our previous post seems to have tickled quite a few people...some of you seem to have taken it rather personally!
We will never apologize for anything that we say/do - things taken out of context will always distort the truth....love us or hate us, you just cant' ignore us ;-)
anyway, here goes the not so standard disclaimer...
the previous post was not an expression of frustration, disappointment, cynicism, or any else that is negative; on the contrary, an honest view/observation/opinions of the way we see things happening around us.
we're not here to judge others or change the world - we believe thats' a job for the guy upstairs ;-)
We have consciously moved away from mass production of vegetables. Fortunately, organic farming was never a livelihood profession for us; so we could afford to experiment with several ideas. Next day distribution in cities was one of them, and based on our limited experiences; we decided not to pursue it anymore.
We do however continue to grow vegetables organically, enough for ourselves and our guests/friends - and hence the sincere offer to share it with our guests when they come visit us. We will continue to do non-perishables such as coffee/jams/pickles/pesto.
now on the the remark about the state of education/qualification/certification that is rampant in our world - think about the following before you react:
1) does everybody with drivers' licences know how to drive ?
2) does 15+ years of education really help anybody do their job ?
3) are qualified people overpaid for the actual work they do ?
4) do people who are more educated/qualified contribute more to society ?
5) are we not hypocrites when we "talk about saving the environment - and produce/consume more/faster to improve the economy"
6) does the current system of education/certification/qualification/working make people happier ?
7) ...
till next time...
as always,
- hok
Monday, September 20, 2010
Sunday, September 19, 2010
whats' up hok
well,
its' been a while, and im sure most of you are curious about whats happenning in the houseofkodai - did we fall off the edge of the earth, were we kidnapped by local forest brigands, did we get regular jobs and get urbanized, ...
first, we're having a big bash this weekend 25th September 2010 - do come over and join the party. officially, BSNL is launching wifi broadband services in our village - of course, thats' just an excuse - come on over and join our party, you'll certainly enjoy it.
ok ok, theres' more to the story...here it goes...
having built a house, gotten electricity, growing organic food; pretty much the only civilized thing left was getting broadband internet to our home - we did it, and BSNL was quite impressed with it and want to work with us in taking this to villages across Tamil Nadu.
Rather than harp on the technology, took us over a year to make things work - we're going to say bit about the people who did it - young local farm boys, whose maximum qualification is +2 - we all know that our education system is "practically useless" ; we're encouraging kids to get certified - not solve problems or make our lives better.
we've finally proven that you dont' need people who are expensive-qualified-certified to provide broadband-internet services in villages; just "common sense and a willingness to pursue it until it works"
the elevator pitch, for those of you who like it, - we have an "affordable self sustainable scalable model for providing broadband internet access to rural villages" and we're not waiting for investors, venture capatilists, experts, telecom operators, entrepreneurs, to come make obscene profits and rip somebody off ;-)
if you're interested, do put in the effort to visit/spend time with us; starting this weekend.
wow...ok we know whats' been keeping you busy, but what about organic farming ?
we still do organic farming; but decided a few months ago that supplying to urbanites was a mugs game - most people in the cities are too busy and seem to be driven by "cost and convinence" rather than understanding/caring about "where the food they eat comes from and the human effort involved in bringing it to their homes" - we understand! living in the cities, its just easier to buy/consume "pretty things" from super-markets certified by committes of ivy-league educated professionals - rather than doing things the good old fashioned way, ie, knowing the people who grow the food for you.
of course, few of us are truly committed to supporting "organic farming"; as long as it is packged nicely, priced expensively, marketed properly, and remains fashionable !-)
nope, we're not bitter or cynical or any such thing, on the contrary - we live simple lives and continue to share it with the rest of the world (the number of friends who visit us have only increased ;-) just that, we wont be "delivering it to doorsteps" anymore.
if people want what we grow, they can have it for "free" - just have to put in the effort to visit us - the few of you who have spent time with us, know that we mean this sincerely; for other doubting thomases (if it sounds too good to be true, it probably aint') there is only one way to find out ;-)
thats' about all, folks...
