India

START CLOSE IN – by David Whyte

Start close in, don’t take the second step, or the third, start with the first thing close in, the step you don’t want to take.

Start with the ground you know,the pale ground beneath your feet, your own way to begin the conversation.

Start with your own question,give up on other people’s questions, don’t let them smother something simple.

To hear another’s voice,follow your own voice, wait until that voice becomes an intimate private ear that can really listen to another.

Start right now, take a small step you can call your own, don’t follow someone else’s heroics, be humble and focused, start close in, don’t mistake that other for your own.

Start close in, don’t take the second step or the third,start with the first thing close in, the step you don’t want to take.

Harvested the last szechuan pepper and goji berries from Rakesh's back garden. Not without a blood sacrifice - damn those thorns are thick!
The paths are quite overgrown, its hard to distinguish them from the beds, so at 12:50 I started making a 'pafhfinder' stamppot for breakfast - it was about time - to clear the way a bit. Not that that is going to stay like that till we come back in 3 months time, though. If any garden grows wildly abundantly, even in winter, it will be Rakesh's.

Rakesh hasn't even started thinking about what to bring to India. Oh well... we've got a whole day still. Our flight is tomorrow evening. And then we'll be stuck with each other for 3 whole months. Haha. Luckily we get along very well to say at least, but it will be interesting nevertheless.

- Potatoes from the front garden
- Kale
- Plantago Lanceolata leaves
- Dandelion leaves
- mustard leaves
- Nettle leaves
- Chards
- deliciously lacto-fermented cherries, harvested 3 years back

Together with a bit of asafoetida, salt and some roasted almonds, which were the only 3 things not from the garden.

Pathfinder Stamppot ingredients:

We were very lucky that our immigration procedure and exit out of the airport went unusually quick (normally there are huge queues and queues don't work in India), yet to get us both a SIM card that works took us 1 hour. (Still way better than 2 months it took Rakesh last time he was here). In India, if you don't have a phone number, you're basically fucked. Everything is organized through phones and the government made sure that people even in small villages have access to them. But to get our phones working here we need an Indian SIM card, which is not so straightforward as 'just' buying one. Basically to get an Indian SIM card you already need an Indian phone number and address, so you definitely need to get help from a local. How convenient it is to travel with someone who has friends who live here!

Amritadh's appartement is located in one of the bays in Mumbai, with a beautiful view on the sea. Mumbai is very foggy, much like a sauna, but a little bit dusty from the amount of construction work going on. The slight breeze from the see keeps mosquitos away. Yay!
Coming week Rakesh has planned on giving courses on different farms and sites near Mumbai and further up North that invited him over. He got funding to especially accomodate and feed local people on his permaculture / forest gardening / sociocracy / tantra courses, that don't have the financial means to attend such courses normally.

In a way it is a bit sad to have to tell local people that what their ancestors had been doing for thousands of years makes more sense than the agriculture methods that colonizers violently imposed on them. But I'm very happy to be supporting Rakesh in this mission. Meanwhile I will be helping him these months with structuring, writing, maybe even illustrating a permaculture book containing case studies of many of his adventures and stories. How exciting!
Large fruit bats are soaring by through the night sky as we prepare to sleep in a proper bed.

morning view on Mumbai from Amritadh's appartement

Woke up around 6.30 from the sound of a ministry of crows! Very nice to feel their very strong presence here.
We enjoyed breakfast together prepared by Amiradh's housekeepers(?). We had fruits like Papaya and Guava and of course a traditional Indian breakfast called Poha, which is stirfried flattened puffed rice with spices, peanuts and peas.
Simple and delicious!

Amritadh is a very friendly guy. He and Rakesh share the same passion for reggae and environmentalism. His work is diplomatic in nature where he tries to map out land ownership while negotiating between people who own land passed on through generations, and others who have gained legal ownership over it, which both often overlap and create conflicts. He tries to find solutions that work for all parties, leaning more towards approaches of community supported agriculture and rewilding alliance. But gaining trust from the people doesn't always come easy, recently leading to an occasional gang fight between involved parties with police, in which a lot of data from their research got lost, and which he is still trying to puzzle back together...

Approaching India, I'm getting a bit nervous about their border control. I got my visa granted even though I had to tell them I have been arrested before (for XR protests). Since they granted it anyways, this shouldn't make me nervous, right? Yet, another thing is that I am part of a spiritual organisation that got banned in the 80's in India for being too socially politically activist. (more about that later) Members got actively prosecuted back then. I thought those days were long over, which is true to the point that Margiis (as we call ourselves) don't get killed or imprisoned for no reason. But according to Rakesh the government still is very strict with them at border control and now I vaguely remember that I may have ignorantly mentioned Ananda Marga explicitly in my visum application... Keeping my fingers crossed...

