SUNDAY HINDUSTAN TIMES, MUMBAI

JULY 27, 2014 | 11

ILLUSTRATION: SHRIKRISHNA PATKAR

INDIA MATTERS
LIVING THE SIMPLE LIFE
Tired of the rat race IN A
of urban living, a growing number of NUTSHELL SUCCESSSTORIES HT PHOTO/RAKESH MUNDE

city-dwellers are leaving the metros We started Back

to the Landers to
FROM A THRIVING
for villages, swapping hectic jobs for support and help
people who are
BUSINESS
eco-friendly lives tending their fields
considering mak-
ing the shift to TO A SCHOOL
villages, and to
reassure them WITHOUT WALLS
and homeschooling their children that this is not an
unreasonable
choice. There are
The Desais
some prerequi- Sachin, 40, a former businessman; wife Meenal,
sites, though. The 35; daughter Mrunalini, 10
villages should be Moved from Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh to
well-connected, Dhamapur village in coastal Maharashtra, in 2006
preferably near a
Riddhi Doshi town with medi-
riddhi.doshi@hindustantimes.com hen Sachin was in college in

cal facilities and a

market where you Mumbai, he spent Rs 1.5 lakh a
n February 2013, a group of 15 peo- can buy essential month on outings with friends.

I
ple lawyers, doctors, IT executives
and business managers came
together via Facebook to form an
online community called Back to the
Landers.
All had been raised in metro cities
and had full-time jobs but had been
dabbling in urban farming or run-
ning farms on the outskirts of their
cities that they tended over the weekend.
We were disillusioned with our mate-
rialistic lives and our preoccupation
with the corporate rat race, says Kiruba
Shankar, 41, a co-founder, software entre-
preneur, and weekend farmer based in
Chennai. We wanted to live life on our
own terms and a first step towards this is
to be able to grow your own food and lead
a more sustainable life.
Soon after they set up their online
portal backtotheland.in the com-
munity began receiving questions from
a different demographic: residents of
metro cities who are planning to shift out
of their cities altogether and move to vil-
Mohini and Vikrant Patil with daughter Anshul.
The Patils quit their jobs and moved from a plush
1,200-sq-ft flat in Bangalore to an 800-sq-ft mud-
and-stone house (below) in a Ratnagiri village.
questioning the capitalist, consumerist
culture of the urban lifestyle and looking to
reorient and gain more control over their
lives, says sociologist Sarla Bijapurkar.
goods. This is He now lives in his familys
especially impor- 2,500-sq-ft ancestral stone home
tant if there are in a Sindhudurg village, running a resi-
children involved. dential school for underprivileged chil- move to our ancestral village, live close to child welfare organisations.
KIRUBA dren, and his total expenditure for the nature, and homeschool our child. We wanted to give our child a life close
SHANKAR, year for his family and the 10 children This reminded Sachin of his travels to to the earth and an education of value,
a weekend farmer at his school is Rs 2 lakh. promote his computer education business, says Sachin. At our school, we have cre-
based in Chennai The shift in his lifestyle began in 2006, when he had seen first-hand how healthy ated an atmosphere of organic learning
and co-founder of when his daughter turned two and the and eco-friendly tribals lives were. After of life skills. Rather than subjects, chil-
Back to the Landers Desais began to look for a good school for some initial research, the family decided dren are divided into departments such as
her. I wasnt happy with the convention- to give it a shot. They packed up their four- farm, kitchen and nutrition, engineering,
Over the past five al education system. I failed Class 9 and bedroom flat in Bhopal, Sachin shut down cattle shed and vermi-composting.
years, I have I did not want to put my child through his business which had been earning him The school runs on donations and
noticed that peo- a system that defined ability on the Rs 60,000 a month, and the family shifted. Sachins savings. The only money he
ple from Mumbai, basis of how well you could memorise They now run School without Walls, makes is when he is invited by schools,
Delhi and and learn by rote, says Sachin. At this where they teach their daughter along- colleges and other institutions to talk on
Bangalore par- point, my grandfather suggested that we side children sent to them by NGOs and sustainable living or his lifestyle.
ticularly from the
IT sector have
begun looking for
ways to radically
transform their
ITS SURPRISING HOW LITTLE GOING RURAL:
OTHERS WHO HAVE
lifestyle. I think
this is because
MONEY YOU REALLY NEED ALSO MADE THE SHIFT
the quality of life
in cities is rapidly The Jains Architect Srinivas Warkhandkar,

