First a background
We are a family of engineers, myself a BE Computer Science with 7 years work experience in Mumbai, my father BE Civil with 30 years exp., my wife BE Electronics with 7 years work ex. All of us left our jobs and shifted to rural life to escape the madness of cities and present corporate world. The goal was to live a life with no stress, clean air and most important, bring up our son in a pure and clean environment. We clearly believe that child development is linked to their experience with nature; unfortunately people have chosen to ignore this in cities. Also, we also observed that the school going children of today have become mindless drones who are encouraged by everyone to mug up and top the class, like the movie 3 Idiots showed clearly. We do not want such a life for our son. Its better to go to average school and learn practical skills than memorizing huge texts for the sake of grades.
Home sweet Home
The first thing that we wanted to build was our home. We wanted it to be spacious and traditional, since space is not constraint. Also, it was clear from day one that we will be shifting to the farm and live there as family, all members together. So it is very important to take everyone into confidence otherwise you wont be able to do justice to anything and will result in unhappiness. Family always takes precedence over all things. So attached one of the pictures of our house, the landscape has changed since the photo, we have planted more trees and gardening to improve the barren look in the picture. Your farm is your kingdom, live like kings.
Raja
The most adored member of the household. A golden retriever 4 years old now. He was puppy when we started and look how he has become. The most gentle soul in the farm, he does not harm even smallest insect, that’s how friendly he is. He is hardly for security, more of entertainment. You don’t notice time when you spend time with pets, especially dogs. My father chants mantras every morning in our small temple, Raja has not missed one single session. He will come and sit next to him, wherever he may be on the farm. Pretty extraordinary. Well, all I can say is he is a Brahmin dog.
The time we ventured into capsicum
We had small greenhouse and one of the crops was capsicum. It was most memorable as the plants responded to our efforts and grew beautifully. We harvested for almost 2 months before losing the crop to mildew attacks. We had planted 50% red color and 50% yellow color. But surprisingly we did not sell any color capsicum, only green capsicum as we got rates like Rs. 40-50 per kg, funny how things turn out in-spite of planning. Farming is very unpredictable, too many variables like weather, pests, water, diseases, labor, seed quality, and market demands. It needs a genius to manage all of them, I know only one genius, God, in our case Eshwara. If he is with you, then everything falls into place. We have Eshwara temple adjacent to our property, he gives us courage to continue despite all the speed humps that we encounter.
Present Day - Drumstick
This is what is standing in 2 acres of our property. This is a 6 month old drumstick with horse gram planted for weed control as well as nitrogen fixing. Beauty of drumstick is very easy to maintain, doesn’t care for lots of water and grows very fast in-spite of damages to the plant. We hope to harvest good quantity of drumsticks and make truckloads of money, well hope is everything.
Tips for new people shifting
- Don’t do it for the money. You will always earn better in your present job without any risks. Rural life should be looked at a change of lifestyle, without social responsibilities, restaurants, cinemas, malls, posh schools etc. IF AND ONLY IF your whole family is ready to accept this, do the switch. At first it seems like uphill struggle, but you have to accept the fruits of efforts the way nature gives you, it will give you better health, better concentration power and better time for yourself. You should learn to value that, people in cities don’t value themselves most of the time.
- Jump and learn to swim, its not difficult. There is no gain without pain. Don’t plan too much, things have ways of working out.
- Accept situations and results and move on, don’t stop and think too much. Always remind yourself that it could have been worse. Things will not always happen like you want them to, no worries, move on. Take what god gives you, he will never spoil you.
- Family is important, don’t do it alone. If your immediate family like spouse or children don’t want to come, you also should not. Ultimately, they are the people who give you joy and support; nothing can be done without support. Work on convincing them and once that is done, anything is achievable.
- Don’t fantasize sitting in an air-conditioned office about farm life. It is not enough just reading my post, or all other posts on different websites. Farm life needs to be visualized at the farm. So if you are working and not ready to move out, my sincere advice is to concentrate harder on your present tasks and not fantasize. One hour of physical work in the hot summer sun will open up all holes and crush all fantasies. When you are ready to take life altering decisions, then start thinking.
What I have written something which will no doubt offend some, please don’t think of me as evil. Some parts are meant to be taken with humor. We have endured 7 years of corporate life in a city like Mumbai, so I can tell you first hand changes that we have felt. If any of you wish to visit, please let me know. You are most welcome. Good luck - Nikhil
