The Search for a New Place to Live in

The search for a new place to live in has begun and after going through a week of exploration, it appears that it may be a long one. We’d been to Palakkad and Wayanad in Kerala and Mysore in Karnataka. We started off trying to identify about one acre of land, at least 30-40 km from a town, reasonably good road connectivity, state electricity, water, decent rainfall and fertile soil. Instead of relying on a broker, we thought it better to meet people on similar path as us. There are quite a few in South India, who are making an attempt to live in an alternative fashion. Some live on the farm or at least spend few days in a month on the farm, some are doing natural farming on a large piece of land, some attempting childrens’ education outside the schooling system, some just living a simple life without getting into regular employment or business. Some of them are going alone, others trying to do it as a collective. There is concern for the environment, for food, for children, values. There is a realization that the pursuit for more convenience, money and fame is not enough. There is a genuine effort to do something. There is a need for co-travellers. There is so much warmth & affection in interactions. There is so much hope.

Palakkad had always appeared a lovely and peaceful place and we were excited. However, the climate was quite hot and humid even in the winter. The land prices left us shell shocked. I’m very reluctant to block much money in land. Also, Kerala hardly has open spaces between towns. The ‘development’ of commercial spaces, houses on outskirts, vehicular traffic is surprising and also depressing. The pace of expansion is alarming. Wayanad, once a hill station is as commercially ‘developed’ as a big city. While in Kerala, the inevitable thought is ‘where does one run to escape this ‘development and progress’! Wayanad is better than Palakkad with regard to climate, rain, water availability and soil fertility. But there is no escape from shops, crowd and vehicles. Besides, sunlight is scarce in areas due to the terrain and almost 6 months of rainy climate – not great for growing vegetables and also many other crops.

Mysore is very likable from many perspectives. Climate is pleasant, there are open spaces around the city, sunshine is abundant, lots of like-minded people, prices lower than Kerala. Rainfall is a bit lower than desired and ground water is not much.

Land price is something that I think about a lot. How much should one spend to acquire the ownership? Ownership entitles right to use, right to sell and right to mortgage. If I want only right to use, the option available for me is to lease the land. But there is an expiry to the lease. The land prices keep soaring as if the entire world is in a haste to settle in a village and do farming. But I know for a fact that we are amongst the miniscule minority, who has actually moved away from a city. Prices are driven by people who are hoarding up land with no intention whatsoever of actually living there. It is so unfair to people like us, to people in the villages, who want to farm on more land to earn a little more. The greed of a man knows no bounds…Gandhi had said it long ago, ‘The earth has enough to feed every man’s need, but not a single man’s greed.’

So, in a nutshell, the challenge is thus: We have to first find a region, which is not in the crazy ‘development’ radar and still has electricity and water apart from other conditions to make it livable. It also has to be out of radar for the land hoarders, who are setting their sights on the earth as if they’ll hold on to it after they’re dead and gone. God, is there someone listening?