discharge of contaminated wastewater, and $41.1 million to a waste management company in Texas in 1995 due to concerns over hazardous waste dumping.
• According to William Sanjour, who led the Toxic Waste Division of the Environmental Protection Agency, "thousands of veterans were disallowed benefits" because "Monsanto studies showed that dioxin [the main ingredient in Agent Orange] was not a human carcinogen." But his EPA colleague discovered that Monsanto had allegedly falsified the data in their studies. Sanjour says, "If they were done correctly, [the studies] would have reached just the opposite result."
The perma villain callously and willfully pumped persistent pollutants posing serious risk to the environment and human health, where ever they operated, with minimal concern for law or ecology. The Goliath has flouted all health regulations with disdain. One might be tempted to ask if they learnt from these costly mistakes. Yes the perma villain did- How?
By turning a blind eye to the environmental impact and then graduating to dictating to the law makers and twisting the law in their favour.

Monsanto's people regularly infiltrate upper echelons of government, and the company offers prominent positions to officials when they leave public service. This revolving door has included key people in the White House, regulatory agencies, even the Supreme Court. Monsanto also had George Bush Senior on their side, as evidenced by footage of Vice President Bush at Monsanto's facility offering help to get their products through government bureaucracy. He says, "Call me. We're in the 'de-reg' business. Maybe we can help." Their revolving door strategy has been exposed multiple times.

Their revolving door strategy with the powers-that-be both in the States and other countries is well established and covered many times over, that its no more a surprise. The way they twist the FDA’s rules or the health department and get away is no more news.
Michael Taylor, former Monsanto Vice President, became the FDA Deputy Commissioner for Foods.
Roger Beachy, former director of the Monsanto-funded Danforth Plant Science Center, later became the director of the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
Islam Siddiqui, Vice President of the Monsanto and Dupont-funded pesticide-promoting lobbying grop, CropLife, is the Agriculture Negotiator for the US Trade Representative.
Linda J. Fisher, toggled between Monanto and EPA.
Lidia Watrud, former microbial biotechnology researcher at Monsanto Corporation in St. Louis, was later with the United States Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Effects Laboratory, Western Ecology Division.
Suzanne Sechen, before coming to the FDA, had done research for several Monsanto-funded rBGH studies as a graduate student at Cornell University.
Margaret Miller, former chemical laboratory supervisor for Monsanto, later was Deputy Director of Human Food Safety and Consultative Services.

In case of GMOs the problem Monsanto faced was that it was inherently unsafe. GMOs can create dangerous side effects. They bypassed lots of safety regulations. That was the overwhelming consensus by FDA scientists, according to 44,000 agency documents made public from a lawsuit. But the most important document, FDA's official policy, claimed that GMOs were not substantially different. They were granted the status "Generally Recognized as Safe," even though they failed to meet the normal criteria. Thus, no safety testing is necessary. If Monsanto declares their GM products safe, the FDA has no further questions. Former FDA biotech coordinator James Maryanski admits on camera that the GMO policy "was a political decision," not scientific. In fact, FDA political appointee Michael Taylor was in charge of the policy. Taylor was formerly Monsanto's attorney and later their vice president.
In Mexico there were these bizarre shaped corn plants that were found in the wild. When analysed these turned out to be genetically engineered! Obviously scientists’ observation across the globe that ‘cross pollination from GM ones to traditional varieties can disturb the offspring’ has been proven. Community organizer Aldo Gonzales says . "If we don't manage to stop their spread in our fields, soon we'll be forced to buy our corn seed because our own won't work anymore?" Gonzales wonders if the contamination was intentional. He says, "Contamination only benefits multinationals like Monsanto."
In Canada, the canola and other experiences have pointed out the fact that GMO and Monsanto itself is unsafe for the humanity.

In India, BT cotton proved to be a disaster. There are many reports proving the canards of yield. There have been cases where cattle and humans have been affected badly. So have the soil and water. All this with their patently false claim that ‘less chemicals, pesticides will be required’ being just that- blatant lie. In Andhra Pradesh, where 71 percent of farmers who used Bt cotton ended up with financial losses, farmers attacked the seed dealer's office and even "tied up Mahyco Monsanto representatives in their villages," until the police rescued them. In spite of great losses and unreliable yields, Monsanto has skillfully eliminated the availability of non-GM cotton seeds in many regions throughout India, forcing farmers to buy their varieties. Farmers borrow heavily and at high interest rates to pay multiple times the price for the GM varieties, along with the chemicals needed to grow them. When Bt cotton performs poorly and can't even pay back the debt, desperate farmers resort to suicide, often drinking unused pesticides. The UK Daily Mail estimates that the total number of Bt cotton-related suicides in India is a staggering 125,000. . Monsanto’s own admission that BT cotton (Bollgard I) has indeed failed should only be a ploy to actively market its recent versions of II and III which are obviously more expensive.

Europe standing up against the GM seeds and food has been a solace to the humanity. Many times the large quantities of grains or processed food that were Genetically Modified have been rejected by European nations resulting in loss to the new converts of Monsanto. Many European nations have been steadfast in their opposition to the GM trials and even uprooted or disallowed such trials, which is a greater consolation and service. But Monsanto being Monsanto pushes its agenda through Bushes, Obamas and the Governments as the recent wikileaks proved. There is a great reason for Europe to stand up to these pressures and not only save themselves but the whole world, especially with US government throwing its weight behind Monsanto and GMO.
Seed continuity has been a simple system for close to 10000 years now.
Patenting (and genetically modifying too) the seed is no less than organized crime and this can only be out of corporate greed and ravenousness that can be camouflaged as corporate strategy and market plan. The quest to monopolise the seed market leading to displacing (in any fashion) the natural seeds and traditional conservation is so high that it needs a check. The canards like ‘feed the world’, ‘higher yield’, ‘lessen pesticide usage’ ‘safe to consume’ etc are sheer deception techniques to push their profit and market share.
Goliath corporations like Monsanto should never be a part of any civilized society nor should any cultured community tolerate their products or their ways.

References:
http://www.keepmainefree.org/suesuesue.html
Monsanto-ising Indian agriculture by Kavitha Kuruganti
Jeffrey M Smith, “Monsanto: The world’s poster child for corporate manipulation and deceit”
Monsanto Vs. US Farmers, A report by the Centre for Food Safety, Washington, 2005
http://www.combat-monsanto.co.uk/
http://www.organicconsumers.org/monlink.cfm

Chasing Monsanto in German(y)

2011-03-23T10:45:00.000-07:00

I love their blood, I shud confess..
Monsanto IMO is the perma villain..ofcourse they might be one of the few other seed giant or GM sellimg firms, but somehow they seem to be the most wily of all..
Their ways in India and else where prove that..
In US they have done enough damage already..
There are many who really go after them in the west..Millions against Monsanto is one such initiative and if u live there in the west esp in US do go out and help this campaign in all ways possible..

Now see here:
http://www.gazette.de/Archiv2/Gazette29/Sayanan.pdf

for an article that I penned for this German mag..
the English version will be out here as next post..
but till then try and make what you can out of it:-)

one oganic mela to another

2011-03-22T23:25:00.000-07:00

There was a call from one Professor in K.S. Rangasamy College of Technology, Tiruchengode asking restore to participate in their organic mela.. what? organic mela in some remote town?? hmm..when i probed more, i was told some 20000 students and 2000 staff live out of that huge campus! They had planned an organic mela inviting 100s of organic farmers, organic shops and others..They had planned a big organic food mela- many traditional recipes esp out of millets; many stalls displaying organic produce and selling too; many talks and seminars involving many stalwarts from organic movement.

Very laudable indeed. ofcourse I rushed out there just after our Organic mela at Chennai. I was happy to be there. The enthusiasm of the students was fantastic. The efforts behind were clearly visible. I was told that the students had moved all over Tamil nadu to arrange the full range of organic produce including fruits to help put their juice stalls, millets to showcase the various recipes and so on..
Hats off to the whole team! the college and their management too for their interest and infrastructure.

