The city agrarian

Finding the Vinoba Bhave ashram was not hard; I was merely surprised how long it took me to get there. It was supposed to be located at the outskirts of the city of Vadodara (India), but then, over the years Vadodara has grown to consume the surrounding villages and in this case, Gotri gaam. Around 30 years ago Jagdish uncle took charge and settled with his wife and two young boys. One of the young boys, Kapilbhai, grew up to in-turn take charge of organic farming and that is why I was heading out to the ashram -- to learn and understand what's involved. I didn't get to talk to Kapilbhai much but I did spend some time with Jagdish uncle. 

This is the story of how a simple man with a simple mission of feeding the world's hungry through ecologically sustainable agrarian practices came about in the city of Vadodara -- to be precise, then at the outskirts of the city, next to the cemetery. This ashram, founded by Vinoba Bhave -- the foremost land reformer independent India had seen -- now has an alternative medicine clinic (run by the younger doctor son) accompanied by a hospital ward to house patients staying for treatment, and an organic farm. Of course, the whole family stays there too. 

There are a few detractors of organic farming but that's particularly related to the way this it has been capitalized in the USA. For instance, "shipping one calorie's worth of arugula to the East Coast costs fifty-seven calories of fossil-fuel" (Michael Pollan, "Omnivore's dilemma").  Steven Shapin's piece in the New Yorker, Paradise Sold, ominously details the degree to which this halcyon concept has been denigrated in the Whole Food Market world. 

Kapilbhai's idea is to continue to focus on local growth, local marketing, local consumption. But he has a tough battle ahead of him with heavily subsidized fertilizer based farming and rapid advancement of Monsanto's genetically engineered crops in India. But there is hope. They have devised a certification process for organic farms to introduce grain reliability and quality, and they are working at the grass-roots level to convince the housewives of the need to buy organic. The goals are grounded in reality. They want to keep the fire burning so that in 40-50 years, when the country will indeed face food crisis, they will be there to save the day. Such is the confidence, humility, and greatness of this movement. They know that the battle cannot be won today, tomorrow, or the day after. They may not be around but the concept of sustainable organic farming will eventually take root. 

Aimlessly in a crowd

The city of Tokyo is probaby without a parallel in the world. It has a unique mixture of typical western development and yet a strong foundation of the traditional. I always wondered how societies evolve to keep themselves rooted in the old while keeping up with the advancing world outside their narrow domain. 

Yet, it's a challenge being there as a vegetarian. My hosts are kind to get me all sorts of Udan and tempura but this desi apetite is not sated easily. My colleagues are great and we end up taking the midnight train to see the "crazily dressed" people (the fashion challenged in me could not see issues with yellow boots and black dress but a female colleague picked it up in utter shock) and weird hari-dos. 

It's been 8 trips in 3 years and yet, everytime I feel like I am visiting the city anew.