I rather enjoyed re-visiting India via my blog the other week. So I went and dug out the diary I faithfully kept. The events it describes have never yet seen the light of day. For the first ten days I was with the group of people my ex-brother-in-law had put together, to explore aspects of rural Indian life, focussing on small producers working in traditional and organic ways. We had no internet access during that period.
I’ve decided to share my diary with you. This will take several Fridays. I’m pleased that I kept such a detailed record of a piece of personal history, and of a country I’d never visited. I wonder how dated this account would seem to the current traveller?
BASIL
Not a particularly early start, so time to try to book journeys onwards, exchange travellers’ cheques etc. Then the bus. The outskirts of Mysore soon became dusty towns, and in the countryside beyond, stalky straw-like crops were laid down in thick piles for us to drive over and thereby help in the winnowing process.
BASIL exists to promote biodynamic farming, investing heavily in teaching small farmers. They were very convincing about their techniques of using cowhorn etc and certainly have fine results. They showed us a film which went on far too long, and then, as we’ve come to expect, offered us a wonderful lunch. Discussion afterwards, then a tour of the farm and the vanilla packaging works. A whole shed full of vanilla pods, many being quality and size-graded by a band of women.
A lazy late afternoon, then an auto-rickshaw to Simon’s choice of restaurant, Park Lane Hotel, which I found noisy and not much fun. Until sundry Indian families all took a shine to this strange group of English and tried to make friends, asking our names and pinching our cheeks. M took photos of the event. Oh, on the way there, Simon and C’s rickshaw got seriously lost, and had to be guided home via Simon’s mobile and the man at the gate.
From Pyrenees to Pennines 
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