Archive | November, 2018

A Few Good People at Mapletree – An Organic Farm

21 Nov

You are what you eat. If you eat healthy you stay fit. But what happens if the vegetables and fruits you buy from the market are packed with deadly chemicals – many of them banned. A study by the Food Safety & Standards authority of India under the Agricultural Ministry discovered that the veggies in the market were concentrated with chemicals a thousand times more than the permissible limit.

If you chop veggies at home you will realise that you no longer need to check the Ladies Finger for the small black worm – because they don’t exist. Pesticides have helped the farmer prevent wastage and improve his productivity. Yields are better, crop grows faster, and there is better hope for making some money after all the middlemen have had their share. But they come with a cost – a steep cost to your health and the farmers health. 

The solution to this is Organic Farms – a phenomena that has started recently. The educated Indian is concerned and A Few Good People are investing their time and money to educate farmers and grow food that is healthy and nutritious.

Farming is hard work – which is what we discovered when we made a day trip to Mapletree farms at Thalli, a scenic village in Hosur, Tamil Nadu located about 50 Km from Bangalore. Mapletree farm is a joint effort by Ex Infosys Founder Shibulal,  Ex OnMobile Founder and CEO Mouli Raman and Ex Founder of Hillview Organics, California and Organic Farming Teacher  Shankar Venkataraman.

We visited the farm and were impressed with the passion and dedication of Shankar who runs the show. A BITS Pilani Graduate who was working in Texas Instruments and later relocated to US, Shankar has found his purpose in life. He lives in the farm and visits his family in US once in 3 months. Over the last 3 years he has helped build the farm engine with a deep sense of love and compassion for the team. Having set the foundation the business is now scaling rapidly.

 

Shankar explained to us the challenges of farming in India. Rapid exodus of next generation from farming is a concern and unless a farmer makes a steady income of Rs 25,000 a month the future is doomed. Farming needs to be seen as a sustainable, profitable business that is respected by the community. A Farmer needs to learn to respect Mother Earth and ensure that she sustains us for the future. Educating the local farmer of the negatives of short term benefits from the usage of chemicals is an important part of his mission. Mapletree is not just an Organic farm but also a place where the youth and the Local farmers can learn the best practises for producing healthy food.

He explains that excessive use of pesticides and chemicals has made almost 25% of farm land in China non cultivatable. We see the same trend in Punjab and Haryana where excessive usage of Urea has made the fields devoid of nutrition. At Mapletree the only fertiliser used is Cow-dung. There is a reasonable gap between two cycles of crops and leguminous plants that make the soil rich in nitrogen are planted during the gaps. This helps the soil to gain its nutrition. Yes the lack of pesticides does result in crops getting wasted and there is a 30% loss of produce. Level of handholding is higher – all of this adds to higher costs. The Veggies from an Organic farm are more expensive than what you get in the shop next-door. But this is the price you have to pay for healthy food. Mapletree is one of the few Organic Farms where most of the produce comes straight from the farm (Almost 60%), while other Organic Brands are just traders procuring material from farmers. Shankar is working towards increasing this ratio in the coming years.

The farm also has a 100 + cows, many are non milch cows but are still useful for the manure. They sell  milk, butter & paneer.  This 45 Acre farm is rustic, calm and serene – its not a manicured pedicured farm that you may see in pictures, but its a happy place with a lot of positive energy.

Mapletree Farm serves over 200 Apartments and Villa communities in Bangalore. Over 4000 households get their weekly supply of vegetables and fruits straight from the farm to their houses. Demand is soaring – there is no marketing but the good news is spreading word of mouth as more and more customers join the healthy food bandwagon. From a humble beginning this 45 Acre farm now notches revenue of 45 Lacs a month. Employing over 100 people who work hard almost 12 hrs a day.

A great beginning to help you eat a healthy meal. If you want to join the ” eat Healthy – Stay Fit” movement reach out to Mapletree. The information below will help you to get started.

Information from Mapletree

Call or email the founder & Lead Farmer (whatsApp preferred) : 91136 88239 shankarv.dsl@gmail.com

Call customer support to register and buy (whatsApp preferred): 97909 48235 — Vikram is our head of customer support and he will help you.

Email Mapletree with questions and request: shankarv.dsl@gmail.com , support@mapletreefarm.freshdesk.com

We deliver 6 days a week in different parts of Bangalore: We deliver 2 days per week to specific locations and you can receive 2 deliveries at your doorstep per week from us if you request us.

Visit the farms — 60 acres plus: https://www.google.co.in/maps/place/Mapletree+Farm/@12.589529,77.7048044,14z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x959f7a5ceada5ac9!8m2!3d12.6105005!4d77.7001351

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What makes people born in Nov special

17 Nov

In his bestselling book “Outliers” Malcolm Gladwell came out with a convincing theory of why people born in 1954 – 55 ruled the Tech world. Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Bill Joy, Scott McNealy, Eric Schmidt, James Goslings and many more famous astrophysicists and scientists were born in that period.

What you hear as a child sticks to your mind and I recollect my mother being disappointed that none of her children were born in November. She had the view that those born in November had an edge and would become famous. Maybe this was driven by her loyalty to the Nehru  family (Both Jawaharlal & Indira Gandhi are Nov born).

Having seen many a famous personalities Birthday celebrations popping up in news and social media over the last few weeks I decided to do some research. And yes – there does some seem to be some strong connect between being born in Nov and being famous.

Here is a list I was able to collate in 15 minutes and its real impressive. I think my mothers intuition was right. What I can infer from this dipstick is a large number of Film Stars and Politicians are born in Nov while there are few Corporate Czars and world beating sports personalities.