stay young, have fun,
- hok
its' been a while, and im sure most of you are curious about whats happenning in the houseofkodai - did we fall off the edge of the earth, were we kidnapped by local forest brigands, did we get regular jobs and get urbanized, ...
first, we're having a big bash this weekend 25th September 2010 - do come over and join the party. officially, BSNL is launching wifi broadband services in our village - of course, thats' just an excuse - come on over and join our party, you'll certainly enjoy it.
ok ok, theres' more to the story...here it goes...
having built a house, gotten electricity, growing organic food; pretty much the only civilized thing left was getting broadband internet to our home - we did it, and BSNL was quite impressed with it and want to work with us in taking this to villages across Tamil Nadu.
Rather than harp on the technology, took us over a year to make things work - we're going to say bit about the people who did it - young local farm boys, whose maximum qualification is +2 - we all know that our education system is "practically useless" ; we're encouraging kids to get certified - not solve problems or make our lives better.
we've finally proven that you dont' need people who are expensive-qualified-certified to provide broadband-internet services in villages; just "common sense and a willingness to pursue it until it works"
the elevator pitch, for those of you who like it, - we have an "affordable self sustainable scalable model for providing broadband internet access to rural villages" and we're not waiting for investors, venture capatilists, experts, telecom operators, entrepreneurs, to come make obscene profits and rip somebody off ;-)
if you're interested, do put in the effort to visit/spend time with us; starting this weekend.
wow...ok we know whats' been keeping you busy, but what about organic farming ?
we still do organic farming; but decided a few months ago that supplying to urbanites was a mugs game - most people in the cities are too busy and seem to be driven by "cost and convinence" rather than understanding/caring about "where the food they eat comes from and the human effort involved in bringing it to their homes" - we understand! living in the cities, its just easier to buy/consume "pretty things" from super-markets certified by committes of ivy-league educated professionals - rather than doing things the good old fashioned way, ie, knowing the people who grow the food for you.
of course, few of us are truly committed to supporting "organic farming"; as long as it is packged nicely, priced expensively, marketed properly, and remains fashionable !-)
nope, we're not bitter or cynical or any such thing, on the contrary - we live simple lives and continue to share it with the rest of the world (the number of friends who visit us have only increased ;-) just that, we wont be "delivering it to doorsteps" anymore.
if people want what we grow, they can have it for "free" - just have to put in the effort to visit us - the few of you who have spent time with us, know that we mean this sincerely; for other doubting thomases (if it sounds too good to be true, it probably aint') there is only one way to find out ;-)
thats' about all, folks...
stay young, have fun,
- hok
are you on kloud9
Amidst the pristine hills of Kodaikanal, in the western ghats, a rural revolution begins.
Announcing the launch of BSNL wifi broadband services (kloud9), on 25th September 2010 in the village of Pallangi, about 10 kms from kodaikanal.
In a place where nature is still pristine, practically in the edge of civilization, closer to the forest than to the nearest village, we discovered an urge to connect with the rest of the world. About a year ago, after we completed building our home; we took upon challenge of getting broadband services to houseofkodai (also known as nammaveedu in tamil).
Although rural broadband is fashionable, makes good headlines, and everybody seems to be talking about it – the ground reality is, it simply does not exist. It makes little business sense for the big boys of telecom to invest either in technology or infrastructure for poor old rural India! Its just easier for them to shell out 1000s of crores in licensing fees to provide 3g services to the urban elite!
Coming from a technology background and interacting with friends and experts in the field, we soon realized that if we wanted broadband Internet at our home, we had to build/get it ourselves. After all, necessity is the mother of invention.
The distance between the cup and lip – we could almost see the mobile towers, which were providing us voice services and dial-up Internet; this and the knowledge that most mobile towers were connected to super-fast fibre-optic network – led us to work on the famous “local loop” problem – connect the end-user/customer to the core network.
