‘Real luxury is not working like a maniac to take an expensive vacation; it is living a life you enjoy every day’
Hamsah Organic Farm and Sustainable Living, Bangalore, India
lt was the last semester of my five-year law course and I had no idea what I was going to do after this but I was quite sure that I am not going for the conventional career or 9-5 lifestyle. I was more fascinated with minimalist and sustainable living. During my last semester most of my time was spent watching stuff related to minimalism and sustainable living on the internet. By watching umpteen number of videos and documentaries I realized that we can lead a happy and stress free life with bare minimum resources.
Having been vegan for two years by that time I was already aware that sustainability is the key for both personal as well environmental aspects.
After completion of my college degree I just came to home and relax for another one month then start searching for somewhere to volunteer, so I came to know about Dharmalaya Institute, an NGO situated in the Bir town of Himachal Pradesh. This place is about eco construction, mud housing and a little bit of organic farming. I stayed there for four weeks and working with volunteers from all around the world was quite a learning experience.
Dharmalaya Institute, an NGO situated in the Bir town of Himachal Pradesh.
After this I was looking for another interesting volunteering option and arrived at Shishya society situated at outskirts of Dehradun. This NGO was started by US-Canadian couple who came to India as hippies during late 60’s from their respective countries and first time they met in India only. They were running orphanage home and school and it was a great experience to be a part of their community.
There is an organisation called WWOOF which stands for worldwide opportunities at organic farms where one volunteers at organic farms in return for food and accommodation. This is an international platform which started in 1980’s in US (United States). Now they have hosts all around the world. My first ‘wwoofing’ expedition starts with a small village in Rajasthan where I helped at an organic farm and at the same time got involved in the culture and way of living of that community. After that I headed to an organic orchard at the outskirts of Bangalore owned and managed by an American who settled in India. The journey goes on with volunteering at village community school near Coimbatore, another at some naturopathy centre Atkannur, Kerala, then moved to at NGO at Wayanad Kerala for another month.
Village Community Schools, Chettipalayam
After travelling and volunteering a bit I decided to do a job for sometime so I opted for field job as a fundraiser for Greenpeace India at Bangalore. It was a quite a different experience as it involves a lot of interaction with people on streets and convincing them to donate for the environmental cause.
After six months of that job I again get back to nomadism . Currently I am at backpackers community living hostel at Varanasi for about a month.I am still exploring and learning,but one thing I have realized is to live in the present and also when we lead simple living with minimum needs the life gets too easy and stress free. I am not interested in following any societal norms, just like to go with the flow of my conscious and liking.
I am not interested in following any societal norms, just like to go with the flow of my conscious.
It’s always a great experience to meet co-travelers from other countries. I try to know their travelling stories, the culture and the set-up of their countries. Everyone has something special to share with. In present time the scenario of travelling has been changed quite a lot, gone are the days when you needed lots of money for long time travelling. In today’s era one can travel with bare minimum money, thanks to platforms like ‘couch-surfing’, ‘Workaway’ and wwoofing. The best part of such platforms is that they provide opportunities to become the part of a particular place, culture and community by engaging with them. This is like a barter system where there is no involvement of money is there and also no longer time commitment. We could just stay for two-three weeks and move to a new place. With the increasing in number of hosts it provides a good option to travel any part of the country.
Assi Ghat, Benares.
When it comes to unconventional living I really inspired by a documentary “Without Bound” which is based on minimalist nomads in the US who were forced to start living in their vans and RV’s when recession hits some years ago as they were not able to afford to live in the houses but during nomadism they realize a different perspective about life, they feel absolute bliss to get out of the rat race. Even when they have opportunity to get back to mainstream and start living in houses now, most of them have chosen to continue living in same unconventional manner because their philosophy towards the life have changed completely and now they are more happy and satisfied with their life than ever before.
Someone has rightly said; ‘Real luxury is not working like a maniac to take an expensive vacation; it is living a life you enjoy every day’.