Its a great achievement am sure and I do wish they continue this effort every year..and that it grows in stature and popularity.
Kudos to Prof. Guruswamy, the college and all the students!

Chennai Organic mela!

2011-03-22T23:18:00.000-07:00

The mela went on well.. the shamiana guys came late and screwed it a bit..but though we were delayed to kick off (what we had in mind which was 3pm) we were right as per the announced time (4pm)..

the big take home is that there was new crowds..lots of them...some 2000 who came to the semmozhi poonga were spoken to and show cased the benefits of organic and ills of pesticides, GM food etc.

We could have made it better by coordinating better, with more give away prints, better equipped sound system and baashans, bringing more press and celebrities..
on the last 2 we tried enough but it failed:-9

Iam told there was a mention in tamil daily Dinamani..some assured coverage from Kalki and Vikatan..
meanwhile see here:
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2011032063360300.htm&date=2011/03/20/&prd=th&

Now to more such melas in Chennai and other parts of TN!
way to go SFA!

do drop in if in Madras! on 19th satday evening!

2011-03-17T21:07:00.001-07:00

SAFE FOOD ALLIANCE (SFA)
Invites you to
AN ORGANIC MELA

AT SEMMOZHI POONGA, CHENNAI
(Site of the old Woodlands Drive-in restaurant, near Gemini flyover)
SATURDAY MARCH 19TH 2011
TIME: 3 pm to 8 pm

Do you believe that your right to safe food is a basic right and the very food that you eat to sustain yourself should not become toxic and hazardous?
COME, LEARN MORE AT THIS ORGANIC MELA

The event will feature
- Fresh healthy Organic millet dishes to savour!
- Diversity of traditional seed varieties – interaction with farmers who conserve such diversity
- Information and sale of traditional millets and rices
- A focus on harmful pesticides and alternatives to these
- Information on the status of GM crops in India, implications and alternatives
- Hands on Natural Dyeing experience!
- Organic cotton handwoven shirts & kurtas on sale.
- Interactions with prominent personalities from different walks of life – activists, farmers, cine-stars, musicians and others.
- Related publications
The event is being organized to mark the occasion of World Consumer Rights Day. This year, SFA, restore and many other organizations have joined together to highlight

Press meet on 15th march at Chennai press club!

2011-03-17T11:24:00.000-07:00

see here for some press mention..of the press meet organised SFA (Safe Food Alliance)on 15th..

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/NGO-sends-good-food-to-PM/articleshow/7714543.cms
u can see the fotos of the tokris here:
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Client.asp?Daily=TOICH&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI&Enter=true&Skin=TOINEW&AW=1300248575359

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/cities/chennai/tn-blind-gm-says-group-457

http://www.dinamani.com/edition/Story.aspx?SectionName=India&artid=391070&SectionID=130&MainSectionID=130&SEO=&Title=%E0%AE%AA%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B0%E0%AE%A4%E0%AE%AE%E0%AE%B0%E0%AF%81%E0%AE%95%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%95%E0%AF%81%20%E0%AE%AE%E0%AF%81%E0%AE%B0%E0%AF%81%E0%AE%99%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%95%E0%AF%88%E0%AE%95%E0%AF%8D%20%E0%AE%95%E0%AF%80%E0%AE%B0%E0%AF%88-%E0%AE%AA%E0%AE%AA%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%AA%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%B3%E0%AE%BF!

http://www.themedguru.com/20110316/newsfeature/safe-food-alliance-sends-nutritious-food-pm-86144046.html

shameless Pawar!

2011-03-12T19:02:00.000-08:00

Its very tuff to find as shameless a person even among politicos..There was a time he was touted to be the the maximum 'earner' among ministers..am sure he shud still be leading that list!
Here is a man sticking to politics beyond a sell-by date (age, effectiveness every wise) and also stretches his tentacles in to other arenas like cricket..
Many think he is dedicating his time for cricket and is not concentrating on agri..he hee..NO..he is as ineffective and damaging to cricket as much to agri..
only solace is - his screwing up cricket is good for nation:-)

Here see these 2 links..here and here!
he shamelessly admits that many banned and very hazardous pesticides are used..he even admits proudly "yes,Endosulfan is banned in many countries. yes its harmful.. but being used in India"..such is our polity..

cotton trail - another story!

2011-03-10T09:39:00.000-08:00

As told before, KK had written an article in deccan herald..on the same Jayadhar cotton trail that we saw a few days back (here)..very nice and crisp one..
see here!

Cane them!

2011-03-07T21:59:00.000-08:00

yeah! cane them..rip them apart..
people coming standing in queues from previous night and wanting to watch cricket matches..at every venue this is the status..

firstly there is so much lacking in facilities..no toilets..no drinking water..no orderliness..no(enof)food..nothing..over and above this is the security stress..one has to denude to enter the ground..
where is the fun to watch a match after all this??
and why do people flock shamelessly still??

yes, I was a shameless fellow and used to follow the team..atleast then it was only long queues and never caning..for sure, under these circumstances its better to avoid going to the ground..
even better is to shrug off this disease called cricket (like me!!) and be productive..atleast your family will be happy..

iam happy that i didnt even know when the world cup started..Though I did watch the India-England match with friends at bangalore (at home not ground) more to catch up old memories..

what do i do with my wife now?

2011-03-06T09:54:00.001-08:00

Please advice guys..
The state highway was a party to it.. my co-travelers were too..
there were many more who saw it too:-(

i was driving from Bangalore to madras today..(ofcourse for a very important event which shall feature as a separate post here)

and suddenly I am asked to read this gem of a board.. one of the many such 'gems' on display all the way..
it read "if you want to stay married, divorce speed"
and lemme confess- at that instant I was speeding..

now all u readers tell me what to so with my W?
and if you say the right answer you shall be peppered with more such gems
else like the Vetal (or is it betal of the vikramaditya) I shall return to blore and I shall pepper u with more bcos i wud anyways notice more on my way back..

Kudos yeddy!

2011-02-24T18:31:00.000-08:00

Karnataka government is freaking out!
Iam impressed..
Its the first state in India to come out with a state budget on agriculture!
When the initial talks last weeks were heard I thought it could be symbolic..
But he has indeed lived up to it. He even stretched it all a bit by addressing a group of farmers before and after the budget and there was some sincerity when he talked moved and walked with them to the secretariat! iam happy.
the budget itself - the agri part looks good and hope the tempo is maintained. What attracted my eyes is the generous allocation to organic farming:-)
Way to Go Yeddy!
highlights being: prime area for agri in the budget over all; Rs.17,857 crores allocated for agri sector; Organic farming a separate head under Suvarna Bhoomi Yojana; Rs 1,000 crore will be provided for development of 10 lakh farmer families;

to quote the CM: “..In this direction, I propose to accord more importance to formulating appropriate schemes for the increasing numbers of the marginal and small farmers, addressing the lack of appropriate technology, providing essential and modern processing facilities, construction of godowns and cold-storages and organising partnerships with institutions having expertise and mobilising adequate capital for implementing these strategies along with formulating supporting policies..”
saw that? schemes to increase number of marginal and small farmers! impressive aint?

Karnataka Govt is really gaining strides each month in its go organic path..
Even when the CM Yeddyurappa announced last year about his wish to visit an organic farm each month, I thought it was symbolic. and that its another politico's statement..But when i enquired around during my visits to villages, I was told he was consistent there..he did visit an organic farm every month in the last 7-8 months am told and each of these visits were to sincere and serious organic farms!
way to go yeddy!! keep it up.
hope other states follow on these 2 counts - encouraging organic farms and push for lotsa planning around agri sector.

