Ragi project IN

In looking for new adventures nearby, I got the contact of a French lady, called Martine, from the Vendée region. After half a year in France, half in India for more than 6 years, she decided to develop the millet sector in France, focusing on farming first, then transforming... Indeed, millet has been cultivated in India for generations. It has health and environmental advantages. Easy to grow, easy to store, it is also considered as a filling staple. In India, millet crop has declined in favour of rice, the new fashion cereal. Indeed, refine rice has the white colour appeal, and was first consumed by rich people. Today, in India, millet is promoted for water saving, in order to supplant rice crops, while water shortage becomes a serious problem. Ragi (= finger millet) is mainly cultivated in Karnataka (58% of the Indian production) and is one of the only millets allowed for human consumption in France (we know what Monsanto or others can do!). Ragi prononcé [ragui], mot provenant du Kannada, peut se traduire par éleusine en français. Produire du ragi en France va permettre de diversifier les produits sans gluten sans importer les céréales d'Amérique latine ou d'Asie.

Martina, or the Ragi Girl ;-), works her ass off ;-) to create and develop a network in France Le Colletif Millet. She gathers people, collects information and seeds in India, sends all these to France, stimulates people around her... So I am here too! Elle a déjà avec elle le GAB Vendée, Biocoop Vendée avec son réseau de cantines bio, Nature et Progrès, dont 3 pages dans le magazine du même nom, et un article dans l'Age de Faire. Je compte bien faire bouger la région Rhône Alpes en rentrant. Le ragi, c'est la vie ! :-) Promis, je bosserai un peu plus sur le slogan plus tard, hihihi ! Plus sérieusement, on a déjà un agriculteur dans l'Isère, qui a les graines et qui va les semer en juin. Et ce n'est que le début !   

I first joined her to make ragi pastas!! In the Home Science department of the University of Agricultural Sciences in Dharward, north Karnataka. Hé oui, meussieux dames :-) Yes, my wonderful knowledge about food technology helped soooooo much! Whatever, we had fun. And met VIPs, who were warm and interesting scientists too :-)  

Martine est en train de réaliser un documentaire "Des millets dans mon Assiette". Voici le lien vers le site web du Collectif Millet, avec une version en construction du documentaire : www.collectifmillets.com   

Martina and the pasta machine 

On a été bien sérieux, ceci dit 

I went to an Indian wedding, well... only the party...!
Good  night, just married!

un peu de wwoofing

Kudremukh IN

Dense and evergreen forests, high plateaus (no, it's definitely not the Himalaya plateaus, come one!), greeny hills, rivers and fields of arecanut trees, coffee, tea estates... Still not bored! I took holidays from one green plateau to another one ;-) why not? The new spot to be was Kudremukh, or "horse head", nearby Kalasa, Karnataka. 7h walking, a guide and a jeep rent could have done it: tourist price! I have rather walked around, discovered the small paths, some nice views and initiated the new IT generation, Derrick, to hitchhiking, picked up by policemen ;-). The young engineers or IT people search for leisure activities, escaping the big city, Bangalore, to find some quiet places, nice hotels and fun activities. It's not that easy in a still developing country. To some extent, there is money but no entertainment in India. And if so, people rush into it, without fear or respect, and spoil it. That's why the nature must be protected from Indian human predators, their plastic bags and the potentiality of getting lost. 

State elections took place in Karnataka the last weeks, for the state legislative assembly. Before the elections, money spreading is unbelievable! You get 500Roupies just for walking among a party demonstration. Right home, every poor family gets 1000Rs from a party, 1500Rs from another one, 800Rs from the 3rd one... a sari for the women, alcohol for men. :-/ For that matter, selling alcohol is banned for 3 days before voting. Many weeks before, policemen from neighbouring states join the controling process. Although money is not transfered openly in streets, it is given secretly, in backyard, arecanut fields. And yet, people seem to be interested in politics, and at least, went voting: 71%. :-) 
What I understood from Indian politics follows. The BJP, the main Hindu party, is right, the Congress with Sonia (an Italian lady) is left wing. Then in Karnataka you have the JDS (Social, Democratic, Secularism), centre-left, and some other left or communist parties, some conservative ones. The main local party is the KJP. It's been a few years the BJP runs Karnataka. Of course, they have been charged with corruption. Anyhow, the Congress widely wan in Karnataka: 121 seats! BJP: 40 (hohohohooh!), JD: 40, KJP: 6. That's not the reason why I stayed in this state, but it felt good. :-)       
Aaaaaaaaannnd... ! It also feels good that the gay marriage and adoption have been voted in France, I am proud of my country :-)

