There is something ethereal about living with the nature, it engulfs you into its glory and you see this world in a whole new light.
I entered Vanvadi, a beautiful community space which resembled an original forest at the foothills of Sahiyadris in Neral District of Maharashtra. The community consisted of people from the local tribe as well as cities, co-existing together part of one big Vanvadi family. Usually the people of the community living in the cities come here the moment they get an opportunity. I stayed at Vanvadi for a week where I learnt about life close to the land in an ethical and sustainable manner – to benefit ourselves, the land, and perhaps the local people as well. I went there during my days at Ahimsagram for the purpose of cooking for a residential Sociocracy workshop, jointly organised by Ahimsagram and Vanvadi community. Below are the extracts I have written in haphazardly in my journal, as and when I got time from the busy schedule we had.
Chapter1: Observor
Day 1 Date: 4th oct 2016
I was travelling with Uditima to this new place called Neral. As we got off the train, we saw a clean and quiet railway station unlike one’s I usually see. We continued our journey on auto for about an hour until we reached an unpaved path going inside the jungles on the left side of the main road. Carrying our backpacks over our shoulders, we continued via hike into the wild. After few minutes Confusion was clouding about if we were on right path, till a person on bike passed us who also confirmed we were indeed right. His name was Daulat. He took part of our luggage with him for apparently he was part of vanvadi tribe as well. In that Jungle, it was really easy to trust someone. The next half of the hike went with us enjoying the journey and even taking our time enjoying on the way ponds. Finally end of this long journey led us to a majestically small gate marking the entrance to Vanvadi. As we entered, all I could see was lush greenery all around us. Walking through the green boulevard we saw a man made dam (small version) built over a stream of clean and clear running water. We had to cross the dam to reach the other side via walking on dam’s wall. As we started walking over it, a beautiful landscape started coming up in our view. A proud hut stood on diagonal left side to us adjacent to the stream(on which dam was build) where we could see some human movement. Adjacent to the hut and straight in front of us beyond a giant tree was an empty space which I can easily imagine a beautiful space for camping. My heart was beating with ecstasy and I couldn’t wait to see what Vanvadi had in store for us.
We moved towards this huge hut and greeted everyone present there haphazardly. We kept our luggage near already brought luggage of ours by Daulat as quickly as possible. After a long journey, we hoped to drench ourselves in the stream. Fascinating thing about the stream was that it flowed from inside of Vanvadi.
Initially I was afraid that someone might stop us from going inside the stream for our safety. Surprisingly no one did. Just the way it happens in nature, our safety was our own responsibility. Still being afraid, I was just following Uditima. As we took steps towards an unknown adventure, I felt adrenaline coursing through my body. We were like kids, walking and splashing water from the stream(the water was not even knee deep). While we kept on moving, there was a pain my bare feet caused by the pointed rocks that formed the riverbed. For a city person like me, the pain was real and path felt difficult to tread. Still like the pain caused on fingers while playing guitar for the first time, something beautiful was there about it.
After a while I saw a broken fence, Probably marking the end of the territory of Vanvadi while the stream flowed beyond it. Breaking my inner psychological barrier of not going beyond the defined area, I leaped outside the physical barrier of the fence to an unknown territory, discovering a naturally made swimming pool with depth of around 6 feet.
The robotic me and someone who thinks a lot before even saying anything was showing signs of expression and doing things that were crazy for my standards. There was a sense of excitement and accomplishment in the air on our little discovery. I was able to do it because of Uditima. She always pushes me and makes me question things and rules about the world we live in(even for years to come).
Once back, we sat near the huge main hut open from two side near the stream. Hut had a kitchen on the third side and a storeroom on the last. Floor of the hut was made from solidified clay. On the first floor Daulat had made a few beds by netting some ropes, and was making some more. If these ropes break, a person sleeping on them would fall directly on the ground which was approximately 15 ft below. Maybe this was the thrill about the beds. We ran to occupy a bed each for sleeping on the netted first floor.
Vanvadi has no electricity, mobile networks or any other kind of technology for that matter.