A lot of film stars and media personalities – Bruce Lee, Demi Moore, Sharukh Khan, Meg Ryan, Kamlahasan, Juhi Chawla, Irrfan Khan, Sushmita Sen, Aishwariya Rai, Tabu, Whoopi Goldberg, Larry King, Zeenat Aman and Bryan Adams are all Nov born. So are Nobel Price winners like C.V.Raman, Marie Curie, Amartya Sen and Winston Churchill. And rulers & politicians like Jawaharlal Nehru, Abul Kalam Azad, Indira Gandhi, L.K.Advani, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Aurangazeb, Rani Lakshmibai, Tipu Sultan, Arjun Singh , Kamal Nath, Condolessa Rice and Imran Khan.The list also includes the legendary corporate leader Jack Welsh who in his undisputed role as head of GE was both a sultan and a politician. A few players Virat Kohli, Billie Jean King, V.V.S.Laxman. Famous writers like Dale Carnegie, R.L.Stevenson, Jonathan Swift and Mark Twain. Spiritual leaders Sri M & Sathya Sai Baba.

 

Those born in the month of November either fall under the zodiac sign of Scorpio or are born on the Scorpio-Sagittarius cusp. As per Linda Godman those under the influence of Scorpio are easily approachable and are blessed with a sharp mind. These individuals are known for their forward thinking and are always full of unique and extraordinary ideas. These people are also known for their strong sense of clairvoyance and can at times be secretive in nature. Though not known for being talkative, they are extremely affable and make a lot of friends. Often they may appear as withdrawn and solitary, but they always keep a keen eye on the happening in their surrounding and are hardly apathetic. However, on the other side they can often be extremely manipulative, obsessive and revengeful. They are very loving and caring to their partners and exhibit a great deal of passion in their relationships, but one of their negative traits is that they can be a little jealous at times.

A famous Numerologist reports that if you were born in November, the number 11, which is a higher vibration of 2, will be of great importance to you. You are psychic, empathic, and positive. However, sometimes you get overwhelmed by your own sensitivity and develop stress related health and psychological problems, such as chronic fatigue and depression. You often set an example for others and make a great teacher.

A popular joke doing the rounds on Nov 14th is that its exactly 9 months after Valentines Day. I wonder if that has any impact on the greatness of the Nov born?

 

 

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Beware – The Khoya in Milk sweets during Diwali may be adulterated

5 Nov

Diwali is about letting go of the restraint and splurging on sweets. Yes the danger of excessive sugar is well known but there are bigger dangers lurking in the the lovely sweet box you just got as a gift from a leading sweet brand in the city.

Last year, a survey done by SPECS (Society of Pollution and Environmental Conservation Scientists) found that 90% of sweets and snacks in multiple cities of India were adulterated.

The demand for these products rises astronomically during the festive season, but of course, the production of milk cannot go up suddenly as the number of cattle remains the same. So when supply is X and Demand is 10X what do you do?  You Adulterate.

The first thing you MUST avoid is – sweets made of KHOYA. Khoya is made with milk thickened by cooking it over low heat for hours. It’s commonly used for making a wide variety of Indian sweets or mithai. However, nowadays, when the demand of khoya is on the rise, some vendors, in order to meet these demands, may indulge in adulterating the dairy product by using harmful chemicals.

Mawa or khoya used in Diwali sweets may be adulterated with a number of foreign ingredients like fine flour, starch, suji or semolina or even blotting paper. While these three are the relatively tame adulterants, there are some things added to mawa which are potentially harmful when consumed, including urea, palm oil or detergent! Some dairies also add foreign fat in mawa and milk to make these products taste ‘richer’. When people consume sweets made from these adulterated dairy products, their health may be affected.

The adulteration goes beyond milk sweets. Your  favourite besan laddoos are commonly adulterated with kesari daal – no this ain’t some high-grade protein, it’s animal feed unfit for human consumption.

Rasgullas can be made with all kinds of spurious synthetic and paint milk. And the shimmering vark is often replaced with aluminium foil.

So whats the solution. The best solution is to eat home made sweets. Yes thats a lot of toil – fortunately my wife is one of the few who still follows the tradition and toils for hours every day for a week before Diwali. But thats rare – people are more interested in getting ready for their card parties than making sweets at home.

The second best solution could be to stick to sweets made of jaggery or “Gur” – but thats rare. You walk into a shop and you will hardly find any “Gur” sweets. Traditional South Indian shops may have Manoharam, Appam, Adirasam and Boli – but they are becoming rarer by the day.

There are a few simple tests that you can do at home to check the quality of your milk. If the milk at home is adulterated this season be sure that the sweets in your neighbourhood Mithai Shop are.

Test 1- Water : This one’s pretty simple. You don’t have to wait for Diwali to test the milk quality. Take a few drops of milk and place them on a slanting, smooth, polished surface. Pure milk will glide down slowly leaving a trail behind while adulterated milk will slip pretty fast leaving a clean slate.

Test 2: Urea- The most common adulterant. Take a teaspoon or two of milk in a cup and add a teaspoon of soya powder or toor dal powder. Shake it till it mixes uniformly. After a couple of minutes, dip a litmus paper. Moment of truth. If the paper turns from red to blue, it indicates the presence of urea in milk. Discard.

Test 3: Detergent – Water down milk and shake it vigorously. If it lathers, there’s detergent. Puke! Preserve the sample and wash the leftover milk down the drain and complain to the local FDA.

Enjoy your Diwali – but think twice before eating that tasty looking Milk Sweet this season.

 

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