Making Co-living cool again…
Someone asked me today what I would want to do if money was not a constraint. And that got my mind thinking. I am a foodie and a supporter of increasing the green cover in our society. I love experimenting with my food. Having stayed alone for more than a decade has allowed me to try cooking different types of cuisines. But often I wonder how come the person who provides the raw material, the vegetables, for my pasta is the skinniest. I am talking about farmers. In India, farmers belong to one of the most hard-working (physically) segments of society. Unfortunately, the segment that brings food to our table is the most neglected one.
On the other hand, our climate has gone for a toss. Given a chance, I would like to find a solution to these problems by becoming an educated agriculturist. I would educate myself about all the latest techniques in agriculture, roam around the world, learn about the best practices being followed everywhere. I would relish the different cuisines and learn how the crops are grown in an environment-friendly way.
I would then buy a piece of barren land and start digging and removing the rocks using an earthmover. Then I would start planting saplings, water them, add organic manure, show them some tender loving care and within five years these saplings will convert into trees. Half of the land I would convert into a forest where slowly I would take steps to encourage wildlife to flourish. With my team, I would create a pond, which the wildlife could use to drink water, bathe, or do anything that they want to do. I love sparrows and felt sad when I saw that they are becoming extinct. I would make small birdhouses for them and add them to all the trees. This way their number would increase.
Slowly the barren land would turn into a forest, a leopard, a school of elephants, deer would be visible. I would build few tree houses and would allow only selected people to live there. People who are interested in creating forests. They would be selected based on their commitment to the cause. They would learn the best practices here and implement them in other parts of the world.
I would ban hunting in this forest, not even killing in the name of self-defence. The leopard could take buffaloes from my livestock or the elephants could bathe along with the humans in the pond. It would be co-living in the real sense. Co-living in concrete has become popular lately but I would make real co-living a buzzword in the crowd. I would promote it using different platforms of social media but like I said the forest would be open to only selected people.
Meanwhile, I will start visiting the local schools and urge the school authorities to include the environment as a subject in the curriculum. As a practical science project, I would ask the authorities to teach the school students how to plant saplings from their first year itself. Then, I would teach the students how to nourish the saplings till they can sustain themselves on their own. Imagine how wonderful it would be if I can instil a sense of responsibility in the children and address problems of global warming and climate change.
Well, this is how my adventurous journey would be like if I had all the power and money in the world.