I was eagerly waiting for cooking here. There were three woodfired chula (earthen stoves) and a mud oven. Cleaning of utensils happened through leftover ash from chula, coconut peel as scrubber and water from stream. Everyone was supposed to clean their own plates.There was a tubewell on the other side of the stream, from where one may get drinking water. There was a forest blooming all around the main hut, along with a huge herb garden adjacent to the kitchen.
If you walked a little along the stream, you could see small huts build over the stream. They were used to take baths. Throughout my stay I never entered these huts once. It felt stupid to leave the stream and swimming pools and take bath in (no matter how beautiful and natural) a closed premises.
Even the toilets located at a distance from the stream on the land are made on the concept of compost pit made by digging soil from below. Once the pit become full, it is closed from the top with the help of soil, increasing its fertility. The toilet is then shifted to some other place.
There are three almost natural swimming pools in Vanvadi made by creating small dams. I went for swimming in one of them.
Day 2 (Morning)
I was woken by the sounds of water flowing in the stream (about 10 meters from me), of a distinct bird talking to each other in the lovely wheather, of crickets making energetic beats and the sound of a moving clouds. My body felt the pleasure of having a different kind of freshness that I never get in the cities.
For the breakfast, ‘Aduvani’, made from rice flour and freshly picked adu leaves was offered. As I tasted the water from the well for the first time, its sweetness took me by surprise. It didn’t just quench my thirst, but it gave me completeness as if I was drinking water after a very long time. It felt like all cells in my body were alive again and thanking me for this elixir.
Best thing about the morning was however, the colorful frog with shades of shiny blue, yellow and green. They made me amazed about their existence. The place was indeed mystical!
Chapter2: A gentle push
Day 2 (afternoon)
The workshop was supposed to start today in the afternoon. I came to Vanvadi a day earlier before everyone else participating in the workshop so as to be able to set up the kitchen and prepare the lunch before others arrived. While at the back of the head I knew that, the hesitance of entering the unknown territory of kitchen with so many unknown faces took the better of me. In reality out of habit I was for someone else to give me orders for that. The orders never and I never entered(the kitchen).
Soon Shammi arrived with few people along with him, few others were on their way. On realising that no food had been prepared, he had to enter the kitchen right away. A disappointed Shammi scolded me a little. I didn’t mind the scolding since he also took me in the kitchen with him giving me all the needed push.
It is said that you can travel the world, survive it without money and have a shelter above your head as long as you can enter someone’s kitchen like you own it. That was my first lesson in that front.
While the day was tiring and difficult, at night Vanvadi was a different delight in itself. Without any other social distractions, everyone was just enjoying the free time, getting to know each other. Most of them sitting inside the same common main hut. After a while few people started playing Djembe(a kind of african drums) while someone took my guitar(which I was not playing) to join their jam. Bharat joined in with his evergreen legendary flute. Gosh! he played such beautiful mind soothing tunes! (I remember how Uditima took tips from him for playing the flute throughout our stay out there.). Soon everyone had joined the celebrations.
Tired from the day’s work I was happy observing the proceedings from a distance before finally going to my netted bed on the first floor really early. For the first time I had observed such a scenario in my life. Laying on the bed, a lot of thinking was happening a lot of things were changing!
Day 3
My day started even before the sunrise. While I made my way downstairs to freshen up and ready to be able to serve breakfast on time i.e. by 8am, everyone else was still sleeping laying over thin mattresses on the clay floor of the hut. Silently, trying not to wake anyone, I moved towards the stream bank to wash my face.
After freshing up I rushed to the kitchen to observe the kitchen team already waiting for me, ready for the day. Of Course Astu was sleeping. Waking him up is another unexpected task that was with me.
As I entered the kitchen while the confidence was nowhere to be found, management of stock was another task put in front of me. Leafy perishable vegetables were on the verge of dying. Dry grain was laying on the kitchen floor. Searching for spices in between the mess was a task in itself. With no experience of managing the stock, leaving everything aside I just concentrated on preparing the breakfast which was already getting late.
As people started to be awaken by the shinning sun, some of them started coming to me offering me help. Worrying to just concentrate on what I was doing and not anywhere else I was either turning them away or not assigning the work properly.