My guru, Rohit ;-) and his wife Geetha

Relaxing after meditation... Oops!

Derrick, a nice communist boy, from Kerala, working in Bangalore

May flower tree, blossoming in May :-)

Western Ghats, 2nd episode IN

I am in India again. Aiming to get ready for the second part of my Eastern Trip. I will not come back to France by roads. Who is crazy enough to hit the road for such a long way? Come on! ;-) I decided to make the most of the Orient before going back west. I'm gonna find the guru in me, hihihi! You will not recognise me: 2 heads, 3 eyes, 7 arms... I may be able to fly!

More seriously, I am looking deeper into the different practices and their benefits on me. For sure, I am not the 1st curly hair French girl doing that. And though, it is worth it. For ages, the West has been studying the Science of the outside world, and they are good at that. In another side of the globe, the East has been studying, for ages, the Science of the inside world. And they are good at it! Let me tell you there is as much to discover in both worlds! To be more practical, the West knows how to feed stomachs and build planes, the East how to feed minds and be happy. :-) Both are needed.

Time heals, time brings strength, confidence and wisdom, time makes you realise your little truths. I take time. I don't feel like rushing anymore (Does it sound like déjà vu?). A country needs time to be discovered, as a project, a person, or a new recipe! Back to the Western Ghats, Apoorva offered me time. I bicycled, cooked, made home made leavened bread, practiced meditation, enjoyed watching cricket, improved my English, understood more deeply the society rules. I thank Apoorva and his family -I have met so many members, Indian families are wiiiiiiiiiiiide, all great people- who warmly welcomed me and were part of this wonderful time.
Today, I am 29  !!

Apoorva and his tea!

Thanks to Kaneena, I had a bike to roam around

Apoorva's farm

Sri Lanka

Une fois de plus, je trouve le bonheur sur ma route. Au Sri Lanka, l'épanouissement est au bord du chemin, il suffit de se pencher, et de l'attraper :-) Est-il important d'en décrire, analyser, décortiquer les raisons ? Peut être pas. Vivre au présent, observer ce qui nous arrive, apprécier sans en faire une montagne, voilà ce que j'ai appris au Sri Lanka. 

Ma tête était prête à de belles choses, elle a eu 10 mois et 15 pays pour se préparer ! :-D Le Sri Lanka est un beau pays, peuplé d'êtres rayonnants. Oui, le Sri Lanka, comme l'essence de mon voyage, fut une aventure humaine, plus qu'une histoire de paysages ou de climat. Les gens sont souriants. Sri Lanka is the most smiling people country I've ever been to. They look happy, I felt them happy. And their happiness is contagious! Positive vibrations issue from people. Catch them! It's healthy :-)

I don't know exactly what each and every person searches in life. Money, success, peace, harmony, friends, good looking body, good work, nice view from your window, knowledge, brain skills, thrill, active life, love, good TV, a listening god, children... Maybe a piece of everything. I search for happiness, which I have been finding on my way, in my life. And yet, it appears to me that Sri Lanka, as a Buddhist country, offers happiness skills to whoever wants to embrace them. I needed 2 months, a Vipassana 10 day course and complete vegetarian food to realise what Sri Lanka brought me. Or what I was ready to offer to myself. Leaving Lanka was heartbreaking. However, staying there would have led me to settle down. Next time maybe, hehe!

Have you heard that - 5 centuries after Buddha - Jesus Christ could have spent 10 years in India? May he have discovered the benefits of meditation ? Love and Compassion is a supreme message from Buddha. 

