Every Book its Reader

…says Dr. S.R. Ranganathan’s third law of Library Science.



I was struck by this picture while going through the LIESA Magazine (Now Farming Matters). It looked very familiar. The rear side of the apartment complex in which we live looks very much the same and the garden is somewhat similar to another place close by. It seemed to be the `real version’ of what has been hard wired in my mind for years, except that I envisaged more number of trees in the place of vegetable plots and a pond in the place of a glass house. Personally permacultural designs appeal to me more than the conventional rectangular plots of crops and nurseries.

This Cuban Urban Farm picture reevoked my tryst with City farming. It has of course been lurking in the corner of my mind ever since Chintu planted mint, which appears like a green dot from my balcony. I had been looking for an opportunity to encourage him and coax him and others to try out more. Now there is something concrete in my hand to approach them - an inspiring picture. I was sure that they would relate it to themselves … and I am right!


LEISA Newsletter got new readers (viewers?!).

The Farming Instinct

Chintu, the 8 year old school boy takes to growing mint in absolutely harsh weather with the blazing sun baking the bare ground and temperatures soaring as high as 42° C. He is born into a farming family but he is raised away from farms in an urban settlement. His parents and even grand parents moved to Hyderabad in search of non-agricultural occupations leaving their 5-acre farm in Warangal district and bequeathing behind the culture and knowledge associated with it. Fortunately, the farming instinct seems to run in the family and somehow surfaces in Little Chintu.

Agriculture in urban areas is not considered to be an appropriate proposition, at least in terms of returns-on-investment. Many do not bother, and even those who do bother do not venture. It is more than just economics. It is a culture and it is the spirit that matters! And this is what exactly little Chintu displayed, however humble or modest the attempt is. In my opinion, the direction is more important than the magnitude. If we insist on the magnitude the direction may be throttled.