At home in a forest
WHAT is a good way to go tiger-watching? Slow down, spend time and sink into the forest. Be immersed in its sights, sounds and aromas. Worship the trees. Get acquainted with passing deer. Check out the birds, frogs, snakes and butterflies. Relish those tubers, mushrooms, berries and wild strains of
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Many shades of the betel nut
THE betel nut has a terrible reputation. As a part of paan spittle it is associated with disgusting red stains in public spaces. Chewed on its own it is linked to oral cancers. But far removed from its negative image, the betel nut has another and completely wholesome identity as well. Farmers
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When a great mango looks for a market
IN 2021, as the world struggled to shake off the Covid-19 pandemic, Kuttiattoor, a quiet village in Kerala, found itself basking in glory it hadn’t entirely anticipated. An eponymous mango which Kuttiattoor had been lazily growing for the longest time had earned the village a Geographical Indicator (GI) tag. For
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A brand gets built in rural Bengal
TANTIPARA is a small village in West Bengal, a few hours by train from Kolkata. Chances are you won’t ever be headed in its direction. But if you happen to come across skillfully woven and printed silk products under the name of Oikko in your city, remember they come from
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Masters of healthy noodles
NOODLES come with irresistible charms. Children who won’t eat their meals will happily slurp up a bowl of noodles. Working people find them easy to have on the go. There are eating places in the world where people will even queue up for a signature noodle recipe. Noodles bring big
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Hands up for handmade: How artisans can reach markets
When Sonia and Mala Dhawan, sisters from a fauji family, decided to help a women’s farmer group sell their products, they inadvertently set off a chain of events culminating in the formation of Bengaluru’s oldest handmade collective, A Hundred Hands (AHH), in August 2010. Started with just 20 artisans, their collective grew
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Wonder grinder makes Haryanvi farmer a star in the south
A portable food processing machine that can grind, pulverize, extract and distil almost any fruit, crop or seed is becoming a bit of a sensation with Self-Help Groups (SHGs), farmer producer companies and entrepreneurs. Sturdy and inexpensive, it’s a tempting innovation for small agro-processing start-ups. Invented by a Haryanvi farmer,
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Keepsakes are keepable when they are curated with love
At the end of a trip, you invariably arrive home with touristy souvenirs in your bag to gift or as keepsakes. It’s the usual stuff: keychains, fridge magnets, maybe coasters, or T-shirts emblazoned with slogans. But what if you could pick up something more inimitable? Reinventing the meh souvenir is
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Taj stacker, play mat of Indian animals
SIX neat blocks that meld into a beautiful Madhubani, a puzzle that forms a rangoli, stackers of the Taj Mahal, a play mat of Indian animals gleaned from the Panchatantra. Gubbachhi, a new enterprise, has perfectly blended Indian craft with modern sensibilities to create a range of toys from teethers and soft, crocheted figurines
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In toy town, a family of characters takes over
In 2011, when Karthik Vaidyanathan visited Channapatna, India’s toy town, its craft of making lacquered wooden toys, was languishing. Despite the town’s hoary past and a Geographical Indicator tag for its toys, sales were sliding, buyers were ambivalent. Artisans were quietly slipping into other professions. Instead of just trying to
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The dung enterprise
In the ordinary, Nita Deep Bajpai discovered the extraordinary. Cow dung — usually dismissed as waste — becomes in her hands a material of transformation: tangible, purposeful, sacred. It carries the weight of centuries of tradition, the promise of wellness, and the power to uplift entire communities. Through this seemingly
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At Chaitown everyone is happily in
In the bustling loneliness of the city, where do you go to find an audience when you want to read aloud your poetry, play your guitar or sing those songs that you love? If you are in Kolkata, head for the Chaitown Community where creativity is encouraged to find easy
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If you are off dairy, try the goodness of nut milk
IF you are lactose intolerant, have dietary restrictions or are just vegan by choice, chances are you are looking out for non-dairy milk and can’t find it. So, we did some searching for you and this is what we came up with online. But first, for the uninitiated, non-dairy is
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Hunting down Kalimpong cheese and bringing it home
IN a networked world, nothing, it seems, can ever go missing forever. Not even Kalimpong cheese. It was with great satisfaction, therefore, that we cheered the arrival in Gurugram of 500 gm and then 1 kg of this delectable cheese. A dedicated hunt on the internet finally led us to
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Good coffee, wondrous forest
WHAT makes coffee divine? A zillion processes in the lap of nature. Soil, water, microorganisms, plants, vines, trees, birds, bees, animals and reptiles all hang out together to give that bean its halo. Reptiles, animals in coffee, do we hear you ask in amazement? Yes, yes, up in the steamy
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Vijayapura learns a lemon can be a moneyspinner
When Siddu Pujari, an agricultural scientist, went to inspect 44 lemon pickle units in his district, Vijayapura, he came back dejected. As many as 30 were sick. He had himself got 41 units sanctioned under the PMFE (Prime Minister Formalization of Micro Food Processing Enterprises) scheme after he’d been appointed
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From fellowship to rural startup
NISHANT Singh, a software engineer working with Wipro in Hyderabad, nursed a quiet ambition — he wanted to set up his own social enterprise. He had read biographies of Muhammad Yunus, the father of microfinance, and Leila Janah, the young founder of Samasource, who believed it was well-paid work and
