Eating is an agricultural act - Wendell Berry

Sunday, March 11, 2012

what are we doing at pR?

when confronted with this question, some of the common responses we give are:
1. pR is a wasteland restoration initiative/project.
2. an abandoned parcel of land is being restored to Nature.
3. we aim to produce surpluses from a previously uncultivated piece of land.
it is a response that is easy to understand and easy to explain.
and none of the responses fail to elicit the appropriate oohs and aahs.
and over time as we repeat these lines, there is a obvious risk of us getting enamoured by attention and actually starting to believe it!!
affecting the core of who we are and what we do is the way we look at things, human-centrically.

borrowing michael pollan's strategy (used at his famous TED talk - from the plant's eye view - where he examines the world from the corn's viewpoint) and examining this question posed in the title from the point of view of the land.
this parcel of land has obviously existed since the birth of earth several billion years ago.
She has been a witness and a participant in a microcosmic part of the Earth's etire history.
She has been a womb to several creations and a graveyard for several destructions.
(i use the past tense injudiciously, struggling to overcome the pull of human-centricity).
she will continue to create and destroy and continuously modify herself till the sun explodes.
it is She who has welcomed us, we like little children looking for a playground, have stumbled onto Her courtyard.
it is She who is playing the gracious and wise host, promising us a good time.
like tennyson said about the brook, " for men may come and men may go, but i go on forever."

She too would say, "pR is a wasteland restoration project."

12 comments:

Raravi said...

Dear pR team
a longish gap between posts had caused a bit of concern but i am relieved to see your new post. I don't think that you need to explain this topic any more.
what you are doing is a "dream" of many feeble heart like me, but could not dare to embark on this dream journey, but knowing you are there gives a hope that dream can come true.there is a possibility of liberation from the shackles of consumerism.
you must know that lots of people wait for your post more than any thing n inet

Anonymous said...

The momentum clearly is toward mega-cities, mining out the mountains, cleaning up the oceans of all fish, fracking for shale oil/gas, etc. Ecological restoration is done by a few people here and there, and has hardly had an effect in rising levels of pollution, and lifestyle diseases.

The previous set of photos show wasps, not honey bees!

Yugandhar said...

Tears.
There is a void created by your absence here team. Why does this happen with many such similar setups/people? As progress continues, communicating with the world decreases. Raravi was right in saying 'you must know that lots of people wait for your post more than any thing' and I am one of the lot. We don't need the spark. We are lighted up, but we need the continuous fuel in the form of people like you, lest the flame dies out.

Thanks for the beautiful post.

Purvs said...

Good to hear from you :)

DJ said...

Yesterday, I moved to India after many years in Consumerism Central (the US) and today I am sitting in Chennai reading your excellent post. While I haven't yet started a project like pR, there are already questions from others. I am always uneasy about answering the "why" questions. The questions are fine, it is the answers I find troubling. Like you said, there is too much danger of "starting to believe" them myself.

Kishore said...

Good to see this board spring back to life.

The introspection that you are going through is absolutely needed for all of our growth but should not lead to our becoming apologists or inactive.

Humility aand the ability to look at the big picture helps keep us grounded and in balance. Many of us keep running, to what and where, we oursleves don't know. pR, among many other things, allows me (and probably others)to focus on the positive rather than the negative.

So, keep pursuing your dream, as far as you can/will go and I, for one, will enjoy your ride vicariously, if nothing else.

Let the naysayers and armchair critics enjoy the misery of their own company.

SurveySan said...

CSM, are guests welcome, yet?

Surio said...

Dear Sriram,
You have broken Radio Silence after a long time? Last year was pretty bad for me. And since the beginning of this year, I was not in town and came back recently. Sorry for not responding in length to your previous message, it has haunted me till date. My apologies.

It is good to hear your voice, even if it is a one-off. Yes sir, anything you do, is OK with us. :-)

BTW, did you get my last email to you, anyway?

madhavi said...

Hello csm
was almost afraid to send
a reply to the previous post, lest i disturb your flow.
with 8 messages felt a little brave, love to hear about point return and feel for all the good bad and ugly things that happen there. so do let is into your world,
btw did the house get completed and you guys are moved in????
madhavi

farmland investing said...

great

SurveySan said...

couldnt comment on your latest post, so commenting here.

glad to see the new update, but sad to hear about the harsh weather and failed experiment.

keep going :)

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