“Are you sure this is the way?” asks my driver, as the car trundles its way through a track on the hillside. For answer, I show him the Google Maps directions on my phone. We meander through the hillside and slushy and rutted paths before we finally arrive at what seems like a gate. Beyond it, the track seems even more forbidding than the one that brought us here.
One acre on this hilltop supports Harsh Valechha’s Gaia Grid. Hailing from Kolkata, Valechha was a financial consultant before he decided to live in sync with Nature. He lived in Haiti for a year and backpacked through Mexico before he arrived at the Kadampara Hills in Sholayur.
Harsh Valechha (second from left) and co-workers plan their day
“I was being hosted at an acquaintance’s farm in Elamalai,” he recalls, “and he brought me here. I didn’t find the place; it found me.” He also feels that people in the south are more accepting of experiments like this. “There is definitely a concern for the environment and attempts to be sustainable and eco-friendly.”
As we walk through the thick bushes and shrubs, Valechha explains what he’s trying to do. “Often, hilltop areas are rocky and the soil is not very fertile because the rainwater has washed away the top soil. I’m trying to show that this place can support all our needs of food, water and shelter in a sustainable manner.”
Trenches that direct the water into catchment ponds have been dug
Valechha began with creating catchment ponds in four different places. “We had to remove the rocks and then dig the earth with an excavator. When it rains, these ponds hold water so that it can percolate through the soil and have a zero run-off effect.” He has also created small trenches along the natural slopes that conserve rainwater. “I think it has helped,” he smiles. “When I came here, the water table was at around 550ft. Now it is at 250ft.”
Digging percolation pits to help conserve rainwater
On the side which has a steep slope, he has dug 600 percolation pits. “Since they are on the slope, they hold not just water but also the eroding top soil that gets trapped in them. In those pits, we broadcast leguminous seeds so that nitrogen fixation takes place. Now we can plant anything there and it grows so fast.”
A fence surrounds the one acre; locals had advised he do so to keep the elephants away. Valechha is looking forward to the day when he can remove it. “A fence creates a sense of a barrier,” he muses. “I would like to ring the land with tall trees with dense foliage and then plant thick bushes in between.” A solar panel gives him enough electricity for his needs: “to charge my laptop and phone,” he laughs.
Upcycled plastic containers being used as planters to nurture seedlings
He’s begun creating patches of gardens to grow vegetables and is looking to plant saplings of indigenous trees. “I want to plant trees that will not just give shade but are also sources of food like the moringa.”
A large part of this experiment was crowdfunded and is powered by help from volunteers. Though Valechha says he doesn’t like the word. “They’re not volunteers, they’re co-stewards. Many can’t do this long term for whatever reasons, so they come and help — over weekends, a couple of weeks or a few months.” All he asks is that they pay for their food. One of his projects is to build a dorm-like space for them to live in.
Life at Gaia Grid is very simple, indeed. A single room made of bricks and cement (Valechha wanted local stone and chunam but lack of local expertise was a problem), a shed around the room that serves as an open kitchen, tool shed, sitting/dining area and mini-library and tents make up the living space. Dry toilets and an open shower have been installed. Those on the campus share the chores of cooking and cleaning apart from working at tree planting, mulching, composting, preparing saplings, collecting firewood and cow manure.
Going forward, Valechha hopes to expand the project’s scope but doesn’t want it to take on commercial overtones. “I would like to create an NGO and transfer the land to the organisation. That way, it will be a collective responsibility.” In the next year, he definitely wants to see more trees, more garden patches, and more people working with him. “More birds, more butterflies… I’m wondering about establishing beehives. That would help too.”
He is meticulous about documenting what he’s doing and how he’s spending the money raised. He has published his first Project Progress Report and several shorter updates on the fundraiser website and promises a financial report once he reaches his fundraising goal.
Gaia Grid celebrated its first birthday earlier this week and this seems like a good time for Valechha to take stock. He accepts that the going has been tough but “it has always been fulfilling,” he reiterates. Sitting on the hilltop, with the breeze playing on our faces and birdsong around us, I can see why he feels that way.
Behind the name
The name Gaia Grid is drawn from James Lovelock’s theory that living organisms form a self regulating system through their interactions with their inorganic surroundings to maintain and perpetuate life. Gaia in Greek mythology is the primordial Earth goddess, the mother of all life.
Future support
If all goes well, Valechha hopes to work with the local tribals in establishing more such self-sustaining farms. This, he hopes, will grow into a co-operative movement
He’s looking to create courses on permaculture, sustainable architecture, natural farming among other things
He would also like to use the space to host workshops and conversations about sustainability
For more information visit www.thegaiagrid.org Those who want to help can do so at milaap.org/fundraisers/gaiagrid