Today the smart dress stays on as we meet Raman and his wife, both film directors, for lunch and whose farm we will visit for a course in a few days. They brought a friend over who just happens to be a British politician working with a soil movement in Brighton. So perfect opportunity for Rakesh to exchange contacts for future courses in that area.
In the afternoon we had tea with the 'legendary environmental activst' and author Bittu Saghal. A very sweet man who was genuinely interested in both Rakesh's and Amirtadh's work in environmenralism and was much willing to organize a course together with Rakesh somewhere these 3 months of our stay. Rakesh told me an amazing story about him how he teaches children through asking the right questions and enabling them to unlock a deep ecological understanding within themselves.

Back home, I asked Sampa and Rapan, 2 (out of 4) of Amritadh's houskeepers / servants, if they could teach me some cooking. My Hindi is just good enough to confidentely say "Miri Hindi nahi achi he", meaning: My hindu isn't good. Starting with the easy task, I was allowed to bake the chapati's. I am pretty certain today I ate more than past 3 days combined, and that on what "should have been" a fasting day...

Rakesh's dear friend, an amazing poet (and many more things) sadly passed away yesterday. Rakesh shared this poem written by his friend Benjamin Zephaniah

2 day permaculture course

Live background music we heard upon arrival at Tokoro Farms

To get a better idea about Indian timing: we left Amritadh's place at 5.30 to arrive after a bumpy road at Tokoro Farms a bit late, after 10 (the course would be from 10 to 5). Besides Govind, the farm owner, only 1 course participant had arrived so far. So there was enough time to have an elaborate breakfast while waiting for the others to come. Eventually started around 13.00, had a lunch break at 15.00, and after a finally have finished only the introduction to Permaculture, we had a music evening around 6 with more of Govind's friends joining. Dinner was around 8 after which we still had an hour drive to the city of Pune, where Govind had arranged us a place to sleep. Lovely chaotic day.

actual sign
on the highway

One of Govind's friends, a funny character who participated in the course and represented a strawberry in the Council of all Beings.

At 9.30 Govind's driver picked us up at the hotel that he had arranged for us. Since the course starts at 10, and it takes 40 minutes to get to the farm, Govind concluded we have more than enough time to enjoy breakfast at one of his favourite cafés.

I never met anyone like Govind who seemingly has servants for everything in his life. A bit spoiled, as he says himself, but his heart on the right place.He told me his inspiring story that he survived Gas Gangeree after a motorcycle accident, a very deadly illness where you basically get eaten from the inside.

The hotel, which from the inside reminded me of the community where I live. Many Osho people stay here.

He underwent 50 operations in his life but because of his sharp mind and discipline, he recovered very well from having several organs, muscles and nervous pathways replaced in his body. His recovery went very well with a lot of help of holistic healing methods, outside the allopathic healthcare system. This inspired his own doctors too, that allopathic and holistic practices can work together very well.

The people joining the course today are mainly friends from Govind in his expat community. Quite rich people living here in India, but all with an interest and understanding of permaculture and sustainability.

I helped cooking some dishes for lunch, which was a challenge because many of the vegetables I never ate let alone prepared myself. But since everybody liked
it, I could say it was a successful experiment!

First rice harvest at Tokoro Farms

Moringa tree.
Best nitrogen fixer.

Mask making & Council of All Beings

Arun's mother, the old woman in the pink saree, is a very good acupressure practitioner. While we were at their place to learn about the rice processing, she pointed at me as if saying : You, here, now.
I couldn't escape undergoing a 5-minute intense treatment where she walked on my very tense back and shoulders and massaged them intensely with her feet. After that I had to lie in a certain position and she would pull my arm, resulting in my whole backbone opening up with a tenfold of loud cracks. Wow! 'Good Luck'were the only English words she spoke when I thanked her deeply for this relieving experience. I really need to practice my asanas more..

The city Pune from a hilltop

Teaching farmers about water management on Raman's farm.

Giri's cat
called "Purp!"

Relaxed day today as Rakesh is feeling feverish.

Spent the day updating my journal. Several people and Matthew came by and we made some lovely dosa's.

Raman's farm got recently partially destroyed by neighbours. They set this part with rewilding purposes on fire, out of ignorance of this approach and also jealousy of their yields. Raman's worker (in the red shirt) sad about this. But now this land is cleared, he wants to create a forest garden here. He tries to educate local farmers about permaculture whatever he has learnt from Rakesh. Today's course about water management was very insightful for them to learn how trees help raise the water table, which is especially helpful in hilly areas like here. Shemol wants to educate his neighbors about the importance of nature-inclusive farming for regenerating their landscape as well as safeguarding their yields.

It is basically rock that crumbles apart when you press it with a bit of force. Very tough to grow anything on.

The state of the soil before they started growing anything here.

In the evening I went out with Vinay for a walk and dinner that ended up to be around midnight.

He is keen on giving me some driving lessons! Apparently that is how it is done here in India: Just learn it from friends!

Ash gourd - one of the most alkaline vegetables there is.

Huge fig tree with yummy pink figs.

After our vistit and course at Raman's farm, we went for another spontaneous visit together to a project by one of Rakesh's ex-students 5 minutes around the corner...