lage farms to live in mud homes and raise
their children in less unnatural and more
sustainable surroundings.
In response to the growing number of
queries from these and urban farming
enthusiasts, Back to the Landers now holds
unconferences to help community mem-
It was just such questioning that drove
computer engineer Vikrant Patil, 35, and
his wife Mohini, 33, an electronics engi-
neer, to make the shift two years ago.
They quit their jobs and moved from a
plush 1,200-sq-ft flat in Bangalore and a com-
bined income of Rs 23.5 lakh a year to an
deteriorating. Dev, 41, a former IT executive; wife Hema, 40, a 37, and his wife Rashmi, 35, a general
homemaker; son Abhinav, 10; daughter Aparna, 8 physician, were both born and raised in
BHARGAV Mumbai and moved to Amberli village
SONEJI, 25, whose Moved from California in the US to Athimanjeri
in Raigad, Maharashtra, in 2009.
father Dhirendra, village in Tamil Nadu in 2013
56, moved from
My wife had always dreamed of
Ahmedabad to serving in a village, and I had always
ev and Hema moved to the US in wanted to build eco-friendly struc-

bers share tips, advice and experiences. The
first such unconference was held last July
in Chennai; the second, a week ago in Pune.
Each was attended by 150 people.
The number of people seriously con-
templating moving to a farm as well
as those who had already done so had
doubled just over the past year, says
Shankar. Of the total attendees this year,
about 20% had given up their urban lives
to move to farms in villages.
Issues discussed at these unconferenc-
es include practical questions such as,
how do you go from a sedentary desk job
to running a farm? How do you decide
800-sq-ft mud-and-stone house in Kudawal
village in coastal Ratnagiri district and an
annual income of about Rs 1 lakh a year.
They have no air-conditioner, TV set,
refrigerator, fans or tubelights. Instead,
they have a solar-powered lamp, two
cellphones, and a laptop they charge at a
neighbours home.
Its been a radical shift for the Patils,
who now have a daughter, Anshul, born
soon after they moved. But they say their
new life is just what they wanted.
Back in Bangalore, Mohini and I hard-
ly got any time together. We were working
nine to 12 hours a day, says Vikrant. Our
D
Sakwa village in
Narmada, Gujarat, 1999, hoping to earn well and build tures, says Srinivas. We were tired of
in 1986. The Sonejis a good life for their family. Over our hollow lifestyle in Mumbai, spend-
now offer expert the years, as their earnings grew to ing the day earning but not doing what
advice to others $110,000 a year and they graduated we really wanted to do.
looking to make a to a 1,300-sq-ft home and two cars, issues So, the couple shifted to a 1,000-sq-ft
similar shift such as global warming and food security bamboo house that Srinivas designed.
began to worry them. He now earns a living designing such
Most of these We were unhappy with the corporate homes for others. They also own a
people have been sector and the manner in which it places 0.5-acre plot where they grow rice and
propelled by their more and more wealth in the hands of the pulses. Rashmi practices in the village
ambitions, only to rich. I would ask myself why I am work- and the duo, with contributions from
find that the life- ing for such a system, says Dev. their friends, have also started a small
style that awaited As a first step, the family began to childrens library in the village.
them at the end reduce its own carbon footprint, using
of their struggle virtually no plastic and buying clothes savings till our farm took off. Sisters Apoorva Sancheti, 25, and