BT cotton Trail II

2011-02-18T23:56:00.000-08:00

We had 5 main questions that comes to ones mind here.
Lets see each of that.
Since this BT is comparatively new in Karnataka, a first hand report should help. So this trail.
Before these investigations, one feature that made the whole trip attractive was the presence of an old traditional cotton variety called Jayadhar! This rain fed variety doesn’t need any irrigation (grows well with what ever rain is received) nor any fertilizer or pesticide. This is a proven and stabilized one in this area for ages.But with the BT coming in and the coprorate lies and lures, its on the wane. The total acreage of this Jayadhar variety has been really dwindling. Hence this trip to the prominent jayadhar belt of Harihar, Ranebennur, Dharwad.
Farmers that we met across in various villages like Savanur, Gubndura, gudigere, Samwsi, etc had heard of Jayadhar. Each of these villages still have Jayadhar planted. But the area is less. Most of them blamed the lack of labour and unseasonal rains as the main issue for moving away from Jayadhar. This variety is totally weather dependant crop meaning the yield is as good as the weather.
Rain during harvest or just after flowering screws it up. The labour comes in 2 areas- weeding and also in harvesting. The bolls of the cotton facing down in this case is tuff to harvest manually which is being weighed heavily against it. Esp with labor being rare and the cost high.

On cattle: There have been many reports from AP and other states about the various ill-effects on cattle due to BT. The AP animal husbandry ministry even had a public warning issued long back. All farmers that we met across all villages said that they wouldn’t feed BT cotton to their cattle. (n)ever! The cattle apparently developed sickness, swollen legs and becoming immobile being more common. Diarrhea being other common disease.
They also unanimously said that the animals did show clear preference for Jayadhar cotton seed oil cake. What was very striking was that many farmers who were compelled to move to BT (easy loans, tall claims of yield etc being main reasons) still grow Jayadhar in smaller areas just for the sake of their cattle. When we posed questions of if BT causes so much problem to your cattle cant you imagine what the BT cotton seed oil would be doing to us, they didn’t have any answer. The simple fact that it was not obvious (mostly BT oil comes as adulteration and hence is also a question of awareness!) lead to brushing it off.
Milk was perceived as immediate food being affected than oil!

Edible oil?? That leads us to the infamous question of how come this enters our food cycle apart from Dairy. For many years cotton seed oil has been used to be mixed in the blended oils. It’s a way of an accepted adulteration. The very fact that some of the oils like ground nut oil or packaged refined oils are cheaper than the procurement prices of the raw material should have raised doubts. But do consumers think or ask??
Also the fact that due to some skewed food & adulteration law that any branded oil can be called that particular oil, if it has 60% of the main ingredient, allows for such high adulteration tolerance.
Now that we have reasons to adulterate why think if its BT or Jayadhar?
So whose problem is it? Think..and act..
(clue: These days organic produce are not only source for chemical and pesticide free food but also adulteration free food.)

Traditional varieties? Needless to say that traditional varieties will be lost soon. There are many reasons. 90-95% of the cotton seeds available in the market today is sadly BT only. This not only due to the aggressive marketing.but also because the parental seeds have been corrupted. Such contaminations of parental lines means there can be no certification for non-BT cotton today. More problems, eh?
So if ever the Govt wakes up or the society at large wakes up, there shall be no reversibility possible.
In most states like AP,Orissa, Gujarat one can hardly get to see the traditional varieties. In this belt in Karnataka, when we enquired (farmers association and the agri department reps) we got pathetic numbers. In savanur taluk for eg, it is 600 hectares Jayadhar to 12000 hectares of BT! In Samwsi village jayadhar was 20%

Yield? That’s a big fallacy. Lotsa factors come in to play and we as a society have been letting the already sulking farmers to do the math. Firstly the Jayadhar variety is rainfed. So u save on irrigation. Seed is your own! Compare the seed cost of Rs 26 per Kg to Rs 1650/kg of BT (Rs 750/- for 450 gms). The BT2 that has come now is double. BT needs fertilizer, irrigation and 3 sprays of pesticides as per data we collected from various villages.
So where is the comparision?
But on the face of it, if u question a farmer he does say the yield is double. Many farmers who have now cultivated BT 3 times or more now say the yield keeps reducing every year. But still they claim the yield is more. Ok, even if you were to just take the total output, ignoring the input costs, there is another hue factor. The Jayadhar is always with another (companion) crop, namely chilli. Where as BT is always mono crop. This means the output per acre should also consider the tons of chilies harvested. This is largely ignored. The very fact that chilli is planted along with cotton means there is only half the area or half the number of cotton plants!
As for record: across villages the yield quoted for BT was 8-9quintals per acre (of course its dwindling as many stated)
Jayadhar was only 3-5 quintals. But 3-4 quintals of chilly is also got. The chilli also helps supporting the cotton plant from sagging after flowering! There were a couple of farmers who said there was appreciable yield from Jayadhar till year before last bcos last 2 years unseasonal rains affected its yield.
While on comparison- one issue that weighs down on Jayadhar apart from labour intensive harvesting is that with rain it becomes very tough to harvest and also loss is heavier. (both problems are due to nature’s imbalance- the boll faces down unlike the Bt where its facing up)

Seed? When a corporate esp one like Monsanto comes to the scene where is the question of sovereignty? They are not any noble hearts to help increase farmers’ yield or to help solve the food sufficiency. Seeds is their business, simple. Now the farmer has the seeds in his hand. In fact for 10000 years that was the scene. Now with such goliath corporates eyeing seeds as a business, we will lose our culture and sovereignty. The cost comparison of the cotton seeds was seen above. Nothing will stop the corporates from increasing it multifold once the traditional seeds are wiped out! So more reason to be cautious about GM. But will the govts understand that? long term or short term? What should one go for? Season after season we need to depend on them. The jayadhar seed can last years as against this! So in time, the corporates will decide what crop, what seed and what price we will get them all at.
No use crying over spilt milk, then.

hectic days

2011-02-17T21:48:00.001-08:00

yes, this year so far has been hectic(or is it from yatra last year on?)..
add to that the medical emergencies and attention..
now as i slowly crawl back to some tasks, its already getting bigger..
thats how the BT cotton trail happened, coimbatore trip and then now had to go to Nagpur for an All India ASHA (Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture) meet..
so back loaded with more tasks:-)
en route to Blore am in Madras for a few days..These days visits to Madras seem to be rare..many farm visits on hold..suddenly there can be an inundation- be warned;-)

yes, The BT cotton 2nd part will come soon..and some old ones pending have to surface too..
a hot one on Monsanto is on the way..
lots happening,,but hectic travel and rare net access is also the reason..

BT cotton trail

2011-02-11T05:17:00.000-08:00

BT cotton - the first GM crop to be cultivated commercially in India was introduced under the pretext of being a non-food crop!
There were many questions raised about the safety and ethics of the Genetically Modified technology across the globe. The most important and urgently to be addressed issue being that of long term adverse impact to health . From an activists angle though health of the environment, other species and humans could have been the order. Still there were many unanswered questions what ever ones perspective was.
The corporates conveniently (obviously hand in hand with the govt agencies) gave a suitable twist. If GM becomes a question of health, ethics and safety there will be no end, they understood. Hence to hasten up the introduction of GM crop they took a very ‘intelligent’ actually a skewed and perverse stand. That cotton was a non-food crop. So while the debate on health etc continues, they can introduce cotton, supposedly non food crop!
Of course, needless to say their will prevailed. So BT cotton was introduced in India in 2002.
Now firstly, it’s a traditional practice to feed the stalks to cattle after harvest. Secondly the cotton seed oil has been in to our food cycle ever since packaged oil industry started flourishing.
So on both these counts the GM industry lied. Our Govt / regulation agencies went with them.

Now that it is 8 years since BT has come in to the field and the industry is now pushing very hard for GM in to food crops.
BT is Bacillus thurengiensis, a soil bacteria which is supposed to have pest repelling intrinsic property.
Though there has been loads of proof of BT affecting soil, cattle, humans and the ecology in toto, the Govt agencies have been soft pedaling and the industry has been looking the other way. Yeah, we know its only business and nothing else for them.

Just one name – Monsanto shud give us all the doubts. But somehow all villains have prevailed.

Dont some questions come foremost to any thinking individual?

1/ Has the BT cotton affected the cattle which fed on them? If so hasn’t this already come in to human food cycle in the form of milk and other dairy produce?

2/ If cotton seed oil was used as an edible oil (either directly or as adulterated/mixed produce along with other packaged/ blended oil?) what is its status today?