Seeing this Shammi again came to my rescue and gave me one amazing advice, ‘If someone is volunteering you to help never turn that person away, Delegate your work, it will save your own time and enerygy.’ He followed this up by showing me how to delegate my work to cutting the fruits to the people who have volunteered to help. Isn’t it amazing how sometimes we need guidance for even small things in life.
Throughout the day, a lot of things were going wrong in the kitchen. My lack of experience in cooking, language barrier, lack of knowledge sharing between team, commitment issues were some of the problems. Shammi came to the rescue once again and on his guidance, we had a proper kitchen team meeting. The local ladies in the kitchen, who usually carried out the instructions given to them, were asked to give their suggestions. After some persuasion from Shammi, the ladies started sharing and implementing their ideas. The kitchen started working in a more comprehensive manner. Suddenly I didn’t felt alone and the solely responsible for the preparation of food. The responsibility and power were collectively shared within the team now.
Because the best came out of them, they brought out the best in me. I learnt about the lip smacking chilli and peanut chutney made over silbatta (mortar and pestle set) in an old fashion way from them. I am definitely going to add it in my menu in my dream restaurant. I also learned the art of making bhakri from one of the didi (The local ladies are becoming like my sisters now) today, which is the Maharastrian way of making millet flatbread.
I received a lot of great life lessons ever since my journey started, the lesson of working with a real team sharing all the responsibilities as well as power, was and still is, one of the biggest.
While making the evening herbal tea, Shammi took me to the garden in the backyard. He showed me various edible plants and explained their benefits. He pointed to a plant with really thin and long grassy leaves which was called the Lemongrass. He asked me to put that in the evening herbal tea. The tea tasted much better. This was the first time I used something for cooking after harvesting it myself. The fear of failure was reducing every moment.
P.s.: While bringing water from the well for cooking, I cut my foot again by the sharp stones. It was a deeper cut this time. The pain was becoming beyond control and I started limping on one leg(although it also has a lot of cuts of its own).
Chapter3: Baby steps
Day 4
In Vanvadi, with the nature and slow pace of life taking priority over technological advancement, the day marked the first time of me trying to burn the chula on my own. Even the kitchen stock was at proper place. Apparently one of the didi have arranged it in proper manner.
In the afternoon, although the stock was properly aranged, I was still not keeping the track of the ration. At the last moment we realised there was no vegetables for the salad. When astu found it out he immediately went on the river bank some five mtrs from the kitchen and started harvesting cucumber growing there in abundance. For the first time I used freshly harvested vegetable for my salad. I decided to serve the grated cucumber with mix of grated carrots and beetroot. To make sure to serve food on time, I took help from few participants as well who, while attending the workshop happening on the open sky sitting on the floor near the hut under a tree, were also grating vegetables for me. Unfortunately the harvested cucumber turned out to be bitter in taste. Every bit of salad was thrown while I faced the embarrassment of making people grate it without checking out the taste first. Which is like a basic rule. Another new lesson learned.
Today after the meal like my everyday ritual, I went for a swim alone, this time on a smaller pool. The flowing water from a stream nearby would flow into this pool while flowing out from the other end, thus nothing was stagnated there. I ended up doing meditation inside the water and realised meditation is not for me. After taking bath, I got to see my face in a borrowed mirror from someone after a gap of 4 days. I had a grown beard which was becoming a mess.
I applied turmeric on my footcuts today on suggestion of someone from the kitchen team. Apparently turmeric is a traditional medicine still used in villages.
Day 5
Today I went on a bigger pool, the third one with a depth of 9 feet. I was really scared and was making sure to swim near the trees on the bank of the pool to catch the branches if needed. I was courageous to go in the middle of pool without any safety net only at times. I was using a handmade natural shampoo made out of Shikhakai, Reetha and Aamla prepared by Faiza(Member of Vanvadi community).
