Ins and Out: the Indian Way

Names matter little; still, they serve some purpose. Nouns signify. Thinkers realized early that it was difficult to imagine a shapeless entity as the supreme power, hence most religions have concrete images of divinity. So let us call the gentleman Vivek D. Now approaching sixty Mr. Vivek D belongs to first generations of Indians born in independent India.  It was perhaps this political reality imbibed through practices of a new nation finding itself that after getting a degree in mechanical engineering, Vivek surprised all by choosing to lead his life as farmer.

Pearls as bricks

 

Datta: what have we given?

The awful daring of a moment’s surrender
Which an age of prudence can never retract
By this, and this only, we have existed

Wasteland.

Curation  is primary directed by strong aesthetic sensibility. Serving others has also motivated people. Both, to collect and share, are essential elements of human gregariousness. Technology has empowered almost all fields of human enterprise. Just a decade back, while collecting had its own difficulties, sharing was  equally tedious.

The small foot-print audio format , mp3, changed it all. Enthusiasts, even to the day, are busy converting their audio collections to this format. Soon enough, video compression allowed easy exchange. Free repositories grant  users access to store and share.

Agritainers: Culture catching up

 

The website, Texas Crossroads Gathering attempts to connect consumers with farmers. ‘Bottom of pyramid’, ‘grass-roots’, ‘foundation of society’, ‘food-providers’ – there are numerous titles given to farmers across societies globally. The very vocation that founded the basis of human society and evolution of civilization stands almost as remote as its historical point of beginning. It is sad fact that estrangement of farmers from non-farming members of society has been on constant increase. In third world countries, economic gain governed formulation of policies which changed the natural crop cycles, made nature-dependent agriculture lose geo-sensitive crop preferences, bringing end to farmer’s autonomy where he exists as a loser –  as entrepreneur and worker.

In many societies lack of infra-structure leads to absence of dialogue between farmer and the rest. At best, they might have access to information channels, which coax them into adopting current practices. This has led to suicides by famers in countries like India. An estimated 200,000 farmers have taken their own lives in India over the past 13 years, according to Indian government statistics. Prime factors were ceding of  seed supply control to the corporate chemical industry, which enhanced production costs and falling food prices in a global agricultural economy.