11th October - Preparatory Course

Navadarshanam symbolises the best example of a study visit. It is the story of a visionary and how he along with a group of people got together and used the land as it was always meant to be used. Organic farming is his mantra. Meet Mr. Anantu and his dream.
‘Chemicals in farms have only been introduced in the last 50 years. Before that since thousands of years we have been into organic farming. I would like to devote more in the spiritual realm than in the physical realm. My work is that. By doing what Iam doing, it can generate a lot of interest in others and people will be tempted to follow it. The whole world is involved in running the race – that is the goal…running. In a rat race, even if you have won a race you are still a rat. That’s what makes a social worker different. We work for humanity. It’s a selfless journey’. When asked whether it was an expensive proposition to switch to organic farming on a large scale, he replied ‘in the beginning it was difficult for us. Eighteen of us stayed in two mud houses and we have built this farm over seventeen years of hard work. Those were the best years of our lives. Today, this is a completely self-sufficient place. Nothing is procured from outside. Everything is obtained here. This can be replicated by anybody but it depends on the person, his background, his conditions, the society he lives in among other things.’
Finally he said, ‘this is not a farm, this is a research and development initiative. There are always challenges. If you don’t want challenges you cannot live anywhere. If you really want to help the earth you have to develop that subtler force within you. It is not about using chemicals or not using chemicals. Human beings are trying to conquer nature, this is against that subtler force.’

Drik

The Drik team had an interesting day as well. They went to Visual Search and met the documentary filmmaker, KP Sasi. KP Sasi showed them his documentary film, “Redefining peace”, about women’s rights. He then discusses with them techniques of approaching a topic, how he chooses his topics, and his interests. The most exciting thing for the Drik team was getting autographed cartoons from KP Sasi who is also a well-known cartoonist. One common complaint all voiced was the problem of funding for making documentary films
The second stop was CIEDS who focus more on development work regarding women’s rights. Ms. Madhu Nagabhushan, the co-ordinator welcomed them and had an informal chat about conditions that they would face in their host countries, as well as making them reminisce about home. The most memorable thing for the participants was the beautiful design of the house, as well as the bookstore there.

Inland Fisheries Unit

Genomar visited the Inland Fisheries Unit of Karnataka. They were shown many types of fish starting with the carp – common carp, grass carp. They moved on to ornamental fish – goldfish, molly etc, along with guppies. There was a discussion on breeding and seed production and along with growing commercialised fingerlings for sale. They were shown how cow dung is used to produce natural food – plankton, in the water. The Inland Fisheries Unit also has Genetics and Pathology as fields of study. An important fact was that tilapia is banned in India, as the fish supposedly breeds to quickly and destroys ecosystems. This was a little disappointing as tilapia is the basis of study for Genomar.

Pourakhi

Pourakhi visited SPAD – Society for Peoples Action for Development, where they watched a slide show on the various activities of SPAD. The thing that impressed them the most was that SPAD was an umbrella covering organizations that covered every facet of HIV and AIDS right from care, counselling and reduction of stigma to advocacy of rights and law. Particularly impressive was the MILAN project, started to reduce stigma about AIDS.
Swasthi was Pourakhi’s next stop. Swasthi is a rest house for operating sex workers, offering them food, stay and bath facilities during the day. Swasthi even has some HIV infected sex workers who still ply their trade, but making using of condoms. The Pourakhi team were very impressed by Swasthi’s work.

Thaicraft

Members of team Thaicraft visited Shilpa Trust. They got to see different aspects of art – woodwork, pottery, silk dyeing and printing, sandalwood statues and toys. There were also machines for woodworking. The 280 workers of Shilpa Trust seemed to be technologically as well as aesthetically conscious. The Trust workers are now trying blend classical ideas with modern ergonomic design. It was a feast for the eyes.