Wifi technology, the stuff that enables your laptop to connect to your office/home’s broadband Internet without wires is what we started to experiment with – the difference being, instead of working within few 10s of meters – we had to make it work across 10s of kilometers; thus leading us into the journey with several trials and even more errors. The nice thing about making mistakes for us is that we never forget – every time we forgot to take simple things like the correct spanner or power adapter, we’d have wasted an entire day (had to travel about 100 kms by road to get it)
Having mastered the technical nuances and innovating in areas such as antenna-mounts (the difference in long distance wireless is that a few degrees off vertically or horizontally you get zero-band; and when properly aligned we get broad-band), and hardware/software (thanks to linux and the all the other open source efforts which make this possible) we were able to get the bits moving reliably across long distances – how long, you wonder; our current setup includes a 40km link. The next target is 100 kms.
Our choice of working with BSNL, was obvious from the beginning. They have the largest telecom infrastructure and being part of the government meant that they understood the social/long-term aspects and were really committed to providing broadband services in villages. The top management of BSNL, TN circle have been extremely encouraging of our efforts. We worked together to successfully complete a 3-month field-trial by integrating our technology with their backbone network.
Having successfully made broadband reach houseofkodai, we were then inspired and encouraged by BSNL to make affordable rural broadband a reality across Tamil Nadu and across India.
And so a new journey begins, we are proud to announce the launch of “BSNL wifi broadband services” on 25th September 2010. Starting with a coverage of 5 villages, in the remote areas of Kodaikanal, we are offering “unlimited 512 Kbps broadband Internet at Rs. 750/- month” the same as what urbanites are enjoying.
Finally, rural Indians can connect with the vast BSNL tower network and enjoy the benefits of broadband Internet from the comfort of their own villages.
we are on kloud9, are you ?
p.s. did we mention that this wifi service network is built and managed by young village farmers whose maximum qualification is +2! Seeing is believing – do visit us, interact directly, question us on philosophy, organic farming or complex technical aspects such as signal strength, polarity, antenna alignment, tcp/ip configuration…of course, you’ll get to enjoy the scenery, unpolluted air, clean water, company, etc. as a side effect.
Announcing the launch of BSNL wifi broadband services (kloud9), on 25th September 2010 in the village of Pallangi, about 10 kms from kodaikanal.
In a place where nature is still pristine, practically in the edge of civilization, closer to the forest than to the nearest village, we discovered an urge to connect with the rest of the world. About a year ago, after we completed building our home; we took upon challenge of getting broadband services to houseofkodai (also known as nammaveedu in tamil).
Although rural broadband is fashionable, makes good headlines, and everybody seems to be talking about it – the ground reality is, it simply does not exist. It makes little business sense for the big boys of telecom to invest either in technology or infrastructure for poor old rural India! Its just easier for them to shell out 1000s of crores in licensing fees to provide 3g services to the urban elite!
Coming from a technology background and interacting with friends and experts in the field, we soon realized that if we wanted broadband Internet at our home, we had to build/get it ourselves. After all, necessity is the mother of invention.
The distance between the cup and lip – we could almost see the mobile towers, which were providing us voice services and dial-up Internet; this and the knowledge that most mobile towers were connected to super-fast fibre-optic network – led us to work on the famous “local loop” problem – connect the end-user/customer to the core network.
Wifi technology, the stuff that enables your laptop to connect to your office/home’s broadband Internet without wires is what we started to experiment with – the difference being, instead of working within few 10s of meters – we had to make it work across 10s of kilometers; thus leading us into the journey with several trials and even more errors. The nice thing about making mistakes for us is that we never forget – every time we forgot to take simple things like the correct spanner or power adapter, we’d have wasted an entire day (had to travel about 100 kms by road to get it)
Having mastered the technical nuances and innovating in areas such as antenna-mounts (the difference in long distance wireless is that a few degrees off vertically or horizontally you get zero-band; and when properly aligned we get broad-band), and hardware/software (thanks to linux and the all the other open source efforts which make this possible) we were able to get the bits moving reliably across long distances – how long, you wonder; our current setup includes a 40km link. The next target is 100 kms.