We as a whole group went on a trek today to a nearby mountain in the evening. I was asked to prepare the meal early so that everyone can go together. During the entire trip I was talking to Vinita, someone considered a legend in the community when it comes towards natural way of healing and healthy food. Ishu a newly formed friend of mine was also there with us. On being asked, I shared my life story in detail about why I chose this life after finishing my engineering. It was the first time I ever did that. Their excitement on hearing the story was a surprise for me. I realised people want to hear about me. After sharing my heart out honestly, I realised a close bond was made. It is surprising how people can come close to one another, in just a matter of few hours sometimes
Day 6
Faiza came into kitchen alongwith a lot of Rozella leaves(an edible plant growing in forest) and started doing some kind of cutting with it. I asked her what she was making out of it and she replied that she don’t know and she will let the flow of things decide what she will end up with. For the first time I was seeing someone ‘go with the flow’ to such an extend while cooking.
She ended up making a chutney. Everyone including me loved it. My belief that anything can be made tasty with the ingredient of love was also strengthen by this activity of intuition.
One thing that I love about Vanvadi is how the divisions created depending on the class of a person are broken here. Today as part of evening celebrations people started dancing on the local tribal songs. One of the local tribal elderly lady who is like a Mother out there for everyone was the one who led the proceedings, while everyone else followed her treating her like equal.
Chapter 4: Growing in confidence
Day 7
While making the dal today, I felt something missing in it. I really don’t know what went through me but I rushed through the garden outside the kitchen, plucked and brought some leaves from a plant shammi had made me familiar with the last time and I dropped it in the dal. The taste changed and the dal felt complete.
Today being the last night a sharing circle was organised by the entertainment team. Sitting around the fire, everyone was asked to share a funny story and a life changing story. While everyone shared some interesting and funny stories, I shared how one time in school while being at my ex girlfriend’s house her mom came unexpectedly. Afraid we didn’t knew what to do except to wait for the opportunity for me to leave. Her mom was working in the kitchen just near the exit of her house and so leaving from there was no option. Even later she chose the living room to sleep. Seeing this like an opportunity I didn’t know what propelled me but I ran to the balcony of the first floor. While running my eyes met chutku(their dog and apparently good friend of mine). He was sitting on the floor near aunty on the living room. The gate to the balcony was exactly on the eyesight of her mom had she opened her eyes. The chuktu( who usually start bark on seeing me) was really silent. It felt like he was also tensed for us. Finally I succeeded on reaching the balcony, from where I jumped below safely and hence successfully escaping the place.
A twist in the sharing session came when one member shared his life changing event related to molestation in which he had participated. It was just few moments before a lot of people(mainly females) shares the molestation stories they had to suffer throughout their lives. With each story shared I was going in a stage of shock. While I had hearing stories in general in the past it was the first time when i heard such stories from people I know. What really amazed me was that even the person who molested in the past was forgiven by these girls and how it helped in forgiving the monsters of their past. What surprised me the most was how people were sharing their deepest secrets with a group that they had met just a week ago. I learnt a powerful lesson about sharing circle and living in a community to remember for a lifetime.
Day 8
Finally on the last day while we were supposed to leave on the evening, there was only limited grocery left for the lunch. We realise that the oil has finished. The grocery shop was really far away and it was not possible to get it in time for the preparation of lunch, leaving us worrying.
Vinita, who just happened to be in kitchen by chance, came to me and uttered something I will never forget, ‘I challenge you to make oilless food today’, and I replied in affirmative to the command.
I have heard some theoretical things about oil being extracted from oilseeds and how it can be replaced from the later. We had sesame seeds with us and a lot of it. I crushed them, put it over pan as if I was putting oil, added spices and vegetable and made a ladyfinder dish out of it. I used the same process for tempering of dal. I happily put Oilfree lunch over the whiteboard used for writing the days menu. Remembering the dish, as someone with such a small experience of cooking, I am proud of the meal that was served.
It has been more than two years now since I visited the place and to be honest I did a lot of blunders while learning to make things out there. But making this oilfree lunch is one memory, whenever I think about makes me feel proud of myself.
Beyond me
Vanvadi is the place that gave me hope for the future. The place is the celebration of the slow pace of life. Beyond some great life lessons I learned out there, the honest bond that was created in that group of thirty people that were living together was something I will cherish forever. Days at vanvadi felt like real luxury something that couldn’t be purchased with money. While leaving the place a new person was born inside of me. Robotic me started paving way for me to be alive again… While leaving I knew I will never be the same again… I didn’t want to be the same again.. My journey started sometime ago, started to feel was the best decision I ever took…
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