3/ What happens to the traditional varieties? What if this BT fallacy is conclusively proven, is there a path to retrace?

4/ Has this technology helped in increasing the yield as promised by the industry? Has the economics been done at all?

5/ What happens to the seed sovereignty? Farmers cannot have their own seeds. Season after season they have to go back to these corporates for seeds. That means price and availability will be the corporates will in the coming years aint?

Hmm.. so last week, yours truly (accompanied by KK & W) went on a cotton trail in Karnataka – Harihar, Haveri, Dharwad, to check on all these issues.

KK should be coming out with a better report or even a published paper for sure. But still I go ahead and pen my points n views out here.

But Wait..for the 2nd part.

Ishwar Kaka - RIP

2011-02-06T21:12:00.000-08:00

Update: I had missed out giving Nipun's link out here. Thanks Ram for pointing and here it is now. Its a must read! Nipun generally makes compelling read.

Ishwar kaka, the famous Gandhian known for Sanitation, from Ahmadabad passed away some weeks back:-( on 26th Dec 2010. He was such a great person, called Mr.Toilet, famous for his design of toilets as well as toilet tales! some of which was narrated to me by his famous son -jayesh Bhai, an unparalleled hero about whom I wrote last year.

Such an illustrious man that he was, who dedicated his life selflessly for such a task was hardly the news maker and hence not many would have heard or read about him.
This compounded my sadness and so waited before I could post a note here. I wanted to really take some time and write more on him. With many other issues compounding, time flew.
But looks like I just waited for Nipun to write!
see here how beautifully (as always) Nipun writes about Ishwar kaka. (hat tip: sriram)

People like Ishwar kaka are such a rarity. But they leave such a mark that they live on as motivation and big influence for ages.

Bus day!

2011-02-03T23:01:00.000-08:00

Regulars here know how much I like namma bengalooru climate which brings me here often and how much the traffic puts me off and makes me pack..
One of the best ways to beat that traffic tension is to take the bus..which is what I normally do here..it saves you from the driving tension and taking the blore traffic in to consideration one doesn’t lose much time either:-0
Sometimes I feel the pollution ‘up’ there in the bus is lesser than that on the bike or car!
One additional (big) factor is that these days one need not wait for long..almost all parts are well connected and the frequency is appreciable. Maximum one has to do is take 2 buses to save time. Just do some spade work and find out what buses go closer or to your area. Believe me, its an organised Chaos!
Today for example as soon as I came out of the train and walked across, I got a bus to Banshankari and just as I got down I got in to a bus that goes to kanakapura road..cake walk!

BTW today being 4th Feb is the Bus Day! infact 4th of every month is!
If you cant make it a habit, extend solidarity 4th of every month! Travel by Bus!!

Bt brinjal toxicity issue!

2011-01-29T10:44:00.000-08:00

You sure remember the anti- Bt brinjal and Iam noLabrat campaign last year and the subsequent moratorium declared by the environ minister.
The scientists across the globe, activists and many consumer groups fought against commercialization of Bt brinjal citing various reasons- bio safety, loss of bio diversity, loss of livelihood, loss of seed sovereignty and health. Now this has been conclusively proven.

Mahyco – Monsanto’s (dangerous) arm in India had collected data of tests conducted (by themselves!) with Bt brinjal. Then they submitted a report to GEAC, the approval committee that it was all fine!
Firstly isn’t ridiculous that the producer, dubious one at that, is the one who will test and also submit a report.
So here after we can expect the court scene like this-
Judge: can u testify yourself? Can u check your own records and tell if u did commit the crime. So the accused wud (jump inside in joy and) softly say “NO‘ and get away!

Recently a New Zealand scientist Dr. Lou Gallagher, conducted an independent analysis of the data and report of Mahyco and gave a scathing report. She states: “Major health problems among test animals were ignored in these reports. The single test dose used was lower than recommended by the Indian protocols. Release of Bt brinjal for human consumption cannot be recommended given the current evidence of toxicity to rats in just 90 days and the studies' serious departures from normal scientific standards”.The rats experienced organ and system damage (incl. of ovaries, spleen, white blood cells etc.) and toxic effects to the liver.
Firstly this toxicology and epidemiology expert from New Zealand used the data that Mahyco produced and not any new or independent data. Apart from laughing at the report that fudged information she also questions the operational style of the approval body- GEAC!
Mahyco, quite understandably, has masked the truth and the negatives in that report and had said ‘all is well’ and so got it passed by GEAC for commercialization! They did inadequate and unscientific tests and then fooled us all by giving wrong information, willfully.

What a shame! We as citizens have been short changed,twice.

Its like this: You take a scan of your body and a doctor states that all is well. Then another doc (second opinion) sees this scan report and not only accuses the 1st doc of hiding facts but passing totally wrong judgement and diagnosis.

Bottom line: Bt brinjal (and in effect any Genetically Modified food) is unfit for human consumption!

You can see her report here: http://www.testbiotech.de/node/444

The original Mahycos data and report here: http://www.envfor.nic.in/divisions/csurv/geac/bt_brinjal.html

cancer

2011-01-19T07:24:00.000-08:00

This prevalent disease has been covered here many times..in the context of cause esp the way our chemical agriculture and the chemical pollution in our food is reason for the high cancer incidence these days.
we also discussed how very benign people, with out any vices, are afflicted and why this disease is on the rise.
I had also mentioned about the Chemotherapy for my mom. Today I had to go to the hospital for the 2nd chemo cycle. They asked us to wait. After waiting for an hour, I went again to check out and they said there were many waiting and only after some more discharges can they allot a room. Though I was worked up that they didnt prepare inspite of us having booked a room well in advance. But their ineffeciency or my impatience is not the point. Curiosity led me to ask them how many were waiting! wanna take a guess??
it was 30 at 12 noon! so many people waiting for Chemo. This is an expensive treatment and this hospital in question is also an expensive one.
The cancer is really on the rise and reasons have been discussed every where including here. I dont see people taking necessary precaution at all! Isnt it a serious concern? why is there such a casual approach? go read this again!

oh yeah! forgot to tell here that this cancer specialty hospital has microwave ovens in every floor of the patients' wards to help:-) aint that a proven carcinogenic activity? they also have all those nastily packed kurkures and chips in every corner possible like the western world's vending counters! absolutely no care to educate against the cancer causing food/processed food nor any intention to improve the nutritional quality. looks like they are happy with the increase in cancer incidence! after all business isnt?? may be they all come from the same school as the Manmohans, PCs, Monsantos, pawars- who see some business and economics thru skewed numbers and not reality.

FIL RIP!

2011-01-14T08:24:00.000-08:00

W's father, my Father in Law, expired today by noon. He was on a semi comatose last 2 weeks and has been out of hospital.
He was a thorough gentleman and I cant think of anyone having any sort of ill will or unhappy thoughts of him. he was boringly non-controversial all thru his life.
One moment stands out for me. He had visited us in Swiss a decade back and we had the fun cricket among all Indian families around our village out there. This man, 62 then, took it so seriously and ran a serious short single. To avoid a run out shy, he dived to the crease. All of us in the ground and those outside missed a beat. He coolly got up from the ground with bruises, saying he 'reached'..at the same time the umpire was chiding someone who was appealing a run out. so much for his involvement and readiness for sport.
He was always a good sport and a easy go lucky man.
One of these days when he was on and off to 'incoherent' stages he was saying 'ananthoo will take care'. That was his strong belief on many things including a last minute ticket to anything. so it was not surprising that he mouthed that. He wud listen to all of us like a kid when ever we asked him to do anything when he was convalescing. For a fit man like him and esp one who wouldnt drink any thing harder than water and who was always conscious of his diet, this was a sad end. Cerebral hemorrhage and liver cirrhosis was too much.
RIP my dear FIL..am sure you wud take it cool where ever u are.
Note: We decided to donate his eyes and its a fairly simple job. That was a proud moment for me. This gentleman now has helped 2 blinds see, on his way out!
All you have to note the numbers and call them. In this case we had called Narayana Nethralaya. They have to take the eyes within 6 hours and the fan should not be on where the body is. Also the eyes shud be closed. Its a 10 minute job for them and once they remove, we cannot make out if they have removed. Spread this news and help more blind folks out there.

appy pongal.