Our choice of working with BSNL, was obvious from the beginning. They have the largest telecom infrastructure and being part of the government meant that they understood the social/long-term aspects and were really committed to providing broadband services in villages. The top management of BSNL, TN circle have been extremely encouraging of our efforts. We worked together to successfully complete a 3-month field-trial by integrating our technology with their backbone network.
Having successfully made broadband reach houseofkodai, we were then inspired and encouraged by BSNL to make affordable rural broadband a reality across Tamil Nadu and across India.
And so a new journey begins, we are proud to announce the launch of “BSNL wifi broadband services” on 25th September 2010. Starting with a coverage of 5 villages, in the remote areas of Kodaikanal, we are offering “unlimited 512 Kbps broadband Internet at Rs. 750/- month” the same as what urbanites are enjoying.
Finally, rural Indians can connect with the vast BSNL tower network and enjoy the benefits of broadband Internet from the comfort of their own villages.
we are on kloud9, are you ?
p.s. did we mention that this wifi service network is built and managed by young village farmers whose maximum qualification is +2! Seeing is believing – do visit us, interact directly, question us on philosophy, organic farming or complex technical aspects such as signal strength, polarity, antenna alignment, tcp/ip configuration…of course, you’ll get to enjoy the scenery, unpolluted air, clean water, company, etc. as a side effect.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
long time no hear
long time no hear, yes we know...just that life at the house of kodai is peaceful, but busy also ;-)
since we cant grow stuff during winter months, we could not do a delivery in march. we will start harvesting our produce from this month onwards. Some of you have asked what all we have planted; sage, roesemary, parsley, basil, mint, celery, spring onions, lettuce, cicory, broccoli, brinjal, carrots, beetroot, small onions (already started to harvest), corn, tomato, capcicum, kothmalli, plums, peaches, avacados, bananas, ...
to quickly recap events of the past couple of weeks, in no particular order:
enough of keeping you folks in suspense; since we have done veggies in the first bok, fruits in the second bok - our plan is to do 'processed foods' for the third bok. The deciding factors are:
bok - april 2010 edition (delivery 18 Apr 2010):
1/2 kg coffee = Rs. 250/-
1/4 kg plum jam = Rs. 100/-
1/2 kg sun-dried lemon pickle = Rs. 150/-
it goes without saying that all of our products are 100% organic.
since these items are packaged individually, we will accept orders for specific items - if you want only coffee, we will do that. we'll also surprise you with something extra ;-)
since this is our first time, we are producing a limited quantity: 100 coffee packs, 100 bottles of plum jam and 100 bottles of lemon pickle.
our web-based ordering system is still not functioning the way we'd like it to be (havent found time to work on it) and caused a bit of confusion the last time - so for this month's orders, please email us.
as always,
- hok
since we cant grow stuff during winter months, we could not do a delivery in march. we will start harvesting our produce from this month onwards. Some of you have asked what all we have planted; sage, roesemary, parsley, basil, mint, celery, spring onions, lettuce, cicory, broccoli, brinjal, carrots, beetroot, small onions (already started to harvest), corn, tomato, capcicum, kothmalli, plums, peaches, avacados, bananas, ...
to quickly recap events of the past couple of weeks, in no particular order:
- usual plethora of friends/guests visiting us and keeping us entertained...
- took us over 9 months, but we finally got wireless broadband working here - my guess is we probably are the "remotest" people in India to get it working...thanks to the officials of bsnl-tamil nadu circle, who were very supportive in making this happen. For those of you technically inclined, do contact us and i'll share more details.
- guido got her annual vaccination and almost died - doing research on the Internet, we discovered that 'annual vaccination' is a big sham 'not reqd. at all' - that the body learns how to deal with diseases after the first-vaccination itself and does not forget it (since the vaccines contain a small sample of the disease itself - it forces the body to build its immune system). lots of tlc and homeopathy saved guido - one week of thuja 30 and sulphur 30.
