Of Latitudes and Attidudes

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...

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.