2011-01-13T23:41:00.000-08:00

Happy sankaranti!
happy Pongal!!
Happy Maattu pongal!!!
which ever u celebrate..
nothing new to write ..so maintain the same- http://ananthoosupdates.blogspot.com/2009/01/appy-pongal.html

Farmer's fighter

2011-01-05T03:58:00.000-08:00

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.

How the world works!

2010-12-24T21:10:00.001-08:00

Most folks I know have never bothered about the synthetic chemicals in their food nor about the residues that are causing such a havoc in our health! But the moment one of us from this side of the agriculture goes to talk there are so many questions about the veracity, organicity, etc!
How funny, eh??
Where was all this prudence till yday? No, am not complaining bcos the activists and sustainable protagonists are being questioned but the lack of rationality amazes me!
But just go back a bit and observe. Have we ever bothered to rake our brains about how come an end product from same source be as starkingly different as jaggery and sugar? Whats refined? Hows the oil so colorless and what shud it have or not have??
Hmm, we are people who fall for the advt by line of “ real lemon” in a washing soap and “no fruit juice or pulp. Only artificial flavor” in Lemon juice or squash:-)
How it all works, eh!!
see this for eg: http://www.hindustantimes.com/Hardly-farm-fresh/Article1-642039.aspx
(hat tip:KK)

Rahul G!

2010-12-24T20:59:00.000-08:00

Yes ‘the prince’! Rahul Gandhi was in Madras last week and there was a call from a friend that there was a non-political meeting. RG wanted to meet ( – an “Intellectual interactive meet” as I was told) some progressive journos, activists and socially concerned individuals. Hmm, where did I fit in that? Why ask? I didn’t:-0
Firstly I wanted to really go and see how deep this man was- like it or not, he is going to be out here on top of the political arena for days to come. The very idea of reaching to cross section of the society and get some information, discuss, trade idea(l)s.. truth be told, I was impressed.
This very gesture to reach out to people and consult was a fantastic one. Let alone how effective it can be.
So I was there and the regular security screw er screening and all that happened. One cant take even a notebook. Some one wanted to ‘present’ RG a book and even that wasn’t allowed. But my strong opinion is humanity has brought this on itself with all the bombings and screw up. So one shud learn to ignore all this security circus.
He is one affable nice guy with neat demeanors. He started off nice and reassuring but that petered out soon with shallow comments and real superficial diplo-sentences. All this backed by a strange confidence of having understood the issue or question and replying a strange ‘off tangent’ response. I would question the understanding itself. For a question on gay rights he went on and on about morality and kept explaining how and why he wudnt impose his rights and wrongs on others. As if that was not understood he kept on explaining that so many times that even his party people out there wud have been bored to hilt. For most questions the stock reply was ‘come join; participate; be a part and make the system work’..oh no! I didn’t expect this from someone who shud be able to make a difference and not give inane responses. Then the film makers dominated the session with their problems and RG went on and on..here we were sitting and expecting some livelihoods and other important issues wud be discussed, but the glorious and tamasha problem was to dominate:-( The only good question came from inimitable M.B.Nirmal, who asked about the acquisition of farm lands and to stop it. Where as RG’s reply shocked me. He coolly said he understands the whole problem and said various solutions including ‘considering the corporates buying 80% on their own and govt helping only for 20%..’ was sounded by him. So much for the depth!!!
Actor Revathy asked me at the beginning if we (the usual agri suspects)had our questions ready and who was to ask and I didn’t get it. I thought it was just an interactive meet and that we shud take it as it comes. Revathy was right in asking us if we were indeed prepared. But the take away for me from this meet is- don’t wait decently for ur turn! Its good to be prepared with your question and to barge in loud and get the answer:-)
I did want to ask him on his opinion on GM foods and to explain him why there was a great need for the govt to think in lines of sustainable agri and to promote such farming techniques . Actor Rohini and Dr.Shivaraman had more incisive questions to ask (but cudnt pose that, as RG suddenly, abruptly brought the session to close and swiftly left) on GM and about the need to see the livelihood of farmers more objectively and their suicides more broadly. Hmm, if only they had asked…Another friend wanted to press up on RG the need of encouraging small and marginal farmers and how that alone can help in today’s agri crisis. She also had some good insights about how organic farming can be an answer to the world’s requirement as explained by some study in Michigan univ as well as oxford. But…
I shud still say this is a good move and gesture- to set a consultative process. Like how a similar process unfolded during the BT crisis and really helped in getting a nice democratic and reasonable participation and hence a decent outcome.
He came a solid 1hour late and many of us used it very effectively. I for one used this opportunity to meet Gnani, Madhan, Maalan, Director Vasanth and many others whom I rate very high. To get such a quality time with them all under one roof was a jackpot. I felt flattered by Revathy and Rohini showing so much interest in the Kisan swaraj yatra and asking my views of it.

Run run..

2010-12-22T07:38:00.000-08:00

The reason for my search in to the agri arena, the chemicals and their fall out on health esp cancer started when my father was diagnosed with malignancy long back. That led me in to a deep long travel and restore and many other organic things happened in my life. Now as a vindication, my mom is also in to this black hole. People like my parents who hardly even eat out and are devoid of any vices, getting cancer was a shock that set me on the search. Now with much concrete evidence and proof that residue of pesticides and other synthetic input cause cancer and many other ailments, am still wondering what will it take for people to really grasp the enormity of it and take necessary steps!

I spoke of my mom’s health sometime back and the malignancy issues..Radiotherapy was administered in my absence (thanks to W who was overburdened and cudnt join the yatra bcos of this ) and all our hopes of avoiding Chemotherapy is gone. We need to go in for chemo soon and so for some domestic and other reasons am taking her to Bangalore. Let the world know that I shall spend more time in the coming days in Bangalore (on and off- a week to 10 days around each chemo administration). Yes, u can sound me on any good oncologist you may know in Bangalore.
Am on the run and will have to manage some farm visits from Blore and that means Madras stay shall be less:-(
Here I go..
But I do hope to have more posts on my yatra experience soon..keep checking in..

pleasant Madras

2010-12-21T07:20:00.000-08:00

It has been really pleasant out here and that means the ear buffs, mufflers, monkey caps and blankets are out in Chennai:-)
All those camouflage (fauji type) ear muffs are funny- esp when one gets to see them adorned at 10am in the morning!
There has been severe rains this year and if all these are bcos of climate change, hey, isn’t that welcome? But I dread to think of summer, hmm..

yatra and then..

2010-12-18T22:39:00.000-08:00

75 days, 15000kms, 20 states, phew..
it all flew..
I thought I would have time to report occasionally here..hmm, no way..
also bcos of the famous old disease of mine- to bite more than I can chew:-) I saw one person, especially, pitching in with tremendous energy on hosts of tasks! and yes..i took up many more tasks in the Yatra and so was extremely busy trying to make it look like i could chew all that instead of cutting a sorry figure..
so apart from all the challenging travel, interesting interactions, regular tasks, issues, documentation, etc I had my hands full..
Now thats reason enough for not having any updates here for long right?
But i do hope u all were following at http://www.kisanswaraj.in/ for updates, blogs and pictures. so actually u cudnt have missed on the KSY snippets for sure..

I did meet lotsa interesting characters, farmers, farmer leaders..was privy to lotsa interesting debates and engagements. so more to come here..

and BTW for long we have not had any chronicle on interesting and inspirational persons aint? Now we will have that too here soon..for there were quite some in this yatra:-)

Yatra!