- water scarcity - yes, our streams too are running dry; mainly due to farmers upstream sucking up more water in the blind hope that it will give them good harvests. Cant' blame them, everybody does what they think is best. We have built some small ponds to store water and recharge the ground-water system.
- building framework for creepers; we've planted quite a bit of chow chow - should get them in a few months.
- planting more banana saplings - mainly to provide shade for coffee - seems that historically, our farm used to grow some of the best bananas in the region...they generally take around 18 months, so we'll see how this batch shapes up.
enough of keeping you folks in suspense; since we have done veggies in the first bok, fruits in the second bok - our plan is to do 'processed foods' for the third bok. The deciding factors are:
- we don't plant stuff during winter months of nov/dec/jan; so what we planted after winter will be ready to harvest from next month onwards (90 days average).
- we already experienced the problems of heat - produce ripening too quickly; nobody likes to open up a box with over-ripe stuff; and since we really will not use chemical preservatives - we have a bit of a challenge here.
- we have had people from other cities (bombay, delhi, pune,) who want to be part of our story.
- friends who have visited us rant/rave about the pestos/arabiata/food made
at home. - for the mba types out there, value addition ;-)
bok - april 2010 edition (delivery 18 Apr 2010):
1/2 kg coffee = Rs. 250/-
1/4 kg plum jam = Rs. 100/-
1/2 kg sun-dried lemon pickle = Rs. 150/-
it goes without saying that all of our products are 100% organic.
since these items are packaged individually, we will accept orders for specific items - if you want only coffee, we will do that. we'll also surprise you with something extra ;-)
since this is our first time, we are producing a limited quantity: 100 coffee packs, 100 bottles of plum jam and 100 bottles of lemon pickle.
our web-based ordering system is still not functioning the way we'd like it to be (havent found time to work on it) and caused a bit of confusion the last time - so for this month's orders, please email us.
as always,
- hok
Sunday, February 28, 2010
bok feb 2010 summary
well folks,
the bok 2nd edition experience:
some of you have asked me about the big round yellow things - they are 'malta limes' can be used as slices in tea, and other suitable drinks which typically use lemons. The skin is quite useful too - sun dry them, cut them into small cubes and crystallize them in a sugar solution; kids/adults will love chewing it.
having said that, this year has been weird in weather terms, our peach trees are fruiting and plum trees are flowering again - we will know the harvest situation, a few weeks from now and if it seems like a decent harvest, we will share them with you.
thanks for your continued support, looking forward to a improved version 3 experience.
as always,
Karthik Ayyar
www.houseofkodai.in
ps. we have decided to not send you long rants; but rather to post our monologues on the Internet and email you once-a-week with links to them - so you can read them at your convenience.
the bok 2nd edition experience:
- not having the plums was the biggest disappointment to all of us - the weather has been exceptionally hot this week and we had harvested all the fruits from 3-5 days before dispatch to ensure that ripe a bit when they reach their destination. Unfortunately the fruits ripened faster than expected/hoped and we had the classic catch-22 situation; disappoint you a little bit or take the risk of sending them, which would have juiced the rest of the box - plums are a sensitive lot, get squished easily; hence we choose the former. It seems to be an art to decide "when" to harvest - since, we are committed to not using 'preservatives' of any sort; we need to evolve a mechanism to harvest/transport to your homes in the shortest possible times.
- logistics was much more smoother, this time around - although about 10 folks in chennai did not receive our boks, yesterday. They are being delivered today, free or charge. Our order-acceptance system (web, email, phone) was a bit messed up; our delivery teams did end up in a few houses of people, who had not ordered; apologies for the inconvenience.
- we will incur a loss this time around also - it will however be less than the first time around, so there is an improvement on the economic front also.
