Life in the woods

Van Vadi, which lies at the foot of the Sahyadris, is a haven for Bharat Mansata and for those who wish to live in harmony with nature, cultivating their own land through healthy, organic agricultural practices. Pooled in his resources with a dozen other likeminded people, Mansata acquired the lush 64-acre land 14 years ago. Van Vadi lies a kilometre from Vaara village, Neral, in Raigad district. The land has been attracting city dwellers every October since 2005 to join in for Van Utsav a five-day festival and Shram Utsav for volunteering labour at their organic farms. While Mansata doesn8217;t call this eco-tourism, what the farm offers is becoming something of a trend among vacationers. The last few years have seen powerful campaigns raising concern for the environment. 8220;There are many who have jumped on to the eco-travel bandwagon. But with most people it8217;s just namesake of eco-tourism, or 8216;Greenwash8217; as we call it. The concept though does have a lot of potential if done well,8221; says Mansata.

Living in bamboo-huts without electricity, community cooking, two hours of daily farm labour or working on the construction of a house, workshops on carpentry and yoga are some of the things that encapsulate the experience at Van Vadi. There are streams in the land that are full and the vegetation lush green, fresh from the recent monsoon.

Mona Patrao, co-owner of Van Vadi runs a two-acre farm and school at Bhose village between Panchgani and Mahabaleshwar, and sounds like a remnant from the flower-power days. Still fresh with ideas, she hasn8217;t lost hope and cycled back to society like Alain Tanner8217;s protagonist in his sublime 70s classic Jonas Who will be 25 by the Year 2000, who left mainstream society to find a better world for his daughter to grow up in, but finally lost hope and returned. 8220;Well it was the 8217;70s. We were all searching for a better way,8221; says Patrao, who has been living on her farm for the last 30 years and has built an almost self-sustaining space with over a 100 different varieties of plant species, a bio-gas plant, solar parabolic heaters, grey-water recycling mechanisms. She grows carrots, lettuce, strawberries, lemon, guava, cherry tomatoes, mulberry, gooseberry, onion, garlic, ragi, sesame, potatoes and black beans according to

season. Started with her husband and educationist Peter, Redstone Home School, which Mona runs at the farm, attracts several school excursions from Mumbai and nearby Panchgani and Mahabaleshwar.

Patrao now works on her farm with help from local farmers and villagers who provide that vital 8216;indigenous wisdom8217; which is 8220;crucial8221;.

Hemant Babu, the founder member of Tamarind Tree Trust has a slightly different approach to this way of life. His is a three-acre piece of land with sanitised thatch-hut-style housing arrangements, small rice fields, a museum and a learning centre for Warli. Located in Sogwe, a small tribal village in Dahanu, about 100 km from Mumbai, Babu came here after a 15-year disillusioning career in journalism. 8220;I like to think that what we do here is political. In involving a tribal art form, we are also trying to open up a different way of life and a debate about sustainability,8221; he says. He eloquently defends his project, defining the thin line between eco-tourism and philistine country-side resorts. 8220;I won8217;t deny that we don8217;t like the money coming in but it is more important to us that we instill certain values in people who visit. Tamarind Tree invites school children every monsoon for rice cultivation,8221; says Babu. There are also visitors from World Wide Opportunities for Organic farming WWOOF, an organisation that began in the UK in 1971 and has facilitated the movement of organic farming enthusiasts across borders.

Initiatives in the direction have yielded a fresh crop of youngsters who have taken to organic farming. Twenty-five-year-old Varun Lulla, who has volunteered his services at the farm, is a documentary film-maker-turned-farmer. He is trying to develop his own piece of land on the outskirts of Pune. Ubai Husein, 27, visitor at Van Vadi, gave up a career as a chef in the US to try his hand at organic farming. He now grows a variety of fruits 8220;and vegetables without much success8221; at his plot in Bhiwandi.

Archana Singh, who works closely with nutritionist Dr Vijaya Venkat has been running a four-acre farm at Wagani, on the Pune-Karjat route, not far from Badlapur. They organically grow several varieties of fruits and vegetable and keep their farm open to visitors who are free to use their large dormitory for relaxation Rs 300 per day. 8220;Visitors come to our farm for healthy food and a day off,8221; she says. Archana runs her farm with husband Rajan and was initially offered four more acres to farm by the forest department. They denied the offer because the land was too large for them to manage.