2010-09-27T02:09:00.000-07:00

Many of u know of this already..the Kisan Swaraj Yatra !
A group of loosely connected individuals and NGOs together have decided to go on an yatra aroud the country prophesying about sustainable agriculture, against Genetically Modified food, ills of such unwarranted technology and chemicals in farming, policies that tamper the farmers’ livelihoods, “development’ in the real sense, apathy of Govts and public etc.
This covers 20 states and 14000KMs across with loads of events, public meetings, awareness programs, etc organized.
We shall soon be having the concerned links.. we expect some blogging, twittering etc to happen along the travel. You can find more details and regular updates here at www.kisanswaraj.in from 2nd october 2010.
My personal blogging can only be sporadic, as expected..
But do peep in for some juicy stuff, interesting experiences and ofcourse curious insights. It will all flow even well after the yatra itself..so a very interesting quarter ahead.

Meanwhile, be informed this Yatra is funded only from individual contributions. So if you are up to it, kindly do donate. For details ping me.

Ok, got to go and prepare..
Yes raring and preparing to go..

PS: BTW preparations are a bit slow..my mom suddenly developed some medical emergency..so even this post had to wait to be uploaded.. with crossed fingers and bated breaths,I wait..

PS2: while this post is still lying in my drafts here comes another update: The operation resulting in the removal of uterus went on fine..just that there is some doubts about malignancy of some growth in that area..so i wait still..but atleast the operation and post op went on well! so there are no more doubts about my joining the yatra.

China and its imminent fall

2010-09-21T00:07:00.000-07:00

First it was their cheap or free labour that got them all their monies..and now a crack there..US and many of its followers in the west wants China to open up Yuan- their much tampered currency. Ok, call it correction.
Even if they open up a bit or correct (for the sake of pleasing the masters) they would be doomed..their wafer thin margins (yes, the manufacturing units, workers get piddly amounts. Like all communist regimes it’s the select few top communists and agents who will take the huge share of profits) will be hit and that shall be a hard hit below their belt.

Ofcourse their recent rub on the west’s face by installing some Nuke reactors in Pakistan. How much ever they all say its for energy u know what happens if paks have some wrong technology. Who gets to use them faster than their military? Ofcourse bin laden’s boys:-)

Then comes their downfall-III, their take on GM foods. The fact that they are fast becoming one of the largest users of GM seeds will mean a disaster, soon.

Oh no! iam not even going to talk of their Xinjiang muslim problems or the labor unrest all over or the many hidden (to outside world) catastrophes.

Iam just going to sit back and enjoy their fall- very imminent and looking closer by the day.ha ha!

we will not tolerate corruption!

2010-09-16T05:26:00.000-07:00

all of u- rest in peace..
no worries..
ok, u still alive and want to know what the title is about?
Our cricket minister er agri minister Pawar says this..
in connection with spot fixing in cricket!
as soon as the news of spot fixing broke (paki players confessed, some video recordings were shown, whole world was convinced these jokers shud be thrown) this great cricket minister who is the ICC boss said- the tour will continue. hmm, what? oh! he was bothered about cancellation clause, refund tickets, advt revenue etc .

Am happy in two ways. 1- cricket will die soon bcos great men like him are out to cut the golden goose. 2- this distraction and loads of money there means he, as agri minister, will have less time to screw up Indian agriculture. Not that he isnt doing that. he is a big reason for lots of lapse, failure and downfall of agriculture but atleast its not in the pace he wud want.

so all of u say it again loud and clear: we will not tolerate corruption!

This and that..

2010-09-11T01:02:00.000-07:00

Hectic days..many hospital days in the last weeks (grand mother, father for cataract, such like - nothing serious) travel, planning for the soon-to-happen long travel..
All this means blogging takes the first beating..infact my mail access itself has been way low in last weeks..so apologies, inconvenienced regretted and all that!

Meanwhile lots of interesting things (many shameful ones included) happened around..
Worst of it all was the IMA getting in to a controversy bcos of endorsing a wrong product. As it is Indian Medical Assn is the only assn in the world to endorse commercial products. And to add more sham to this shame, they have endorsed wrongly! Misleading ordinary folks.
sample here.
They also got bashed up recently for the complain endorsement too apart from this Tropicana and Quacker oats!!
I also want some one to knock the *dash* off the dental assn which keeps endorsing colgate and other carcinogenic pastes..yeah, while on this, avoid any paste that foams up. It aint good at all.

Restore is organizing a community meet program on the 19th sep 2010. More info on the website. if you are in Chennai kindly RSVP and do attend it.

Amidst all this, W & me went to Point return and spent 3 days out there. As always its fun being there and working there infuses so much energy. Else where I had mentioned "Each time it grows on us, in all sense..as a project, as an idea, as a farm and as a rocking oxygen supplier/ body-mind revitaliser.." In the recent past, arrival of Sri & K had increased the fun factor there and now the new addition of Siddarth is a plesant bonus. if you are an IIT / IIM alumni then go settle at Point return;-)
seriously whats with these fellas? The 2 of the 1st 3 settlers out there are IIT, IIM fellas..

Finally, am joining the Kisan Swaraj yatra – a bus tour of 20 states, 12500 kms in 3 months..thats from Oct2nd..am really excited..much of my time these days goes with planning for that trip! Will come back with more stories and loads of experience..i cant wait..can u?

Very disturbing

2010-08-19T02:16:00.000-07:00

Raju of satyam is out on bail! some one who escaped being in the jail bcos of hepatitis C to Z, liver ailments, and other such innovative diseases and comfortably spent his time in the Nizam hospital is out even from that!
collective sham! Some one who could not be produced in the court all these days bcos he was ‘un well' is free and fit enough to go and enjoy his bail! Now do u think he will still hide behind those inventive diseases and hospital or freak out in his palatial bungalows?
Now this conster will twist as many evidences as possible, weaken the whole case and bury it.
Atleast if he was to be in the jail (ok, read hospital) many other prospective corporate thieves like him would have at least shown some restraint.
But now they would (re)think..

That’s a shame and this case will touch new lows soon.

old farts and young minds

2010-08-16T21:12:00.000-07:00

man! meeting old friends is great, always.
we had the 25 years 'whatever'jubilee alumni meet of our college guys..
oh! man!! all old farts now.. its 25 years since we all stepped in to the college first! (mind u not finished, many were wondering why it was 25 so soon)
In a matter of few minutes all these old farts scaled down 2 decades so easily and all were back to same old form..pulling each other's leg at the slightest chance and recalling (conveniently) others' goofs in our hey days and feigning memory loss when ever pointed their own goof ups:-)

the funny part was, all but 3 profs/lecturers there is none left from old days..another proof of days gone past..hmm..but we all proved we are young u know- by dancing, talking thru the night and laughing all the way/day..

Energy kid

2010-08-13T09:07:00.000-07:00

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.

Inception

2010-08-02T20:14:00.000-07:00

Just see it!
Oh man! What a movie..what shud one do to even come closer to imagine such plots, phew..
I can reveal the plot here, discuss the climax, give more spoilers, but nothing can take the fun away from the movie. Such a class act it is!
This fella Christopher Nolan is an amazing guy..His ‘Prestige’ being one of my all time favorites. (Memento, Batman, following being his other treats).
I cant think of anything less than 2 decades being the time taken to weave this magic. Man! Can some one even think of such a plot and this guy can deliver it flawless..yes, I cant think of any loop holes at all..that itself is a feat.
But wait..it just isn’t enough seeing the movie once..may be we shud buy a DVD and see it many more times to fully get it. Hey, I am serious.

No review can do justice to this!
Go watch the movie, then buy a DVD on the way and see many more times..Its gonna be as enchanting and fresh each time.

Hats off Nolan! Genius proved again!!

1 picture = 1000 words!

2010-07-29T05:19:00.001-07:00

(from some fwd mail)

Rajasthan bans plastic carry bags

2010-07-28T10:09:00.000-07:00

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!

Extraordinary couple!

2010-07-23T20:56:00.000-07:00

How would u like it if some one or other comes
-to charge a battery
-to get some medical attention (one days medicine and attending cost is Rs2/- yes, two rupees!)
-Asking for some local/nattu medication for some ailment
-to take some traditional farm equipments on rent (ofcourse nominal rent)
-to get some seeds
-to get some advise on value additions or to plan next crop etc
-to get some electrical or electronic repairs
-to get some minimal lathe work (like welding or minor repairs) done for free or low cost
-to ‘buy’ some value added products like bringraj thel, tooth powder, herbal golis, etc
-some kids come regularly asking for the free notebook, pens, pencils?

