Hallo!!

Cottages at "Tamarind Tree" in Dahanu

Am shocked to see that I haven't looked in on my blog for almost a month. Well partly its because I'm going through one of those phases when I've cut down on my internet usage quite a bit. It tires me to sit in front of the computer and I prefer to read or listen to music these days. The groups are going quite well and we've been scouting for new places to hold workshops in.

Cheerful looking dorm

Last week, Sharat, Sudha, Chandran and I drove to Dahanu to check out a farm called "The Tamarind Tree". Michelle, who runs the place with her husband Hemant, drove down with us from Bandra, where we picked her up and we spent the morning and part of the afternoon with her on her farm.

Very pleasant though it's starting to hot up a bit and we agreed that May would be too warm for us to have any workshops there. So most probably we'll get started after the monsoon some time.

Cooling off on the porch with some fresh toddy

The farm is alive with all kinds of creatures. There’s a huge frog who sits in a well all day long, (Chandran photographed him but the pic wasn’t too clear) and a cat called Minnie who complained loud and long as we walked into Michelle's house and then ignored us the rest of the day. We saw a cow and a calf grazing on the patch in front of the house and we heard about the ducks – Donald and Daisy – whom Michelle and Hemant bought for Rs. 200 a piece though Daisy went and died (I forget how. I think she swam over to the other bank, was picked up by the Adivasis and eaten up).

Michelle works with an NGO and is keen on hooking up with like minded people involved in doing similar work. We had a long chat, all of us, about the farm, about the adivasis who live in the area, the kind of stuff we could maybe do together. Lunch was simple and delicious – drumsticks boiled with a little haldi, potato bhaji, rajma, red rice, chapattis and pickle, washed down by a glassful of cool lassi.

Mother India spreading good cheer as usual

Mistress Minnie after lunch

Pics by Chandran