Bats!

Abhaya et sa maman

Bouddha dormant

Parts of a Buddhist temple. A bo tree (arbre de Bouddha)

The same tree, the same bats

Jeunes étudiants bouddhistes

Vipassana LK

Maman, Papa, I found what I was looking for in Asia.

Here is the Sri Lankan website (English): http://www.dhamma.org/en/

Et voici le site français : http://www.mahi.dhamma.org/index.php?id=4049&L=2

Some travelers I  met told me about Vipassana meditation. Indeed they had done the 10 day course and had found it VERY interesting. They all advised me to do it. "It's free", "You can donate at the end", "You experiment something really interesting". Or just "You SHOULD do it". The way they were saying it inspired me a lot. I would like to thank Jacek (Italy), Willeke (ND) and Marc (Australia), warmly. After 1 month of physical hard work, what about sitting 10 hours a day for 10 days? In the shadow, in a brand new nature center, with nice and smiling people around? :-P Hehehe! I had been told it was difficult. 10h of meditation a day, for 10 days, noble silence all the time: it is truly very difficult. The mind gets even crazy Hahaha! Some people didn't finish the course, or even left the 1rst or 2nd day. "Finish it", "Stay!", "It is only 10 days of your life". That's what I told myself the 6 first days. Then appeared the point. Yes, it is worth it. The experience itself is amazing. Furthermore, if you want to carry on, it is a starting point for a different life. :-)

Wwoofing accomodation

Paddy destroyed by harsh rains

Une partie de la Vipassana team. Il y avait plus de Sri  Lankais que sur la photo !

Vipassana Meditation Hall

Westerners Vipassana team

Kandy LK

Farming... I learnt a lot, saw a lot, got experiences and different points of views... But you know what?! That is tiring, as well! :-/

6 hours a day, of hard work, carrying trunks, barking and cutting them, digging dirt and making clay mud, carrying it, chicken, cow and goat poos collecting, carrying and spreading, hoeing to make a garden plot :-), collecting paddies in the sun between 10am and 1pm! Crazy work. 

Soooooo, I created some days off :-)

With the people I met, mostly while hitchhiking, I wandered around the farm: Matale, Dambulla, but mostly around Kandy, in the Knuckles mountains. Hills of huge tea estates, tall trees, pines trees too, imported by the British, fresh streams flowing, dams for bathing.
And on the road, an organic sign. Oh! Organic products. Nice! Let's see it. An organic restaurant, nice again! Let's have breakfast there. What is the brand, the company? Biofoods?!!! I heard this name 20 times a week for 3 years. Biofoods is the main organic and fairtrade spices supplier of L'Herbier du Diois. I found them without looking for. Let's buy some stuff then. Tijlbert, I supported you a bit! 

Le thé sur les collines

Sameera, ready to ride

I went to a LK wedding :-)

Nisham and the Knuckles

Biofoods shop!

Wwoofing in Kurunegala LK

After the cities, a bit of tourism, the real goal begins: Wwoofing in Sri Lanka!

Indeed, we are at an eco-community farm nearby Kurunegala, wwoofing. Like the plan was, hehehe!

Here is the wwoofing website in Sri Lanka: http://www.wwooflk.org

We are in the main farm of the wwoofing organisation, you can check the website below :-)
http://www.ecocommunitylk.blogspot.com/. 

Staying for a while, settling down a bit, taking time to meet a working team, discovering their ideas, their aims, their ideals. Learning about farming, sustainability, food and power sovereignty. Meanwhile, living in a community and meeting wwoofers from all around the world, who share, most of the time, the same desires as you. Discovering the Sri Lankan culture too, we have already attended an exorcism in the village!

Thanks to Chaminda, Thilina, Susith and Kumara, the 4 guys who run the project, we build wooden, mud and coconut leaves houses, plant, weed, garden, milk cows, attend to goat kid and calf deliveries (the calf not yet!), drink tea, eat rice and coconut 3 times a day!

Alex en plein effort ! ;-)

Paddy!