This project is truely amazing and I rarely have seen any that have so many permaculture aspects included in it! Hidden Oasis is an eco-farm that is run collectively by 10 families together, who also live together on the land. It started off with the idea to begin an orphanage for young girls, and making this orphanage 100% self-sufficient, hence why they started the farm. Ecology is very important in their work and the permaculture ethics Earth care, People care and Fair share can be felt in every little corner of this place. Their organic farm now also functions as a retreat and education centre, where people come to learn about holistic healing methods, get treatments etc. Besides some of the produce they sell, this is where they get their income from.

Another amazing thing is that they observed that orphans when they become adult, and get out of orphanages, they often don't have the skills that are needed to contribute to a sustainable future in the world outside. So they dedicated a piece of their land to construct a skills school (Gurukul in India). The whole construction of the school is in the form of apprenticeship as well where young people learn about natural building techniques, so that later they can get a job with an architect in this field.

We're spending a few days at Giri's place. He was so sweet to offer us the keys of his appartement, so we are currently staying in his guest room. This building is built around a lot of old trees. Giri told me the story of the place, that the previous owner of the land didn't want to sell his land to protect the precious big trees that were living here. He would only sign a contract with an architect that would include them into the plan. Finally one architect was willing to take up this challenge and this building was made around several of the huge trees that are a couple of hundred years old.

Namasté, muchko do idly, ek masala dosa or ek plain dosa chaihe, please!
(Hello, I would like to have one spiced dosa and one plain dosa, please)

Today I'm practicing my Hindi in town by ordering some amazing idly and dosas from a small place around the corner for myself and Giri.

Likin, ye massala dosa, bahat garam nahi he!
(But this spiced dosa isn't very hot)

Rakesh is still having a low fever and pretty much sleeping the whole day. Giri and Vinay say there is some kind of bug going around. Maybe he caught it. Luckily we have no plans for a couple of days since one of the courses in an art village got canceled. It is wedding season in India, so many people are preoccupied with other things.

I seem to have no symptoms of any illness yet, which I find surprising. I always thought my immune system was a bit lower than Rakesh's. Also the last weeks in the Netherlands I felt on the edge of burnout again. I had expected some kind of system collapse now I have more breathing space, but nothing like that happened.

I hope Vinay has some time to meet up tonight, and escape the wedding noise that is going on in his appartement (his neighbors are getting married and the party is happening for 3 days non-stop outside his front door). I like the idea of getting some basic driving lessons from him in some abandoned lane here in Pune, although I'm not sure my parents would think the same when reading this...

Last night had a different turn than expected when instead of with Vinay who got trapped in wedding celebrations, I spent the night in deep conversation with Giri. He is a very sensitive guy and I have the feeling like he can sense the state of my being to the core by just looking at me. Feeling already exposed in that sense (not in an uncomfortable way) our conversation went really deep very fast. We quickly brought to the surface several key issues that have been causing a lot of tension within me recently and some dating back many years ago. With just one touch on my arm he could observe tensions of exact muscles elsewhere in my body, that I wasn't even aware of. I find it generally hard to expose a certain vulnerability in presence of others, but since I have no history and no future with Giri, it made it somehow much easier to open up. I never experienced someone else holding me while going through deep emotional unraveling, including all the "scary" physical reactions that go with it. And I never knew that this was something I feel I deeply need. Through precise observation he allowed me to relax certain parts of my body to the deepest. Those moments of complete surrender felt more liberating than anything I experienced for a very long time.

Little zine I made for Giri as goodbye gift.

We're on the road again! This morning at 6am Vinay picked us up at Giri's place, for our long journey, bringing along several people to some inspiring farm projects North of Mumbai. Besides some messy avocado sandwiches we enjoyed some proper dosa on the road, and visited one of Rakesh's friends, Vikram, somewhere halfway, who makes hand pans and rescues many street dogs.

After an 8 hour long ride we arrived at Vinayak's farm (another name starting with 'Vi' ) where we will stay for 2 nights, while we visits some inspiring farms nearby to learn from their experiences.

Vinay and Rakesh were very enthusiastic when hearing about hot water springs very close to the farm. We all needed to refresh ourself after the sweaty and bumpy ride, but the water was a bit too hot to have a proper dip.

Planning for the upcoming days is:
- Visit to Bhaskar Save's farm
- Visiting Earth Forever, a women's permaculture project
- A tour on Vinayak's permaculture farm

Different types of tree bark

in the botanical garden

Did you know that Mango, Cashew and Horesechestnut are all from the same plant family?

Proper sized Dosa on the road

Apparently trans people are considered holy in India according to Hindu tradition, and bringers of good luck. Especially now in marriage season, families will be on the lookout for transgender people to bless the bride in the marriage.

But sadly enough contrasts are big in this country. Besides the rituals, transgender people are not at all put on a pedestal in society. They basically have no real job opportunities and are often left to 'rot' in the streets. I saw some project spaces popping up on the map that help women and trans women to gain a more equal position in society and the job market.