FEBRUARY 03, 2004 - PUDUKKOTTAI, TAMIL NADU
The train arrives at Trichy at 5:00 am, giving one plenty of time to
brush one's teeth, clean up and have iddlies and vadai before boarding the Rameswaram Passenger at 6:40. Pudukkottai - 9:00 am. This is meter gauge and the stations are quaint, beautiful and from another era.
I called Daniel Kumaran from the station and he came and we went to his home. The Kumaran family consists of his wife Jeyanthi, his
daughter Jenny 14 (a bright, charming girl) and son Jeeva- away
studying Homeopathy in Coimbatore.
Venture Trust is their organization - [email protected]
Kumaran and Jeyantyhi are very hardworking, dedicated people who also have an air of spiritual calm and peace about them. It is not just air.. I believe they are very spiritual people. Venture trust is into rural matters on virtually every front- women�s issues, child and bonded labor elimination, sanitation and income generation, etc.
The trust's offices - which is a combination of offices, residence,
mess hall and a small menagerie - is located in Illathur, outside of
Pudukkottai. From this office, with a remarkable staff who go to
various surrounding villages to network and coordinate, the
activities of the Trust are conducted. The staff meets, discusses
implementation and goal strategies and then they go do the work in
the villages.
They have had great success in eliminating child labor and bonded
labor from the gem cutting industry which has a big network of small child sweat shops in rural TN (perhaps in other states too).
Kumaran and Jeyanthi also have a farm where they grow entirely
organically, rice, bananas and other horticultural crops. They are
contemplating building a school (not the convention type- but with a different philosophy) and actually moving to live there.
They promote POISON FREE agriculture and food and also are developing a Seed Bank of many types of grains and other seeds that have fallen victim to hybrids and otherwise modified seeds. They are not alone in this seed preservation campaign. The Kumarans are a wealth of information on native trees and shrubs and their medicinal qualities and applications!!
One of the projects in which I was interested in (infraSys'
involvement) is a project to supply and sell raw milk from local (not
the imported Jersey) cow. There appears to be a growing demand for fresh milk - hormone and antibiotic free, etc. There is also a growing sense in some parts that the native cow is not so bad after all.
This involves a whole new discussion...
There is an absurd waste of energy in the 'white revolution" mode of milk production and distribution. The most noticeable, other than
transporting milk back to the source after processing it at a dairy,
is the reheating of milk which ALL Indian households do. Dairy milk is also transported in plastic bags - a major component of trash today.
I personally like the concept of POISON FREE. This is, I think, better
than "organic" because it makes a statement!
Venture Trust will welcome NRI visitors. More on this later.
Venture Trust and infraSys will work together on projects in the
future.. the milk project may become the first.
After an incredibly pleasant evening at the Kumaran's farm and a
night in Pudukkottai I left for Rameswaram next morning around
11:00 am.
On this train I had a rather unusual experience... I was the only,
yes, the only passenger in my bogey. NEXT TOP
India trip 2004
www.infrasys.biz
Many young women from these and surrounding villages regularly migrate to Coimbatore and Madurai to work as domestic help.
The married women go with their husbands and families.