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The sattvic meal: Higher Taste offers a Vedic menu
LIKE any global city, Bengaluru offers a range of flavourful gourmet dining options. But Higher Taste at ISKCON is significantly different. It is India’s first sattvic food restaurant, offering unique and delicious dishes. Eating at Higher Taste is a heritage culinary journey definitely worth taking. The master chefs at Higher Taste have
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Happy chicken, better egg: Caring farms raise the bar
A time there was when invariably the only eggs you bought were from the kirana store nearby. These are white, cheap and stacked high — much like the hens that lay them are kept in cramped cages on industrialized farms where no thought is given to the physical and emotional well-being of
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Back now to your roots with Ancient Living
ANCIENT Living has self-care products that rival grandma’s kitchen in purity and wisdom. There are soaps, shampoo bars, scrubs, hair masks and a range of undiluted oils. Shampoo bars have henna, methi, shikakai, amla. Oils include orange, patchouli, lavender and rosemary. Also included is an organic baby care section with massage oils made of
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Brilliant new Goan beer brings back lost rice strain
WHEN Suraj Shenai launched rice beer in the Goan market in June this year, it was more than just another beer. It was a distillation of the grain culture of a region infused with a complex history and cultural ethos that even predates the arrival of the Portuguese over 500
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Authentic Kerala meal from 265 homes, 70 toddy shops
IF you want to figure out Malayali food, how should you go about it? One way would be to spend three years crisscrossing Kerala, visiting home kitchens and toddy shops, to learn the traditional ways of cooking just like Chef Regis Mathew did. Mathew took along his close friends John
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Cold Love is here with artisanal ice-cream
WHEN you decide to move on, what can sweetly put the past behind you? Ice-cream, for one. Gorge on it, make it yourself, get others to eat it and finally make a business out of selling it. This is what Aditya Tripathi, 52, did after two decades of working for
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Getting Idiyappam from a machine
EVERY day, just before daybreak, a small farmhouse in Kottoor village swings into action. It becomes a bustling factory for just three hours — from 4 to 7 am. What sort of factory is this? If you enter the premises before sunrise, you’ll be surprised to find that it is
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It’s a tree, it’s a bird, it’s Black Baza coffee!
Should a coffee be named after a tree? Or a coffee company after a bird? Of course, that’s so apt. The best coffees come from within forests. In the shade of traditional trees, a collaborative effort by birds, bees, butterflies, fallen leaves and other life forms helps the coffee plant
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Looking for ethical cheese? Try Käse in Chennai
IF you are looking for interesting cheese to buy, you had better first know what you are getting into. The variety these days is mind-boggling. For an idea of how nuanced it gets, drop in, like we did, at Nature’s Soul, a small organic food store at Defence Colony in
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Engineer saves farmers with dung cart, instant manure
A ChanakaVandi, or Dung Van, roaming around Ernakulam, has so many customers it is finding it difficult to meet demand. Dairy farmers from Kannur to Thiruvananthapuram now request the Dung Van to arrive at their doorstep. The Dung Van carries out a most crucial service, probably the only one of
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Town with a unique cradle
KALAGHATAGI, a small town in Karnataka’s Dharwad district, is famous for its beautiful cradles. Made with teak wood and painted in vivid natural colours, the craft dates back several centuries. The town is proud of its cradles and recently its municipal council decided to make the Kalaghatagi cradle its official
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Jobs grow on coconut trees: Kerala bails Chhattisgarh
NINE years ago, when 57-year-old Pushpangadan Mohandas, an ex-serviceman, went in search of a coconut tree climber, he couldn’t find anyone. Finally, he bought a device and climbed his own tree to harvest his coconuts. Once up, he found it tough to come down. It took him an hour to
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Passion fruit is great and the pulp is a winner
WHEN Binni K. Paulose was handling an agency for the Malnad Passion Fruit Company in Thrissur, he sensed a business opportunity. He was buying pre-packed fruits from the company for resale to supermarkets and other stores. Passion fruit squash was also part of his portfolio. But he noticed that shopowners
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Fatehabad finds its fortune with figs
Over the phone, Mukesh Kumar asked a simple question, “Our story is a long one. Will you listen, sir?” He is the CEO of the New Nenadevi Farmer Producer Company (FPC). It makes a range of products from figs or anjeer, a fruit totally alien to the soil of Haryana.
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Picking up the green cashew, taking it to market
DO you know what green cashew is? Most people in cities don’t. They are familiar only with the white roasted variety. Green cashew is the main part of the newly germinated cashew nut. It is higher in nutritional value than white cashew and is likely to become the next new
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‘Wood is divine, I like being a craftsman’
A tree lives on as wood in the hands of a skilled craftsman, becoming a thing of beauty and a joy forever. Ask Anurag Jain, who makes minimalist furniture from recycled pine. Woodwork is worship for him. “You know, from cradle to grave we use wood. It’s intrinsic to our
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Calling the shots with cashew
EVERY year, Vishwakeshava Kuruveri, a 39- year-old farmer, used to sell his freshly harvested cashew crop to some cashew-processing factories in Uppala. This year, too, at the beginning of the harvesting season, he sold 2.5 tonnes of cashew for Rs 110 per kg to the factories. But, after some time,
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