Reading all this what do u make of this place?
By any chance an organic farm??

That’s Dhirendra Soneji’s and Smita Soneji’s fabulous farm!
This is one extraordinary couple who were professors in an Engineering college at Ahmedabad. When they were in their early 30s (25 years back) they asked themselves this great question ‘whats important for/in life?’.
They quickly arrived at ‘health’ and so the question of ‘what are we doing here in a city then’ came up.
They decided there was no sense in making money as that could’nt get them the required health nor satisfaction. The city or the urban life style will not help it too. So they decided to take it in to their hands, literally.
So they decide to buy a piece of land in some rural corner and practice agriculture and to take care of their health. So all in one shot. Health, simple living, controlling own destiny, healthy n tasty food, happy living.
Man! They are having all that now and its only increasing:-)
This 2.5 acre land that they bought from their total savings (actually they had to postpone their decision of moving by an year to save that much funds) was near Rajpipla, a quaint village called Saakwa with some 100 households (total population 500 in this predominantly adi vaasis village). From there on their journey is so interesting. They build their house with minimal stuff but beautifully, use Humanure and Gobar for cooking and lighting,
Some solar was added later and in the recent past one point electricity connection is taken to support the sons’ computer requirements. Their acumen and learning help them plan everything they wud need for their food and so make a great sustainable plan. All the prudent multi and mixed cropping and half acre of fruit trees is only for self consumption. They don’t even sell milk.
Many organic farms are sustainable and out of the grid, but this one has stretched that beyond all imagination. They even grew cotton and hand weaved and made their own clothes too. That’s why they are rated so high. They reached 60% self sufficiency in the 1st year and now they are at 90%. In a place with 14 inch rainfall they harvest 8 grains, 8 pulses, 25 types of veg n fruits, 5 tubers and spices (like turmeric, Dhaniya, methi, ajwain). 200 flora species in all that invite some 70 brid species. All this in a 2.5 acre farm!
But Wait! There are more facets that make them soar even higher.

The fact that such a decision was taken when they were just 30 years old is incredible.
They also decided not to send their kids to school but educated them, themselves. Every thing that the kids wanted was given. Plus these 2 were always there to teach them farming, other basics and languages. The kids are now grown in to well groomed adults who not only have mastered farming but are also well equipped in to many facets like computers (ofcourse social networking too), alternate energy and lots of other skills. I could meet only Vishven who in my opinion is gearing for future articles to be written on him!
Dhirendraji, as I told earlier, is a maverick who is muliti talented. He not only learnt agriculture but also was a king of many other skills like lathe, machining, design, all round knowledge. Smita ben would not only freak out with her cooking but in many other areas lke traditional medicine, preparation of many new/traditional stuff, preserving seeds and ofcourse participates in farming activities too. So between them they cater to a village! Talk of being self sufficient, within a family!
Dhirenji would also make lotsa implements, tools useful for farming and hence many farmers who cant afford buying or making, rent it from them. Yes, they do plough their land bcos there is more Calcium in the soil and hence hardens and doesn’t allow water to seep in. the roots do not get to grow well, he said and hence they need to plough. So more areas for him to innovate and design tools and implements!
While there are many things he has designed and made (manufactured) himself, the unbeatable stuff IMO is his handy oil mill!
It’s an amazing machine which has an efficiency of 35% for the seeds like Till, Groundnut etc (meaning if u mill 1kg, u get 350ml of oil where as the industry norm will be 400-450ml!). so whats amazing, eh? The normal output apart from oil is the oil cake (punnakku in tamil) but in his case u get the seed -a bit crushed- but can be used as a grain (for cooking ofcourse not as seed!). I was lucky to try 1 kg of till (sesame) and we got 350ml with our hand power and the till that was got after the process was very much in shape and Smitaben stored it. (will be used for chutney powder and in some dishes!)

Dhirendra soneji and Smita ben are so cool about all this and only think any one who admires them only has to try it and thnk it’s the right way ahead.
Dhirenji infact asked me in all seriousness “ if u think so high of what we do and of organic farming, why are u going around and not doing it yourself? Don’t u think the farmers will feel, why this fella who is not practising it himself is telling us? Don’t u think there are enough NGOs to spread this awareness”. Right! That’s the best thing to do and that’s where W & me wud head finally..but for now, I wish to use my networking skill and energy to popularize it and spread the awareness. Like how I changed for good and realized the benefits of organic/natural farming, health aspects, traditional practises, etc I wish I can help some more convert.

some fotos here!

The best anecdote

2010-07-18T08:18:00.000-07:00

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.

Jayesh Bhai - unparalleled Hero!

2010-07-13T10:06:00.000-07:00

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

Seva Café

2010-07-10T20:35:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-07-10T10:07:00.000-07:00

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.

Sardar patel farm

2010-07-07T23:01:00.000-07:00

This is a 150 acre organic farm following bio dynamic farming principles right on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. This is run by Dr. Dinesh patel and his ultra energetic, dynamic wife. Dr.Dinesh, a cardiologist by profession has a clinic the whole of morning session. Then in the noon he goes to his farm and from then on ‘lives’ there.
We (me, K & S) knew it was a family farm and some of his family members were active in the farm too.When we asked him how many members of his family were living in the farm, he just gave a smile and coolly said “some trillions! Including the 11 laziest that see time and work, unlike the rest that work almost 24x7” . his mantra is give love reap heaps. Hde kept repeating that the love one gives reflects in the land and the plants. Such love has not just translated in to flora there is much fauna too! some 80 bird species is around there we were told.
The first thing we did at their farm was have lunch with them bcos it was his mom’s 80th birthday! Hmm..what a feast it was. We shamelessly invited ourselves for next day lunch too;-) The threesome of Dinesh Bhai, Jagrutiben and Alfi ben are not only fantastic hosts but amazing workers as we saw later. His house is like a museum, so neat and decorated with so many stalks and grains apart from many artefacts.
For an allopathic doctor to realise the ills of chemicals and then go organic was amazing. Here he also is a big freak decorative plants collector. He has some 100s of varieties of cycas and many crotons. Also in the list are very different and rare tree species. He even demonstrated grafting. He moves around with a clipper and keeps pruning plants/trees as he walks n talks.
They have built a big awareness and hence have hosts of people coming directly to their farm to buy organic produce. lots of people (many farmers from all around Guj and Maha) visit their farm regularly. On the day we were there a big contingent of MBA students from Anand had come!
To give it a gujju touch, this is not only ecologically sustainable but economically sustainable too. Their prices are very attractive. They mix traditional and mechanized practices. The best innovation is flushing the packets with Nitrogen and then packing. This way there is no oxygen in the pack for worms and insects to survive. Also N2 being a cooler gas, grains last longer in theior packs! What a double shot! He can infact patent it! I have heard of some grain storage yards in south America fully filled with CO2 and hence people will have to go in with O2 masks:-) But this is far out.
They also have another winner! They have a special technology with which they make their fruits (Amla, Mango and chikkoo) as powders, without losing the nutrients. This way the fruits serve beyond their seasons. Round the year nutrition! One can make juice or milk shake or just stir in water and consume.
They sell tons (yes 1000s of Kgs) of puffed rice and pounded rice (poha). Their simple and numerous value additions add economical value.
Another valuable tip he gave was that the grains are dry on new moon days and hence the seeds harvested on the new moon will live longer. On full moon, water table rises and so seeds planted then will germinate soon.Fruits plucked on full moon will be more juicy.
Unfortunately now their website, sardarpatelfarm.com is not working.
See here for some photos.

Beware!

