To Bengaluru
Passport? Check. Visa? Check. Tickets? Check. India shaped adapters? Check. Everything else? Check. Okay, I’m ready for my next trip to meet, learn from, and be inspired by ARI gradu...
Where are the people?
Despite attempts to cling to sleep, jetlag had me up in just a few short hours, so I took a warm bucket bath and ventured out into the lush garden of the compound. There was not a soul to be fou...
Where is my stop?
The next morning, I started trying to figure out where I needed to alight from the bus. Stops are not announced and it seems that people were using Google Maps on their phones to know where and ...
A visit from an apostle
After a hot shower I went down to the living room and immediately got into a conversation about Christianity in Kerela. Feel free to skip over any of these “Thomas Mathew” lessons. It’s ju...
‘This medicine to be taken with food’
Next, we went to check out what Yamanoshita san was doing. Yamanoshita san is a longtime volunteer from Japan, coming to SEEDS since around 2000. COVID and the occasional visa problems som...
String hoppers and curry leaves
This morning’s breakfast was Idiyappam or string hoppers. They are cute little bundles of noodles, each one a mouthful or two, to be eaten with curry. Sally picks the curry leaves fresh fr...
35 families
The second Saturday of each month is a national holiday, and the day all the families come to SEEDS India. “Families? What families?” The families of the children being sponsored for their...
Backyard supermarket
After breakfast Thomas Mathew took me around his farm, which you can reach by simply walking around his house. It consists almost completely of trees that bear fruits and spices and reminded me ...
The snake boat
When Thomas Mathew started telling me about Snake Boats, I couldn’t quite fathom what he was talking about. Then he took me to see one. Sleek, black, serenely ominous; its stern jutting high int...
Spice country
Not wanting to repeat my last night-bus panic, Thomas Mathew took me early for the bus to my next destination – Mananthavady. We were a full hour early, in fact, for a bus that ended up being a ...
Busy Siby
Though Siby is no longer employed at Vanamoolika, he continues to support them, providing training on various organic farming topics whenever asked. Presently, he is helping a new co-opera...
Fr. Babu
It’s another beautiful day and the first unexpected order of business was to meet Fr. Babu. He had somehow caught wind of the fact that someone from ARI was in town and came all the way from Oot...
Biowin
Biowin is one of the projects of WSSS, a company created to process and market the products of the thousands of organic farmers they work with. It is very much like Vanamoolika, only on a grande...
On the road with Roy and Wajid
This morning, I was picked up at 9:00 AM, Indian Standard Time, by Roy David and his trusty driver Wajid to make our journey to Roy’s home in the neighboring state of Karnataka. Roy David and hi...
Nagarhole National Park
The road from this forest led directly into the Nagarhole National Park, which is also a tiger reserve. There was a watch tower and small forest department office at the gate. This i...
A new language zone
No one ever told me what the BGT stands for in my hotel’s name, and I didn’t think to ask, so feel free to assign whatever words fit best. Google suggested Britain’s Got Talent, but I have my do...
Two breakfasts
It’s Valentines Day, which I heard is starting to catch on in India, but I didn’t see any outward signs. Confident I had figured out the breakfast system I went down to the restaurant and said, ...
Local breakfast
This morning, I didn’t manage two breakfasts, but instead got to eat at a very local place with Roy David. It was small and absolutely packed with people jostling to the front where the food was...
The Unkillable Roy David
Shammi was not around today, having gone off to the farm. Not the farm we went to last night, but the place where her son is growing pepper. So, Roy David and I were on our own for breakfast and...
Fasten your seat-belts
The mission for today was to drive north to the district of Chikmagalur to meet Channappa (2006 ARI Graduate). The trip proceeded without incident, for which I give my gratitude to Wajid and his...
