Navadarshanam

As the car veered right from the Silk Board Junction onto Hosur Road a familiar sight greeted us. Bumper to bumper traffic moving at a very slow pace! The car then inched its way through until we reached Electronic City. From there on it was a nice one-hour drive, through roads flanked by fertile landscapes before we reached our destination.
A farmhouse, called 'Navadarshanam'.




Navadarshanam is a self-sustaining charitable trust on the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border. We entered the farm which was bounded by an electric fence, and were greeted to a warm welcome by Mr. Ananthu. Mr. Ananthu, a Stanford University Graduate and his wife Jyothi who has a PhD in Sociology are trustees and permanent residents of the farm.




We headed straight to the kitchen where our growling tummies were pacified by some delicious healthy vegetarian food. The residents of the farm, who are people from nearby hamlets do the cooking and farm maintenance. Below is a picture of the kitchen at Navadarshanam.



Fruite and vegetables required for consumption are grown in the farm. Apart from catering to food requirements of the residents and guests of the farm , several food items are prepared such that it is healthy and tasty and is sold at Navadarshanam and in a few outlets in Bangalore. The income generated from this goes into the maintenance of the farm.




Navadarshanam has several aesthetically designed cottages, which provide basic amenities to the visitors and are designed in such a way as to minimize the usage of cement and steel in their construction. The bricks used to build the walls are also made at the farm. As the cottages are extremely well ventilated it would require the usage of lights only at night. Below is the picture of one such cottage.




The picture below shows a windmill, just one of the several alternate sources of energy used at Navadarshanam. Solar energy and wind energy is harnessed and is used to charge batteries during the day, which in turn meets the power requirements of the farm. The gobar gas produced in the farm is used for cooking and slurry that is a by-product is used as manure for the crops.



Our visit to Navadarshanam coincided with the mango season. It indeed was an awesome sight to see large bunches of mangoes hanging from the branches of several small sized trees. The mango pickle that was being prepared filled the air with an tempting aroma.



In the evening after having a hot cup of indigenous lemon grass tea and biscuits we decided to go for a stroll and explore the farm. As there were dark clouds hovering over us, threatening to burst anytime we gathered as many umbrellas as we could and proceeded.Watching the pea-hens reared on the farm was a pleasant surprise.



Everyone at Navadarshanam (including the dogs of the farm) abide by the rules. The residents of the farm follow a strict schedule in which there is a stipulated time to eat,work and relax. Below is a picture of the dogs waiting outside the dining room for their quota of food.