where to settle? How do you maintain a
mud home?
In an increasingly urbanising India
where the prime minister recently
announced a plan for 100 smart cities,
the Patils are among a small but growing
demographic that is leaving the frenetic
pace of the metros behind to seek an
alternative lifestyle in Indias villages.
While there have always been stray
incidences of families disillusioned with
city life moving to rural areas, their num-
bers are now growing.
For most, the emphasis is on living
simpler, more stress-free and eco-friendly
lives, contributing to their community in
more meaningful ways and raising their
children in less unnatural surroundings.
In each case, these are former working
professionals who had materially comfort-
able lives as well-paid architects, software
engineers, designers, chartered account-
ants, lawyers or doctors. All were born
and raised in metro cities.
Clearly, in making this shift, they are
lives had become exclusively about work-
ing and earning money money that was
supposed to buy you happiness, but didnt.
We moved to a village to break free of this
cycle and lead a healthier, happier life.
Now, the Patils wake at dawn and sleep
soon after dusk. After tending the rice and
pulses fields and fruit trees in the 0.7-acre
farm behind their home, the rest of the day
is spent reading, practicing yoga, playing
the flute and caring for their child.
As the farm is not yet able to sustain
them, Vikrant takes freelance software
projects but only enough to earn him
about Rs 8,000 a month. We need about
half that, but we save the rest for a rainy
day, he says.
It would be appropriate to say that the
movement of leaving urban lifestyles and
going back to the land in the villages has
become visible and tangible in the past
year-and-a-half, says Back to the Landers
co-founder Shankar. And as their number
grows, they give others the confidence
that they can do it too.
was meaningless second-hand from thrift stores.
to them. They In 2010, Dev read How Children Fail
have begun to and Instead of Education, both written by
examine the dis-
American educator turned homeschooling
tinction between
advocate John Holt. We became convinced
need and greed,
which is remarka- that what we had so far thought of as high
ble in itself. quality education was not ideal at all, says
Dev. We decided to homeschool them.
SHIV By 2011, Dev and Hema had begun to
VISVANATHAN,
dream of running a farm somewhere in
anthropologist and
India, but were hesitant. We were con-
professor and vice
dean at the Centre vinced that quitting that way of life alto-
for the Study of gether just wasnt possible, says Dev.
Science, Society and But with the children out of school and
Sustainability learning at home, they were free to try it.
We decided to give it a shot, living off our
HERE, THE KIDS CAN CHOP WOOD AND PLAY IN MUD
The Pangtis
Navin, 43, a design consultant; wife Deepti, 40, a
former nursing officer; daughters Mrinal, 12 and
Kritika, 10
Moved from Gurgaon in the National Capital Region
to Salla village in Uttarakhand in 2013
ired of the rat race of the corporate
Accordingly, after elaborate discussion
and with the consent of their children,
the Jains sold most of their belongings
and moved to Hemas native village of
Athimanjeri in Tamil Nadu.
We came back with just nine suitcases
just over the airlines baggage limit for
a family of four, says Dev.
They currently live in a rented one-
bedroom village home while theirs is being
built on a 5-acre farm. Their monthly
expenses have plummeted, from about Rs 2
lakh a month in the US to Rs 10,000 now.
The biggest shift was realising that we
dont really need a lot of money at all,
says Dev.
chop wood and play in mud, says Navin.
Aditi, 27, have transformed 2 acres
of wasteland into a lush farm in
Sanaswadi village, Pune.
The sisters moved here from Pune
city in 2010 and live in a 750-sq-ft mud
house. Our mother, a teacher, raised
us to be eco-friendly. Even in Pune, we
had vermicomposting pits and tried to
minimise our carbon footprint, says
Apoorva. Though mom still teaches
and works with NGOs in Pune, we opted
for a change in lifestyle.
The sisters now grow rice, ground-
nut, beans and pulses on their plot, and
support themselves by making and sell-
ing organic hair oil, ladoos and pickles.
play in. As a first step, the family moved
instead to a small town called Haldwani
in Uttarakhand in 2012. Here, they can
In the city, they would be shopping need-
lessly and eating junk food.
People wonder how the family isnt
afraid of snakes, wild animals and cloud-
bursts, Navin adds. But these are visible

T world and the consumerist culture

of the city, the Pangtis sold their
three-bedroom row house and their
car and moved from Gurgaon to the
village of Salla last year.
I was tired of being part of a culture
dangers. I think EMIs and loans taken to
buy things you dont really need those
are the bigger dangers.
Once they move to their 200-sq-ft mud
house on their 7-acre plot in Salla, the
family will begin to grow some of its own
that did not respect skill and overpaid food soyabean, black millet, tomatoes
management instead, says Navin. My and will depend for cash on the rent
salary was not even keeping pace with from the Haldwani house.
inflation. I thought to myself, Why should Though the kids do miss eating out at
I keep working for a system like this? restaurants, thats a wish we sometimes
His wife agreed, and his children were fulfil when we visit relatives in the city,
excited at the thought of open spaces to says Navin.

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