2010-07-07T07:59:00.000-07:00

The whole world will sing eulogies on Muthiah Murlidharan and make u believe he is some (bowling) god!
Don’t get fooled/sold. Its humbug.
He was a cheat, after all..
Remember one used to get “medical certificates” from ‘doctors’ to ‘prove’ one was ‘rea;;y’ ill to save from punishment at school!
That’s what he did.. get a medical certificate and beat the rule. What a shame..if u r handicapped, go play handicap cricket is what the cricket admin shud have told him!
But unfortunately Dalmia was ruling..all he had was votes in mind, so amended a rule to help such foulsters like Murli, Shoaib chuktar etc.
The fall out is evident..
I see lotsa kids bowling with a big pause, literally side arm throw and trying to justify quoting murali..similarly lotsa younsters chuck for pace..
Anyways since its criket, I dont mind its detoriation..still it’s a shame..
So don’t get fooled..Its not worth all those paeans..
Just ignore..may be, something good can come from media sometime later.

Bhaskar save - photos.

2010-07-06T11:41:00.000-07:00

Thats a hatrick! already 3rd post in 3 days.
But this photo link is coming late bcos of some operational problems.

anyway see here.

This is Fukuoka's comments in the Kalpavruksha vistors book! he meant to say the conventional farming is on sea level, organic mid way and natural farming is right on top!

IFOAM Award to the legend!

2010-07-05T05:29:00.000-07:00

Great News!
The International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), the world’s foremost umbrella body of organic farmers and organizations, has decided to confer the global ‘One World Award for Lifetime Achievement, 2010’ on the outstanding Indian organic farmer, Bhaskar Save.
The ONE WORLD Lifetime Achievement AWARD acknowledges personalities who have pioneered and played an outstanding role in the organic world, who have big importance for the global organic community, and to whom we owe much respect and honor for their achievements.
He thoroughly deserves this (and any) award. I feel so happy for him and also that I met him and spent so much quality time with him!

Next Stop!

2010-07-02T01:34:00.000-07:00

Most of u in the west wud be familiar with the voice overs in public transport. In CH it was "nachster halt Olten; next stop--; prochain arret--"(oops try right pronouncement for thelast one;-))
I was in a BMTC bus (Bangalore local transport)y'day and suddenly heard this voice over: Next stop sangam circle; mundhina nilthana sangam circle!
Each time I come here,I see a new addition/improvement as for the bus system goes.Its really nice..Volvo AC buses are my favorite mode of transport here.
oops, never mention traffic to me..thats always deteriorating..
still its better to get stuck in a bus than a car or bike..
way to go BMTC!

Bhaskar Save – a legend!

2010-06-30T09:47:00.000-07:00

He is 89 and still active. One of the oldest (organic) farmers in India, most revered and a fountainhead of knowledge. He has been practising organic farming since 1956. He is a must see for any one taking to farming and his farm kalpavruksha should be visited- likened to pilgrimage.
Another person influenced by Gandhiji! This list of people across many fields influenced by Gandhiji amazes me.

Saveji was an exemplary chemical farmer in the early 1950s. When there were not many who took to chemical farming in those days, his farm was a ‘sample farm’ the fertilizer industry would bring people to. He was a ‘progressive farmer then:-0 but the point is he was always outstanding.
Suddenly he happened to read some points of gandhiji and the turn around (as well as reasoning) happened. From then till date kalpavruksha is an amazing natural farm. From water conservation to mulching to using weeds to the unique way of using crotons to identify the water needs of plants around to intelligent pest management thru mixed cropping – it’s a delight. A farm even the great Fukuoka said was better than his own, when he visited Kalpavruksha!
Saveji has numerous suggestions to make from his vast experience. He backs them all with heavy interesting statistics that one cant ignore what he says. One can fill this whole space with so much of info.
So here I go, only with some of the fabulous quotes of his.
- gandhijis 4 diktats about non violence, no right to kill other creatures, respect to mother earth, adopting traditional practices was the reason for his turn around.
- prakruti hi parameshwar
- When there is lack of knowledge, ignorance masquerades as ‘science’
- Weeding, Chemicals, cultivation expenses like tractor, etc and pesticides constitute 20% of the expenses each.
- Trees/plants donot take anything from the soil unlike the general wisdom. He went on to prove this by taking a pot with 9kg of soil and grew water melon. This grew and gave 2 fruits – 3& 5 kg (8 kg totally). Then he took the full plant and weighed it, which was 600gms. The soil after drying weighed 9kg again!
- Evaporation of water is like distillation and it leaves behind concentrated salt on the soil which was the main factor for loss of soil fertility.
- During and just after the I world war, British (and the farming community) didn’t bother about agriculture and so there was a sudden dip in production. This gave way to Chemical fever.
- Fruits and seeds comprise only 10-15% the rest is all designed to be given back to mother earth!
- vikas nahi vinash! (It aint development but destruction! While talking on the supposed development)
- if farmer becomes bikari the nation wud become bikari too
- we have no right to tamper with nature, it will take care of itself well if we don’t mess
- sarvodaya Vs Sarvanash
- With all this abundant use of pesticide have the pests vanished? Why isn’t any one asking??
- Soil took lakhs of years to form and how can we have short term plans for it?
- Except Humans all live their life, don’t disturb nor affect themselves or other creatures. and they don’t trade either.
- Earth worm is a great being, that works 24X 7. In a day it comes up to the surface 10-12 times to get O2 and to excrete.While it eats on the soil and all wastes that we put, it nourishes the soil so well. There can be up to 4 lakhs earthworm per acre. Each time it comes out it digs 2 holes (tilling any body?) so 2holes x 10 times x 4 lakhs!! 72 crores holes in a crop cycle on average per acre.
- Earthworms during their action do not disturb any of the fibrous roots but tilling would.
- BTW compost is NOT food for forest. Its food for the micro organisms of the soil.
- Trees need moisture not water! More water actually arrests aeration.
- Just like us, the roots also need to breathe and so excess water is unproductive. Prolonged flooding lets the roots to rot and it takes so much time to recoup even after the water drains or dries. Rice being the only exception.
- The water used to irrigate one acre of chemically grown sugarcane can provide the needs of atleast 25 acres of jowar, bajra or maize. Add to this the consumption at the sugar factories. 1 kg of refined sugar would need 3 tons of water. With this water 250 kg of millets can be grown.
- bcos of dams, theertha shetras became Naraga shetras.
- 40% of microbes and earthworms die in the 1st year of chemical farming. Due to this inadvertent introduction of organic (dead) matter on to the soil, the yield increases, in the 1st year. 3rd to 4th year on it reduces. So the introduction of ‘fiddled ‘ seeds, more chemicals, more water, more of everything and so more debts too!
- Of all the creatures 99% are non-vegetarians and the rest 1% is vegetarian. To avoid this 1% we spray so much of harmful chemicals where as the 99% wud have had enough predators to finish them off naturally.
- Instead we killed these helpful non-veg insects and so the vegetarians are freaking out on our crops.
- Chikkoo (sapota) lives for 3000-4000 years! One such 4000 years tree planted by the portugese is seen at silvassa!
- A very insightful, practical and amazing plan to reap the best out of mixed cropping by him is to mix the alpa jeevi (short duration crops, 2-6 months), Madhyama jeevi (medium duration, 2-12 years) and deerga jeevi (long term, 50-1000years) in such a way that the long term are on the outer periphery and as u go inside towards the centre u have the madhya and alpa jeevis.
Something important: When he shifted from chemical to organic way back in 1956, he had 50% yield only but expenses was a meager 10% of the prev year’s. In 5th year he had achieved 100% and from then it only increased.
His recipe for a sujalam suphalam India is to throw 3 things away; namely Agri university, Agri ministry and cricket.

Savejis open letter to M.S.Swaminathan, the great architect of “green revolution” is very [popular and is floating around all over the internet.
For the 1st letter to MSSwaminathan, see here:
Ofcourse he got a typical bureaucratic, diplomatic (read silly) reply from MSS!
For the 3rd letter see here:

Note: I do have lotsa photos including the great Fukuoka's pictorial comments in his visitor's book. But it can only happen later when I reach home.

Note2: for a cute write up and some photos on the same, check out here. Its with Sriram and Karpagam that i visited this farm and Ahmedabad.