- overall summary; better than the first time, but not optimal, yet - we recognize the need to improve on a few fronts (logistics, harvest-time, costing, ...) to satisfy our ardent supporters, "you".
some of you have asked me about the big round yellow things - they are 'malta limes' can be used as slices in tea, and other suitable drinks which typically use lemons. The skin is quite useful too - sun dry them, cut them into small cubes and crystallize them in a sugar solution; kids/adults will love chewing it.
having said that, this year has been weird in weather terms, our peach trees are fruiting and plum trees are flowering again - we will know the harvest situation, a few weeks from now and if it seems like a decent harvest, we will share them with you.
thanks for your continued support, looking forward to a improved version 3 experience.
as always,
Karthik Ayyar
www.houseofkodai.in
ps. we have decided to not send you long rants; but rather to post our monologues on the Internet and email you once-a-week with links to them - so you can read them at your convenience.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
bok feb 2010 - has left the building
well folks,
this time around things (harvesting/packaging/dispatching) went much smoother than the last time; hopefully you'll be able to feel the improved experience.
however this time around, we did make one mistake - "plums", they were too ripe to be transported and would have made a mess of the other fruits in the box; so we decided not to send them this time around. Our sincere apologies for this 'unfulfilled' promise. Due to this, we have decided to reduce the cost by Rs. 50/- (so you only have to pay Rs. 200/- for pickup and Rs. 250/- for home delivery). If some of you feel too strongly about it, you dont' have to pay - do accept it as our compliment, no questions asked.
for those of you wanting to pickup our boks:
Chennai/Nungambakkam:
enmail.com Pvt. Limited
8 (old 5) Vidwan Sundaram Street
Nungambakkam, Chennai - 600034
P: 2826-2666
Bangalore/Koramangala:
Contact Mr. J. Jaishankar (98452) 47604
we have sent about 20 extra boks to Chennai and 3/4 extra boks to Bangalore; so do contact us today, if you need a few.
to end on a positive note, we wanted to give people more and surprise them well...so we put in a few "big yellow round thingis"...(they are not lemons/oranges, which are already part of the bok).
we hope you enjoy our boks as much as we have.
as always,
Karthik Ayyar
ps. will post a more detailed summary of our 2nd edition on Tuesday once the deliveries are complete.
this time around things (harvesting/packaging/dispatching) went much smoother than the last time; hopefully you'll be able to feel the improved experience.
however this time around, we did make one mistake - "plums", they were too ripe to be transported and would have made a mess of the other fruits in the box; so we decided not to send them this time around. Our sincere apologies for this 'unfulfilled' promise. Due to this, we have decided to reduce the cost by Rs. 50/- (so you only have to pay Rs. 200/- for pickup and Rs. 250/- for home delivery). If some of you feel too strongly about it, you dont' have to pay - do accept it as our compliment, no questions asked.
for those of you wanting to pickup our boks:
Chennai/Nungambakkam:
enmail.com Pvt. Limited
8 (old 5) Vidwan Sundaram Street
Nungambakkam, Chennai - 600034
P: 2826-2666
Bangalore/Koramangala:
Contact Mr. J. Jaishankar (98452) 47604
we have sent about 20 extra boks to Chennai and 3/4 extra boks to Bangalore; so do contact us today, if you need a few.
to end on a positive note, we wanted to give people more and surprise them well...so we put in a few "big yellow round thingis"...(they are not lemons/oranges, which are already part of the bok).
we hope you enjoy our boks as much as we have.
as always,
Karthik Ayyar
ps. will post a more detailed summary of our 2nd edition on Tuesday once the deliveries are complete.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
bok up for feb 2010
we can now accept orders via. our web-site www.houseofkodai.in - yes, we not only do organic farming, but write software also! old, habits die hard.
do visit www.houseofkodai.in to place your orders, alternatively you can email/call us also. For all of you who have already emailed your orders - thanks, you dont' need to reconfirm.
we have confirmed orders for about 100 boks and have 200 more to go - please order a few more, and spread the word today/tomorrow.
Our pickup points are Nungambakkam/Chennai and in Koramangala/Bangalore - We will be sending delivery/pickup details on Saturday after we consolidate all the orders. Please note that it helps us immensely, when we are able to bulk deliver 5/10 boks in the same home/office/area.
We thought organic farming was difficult, but now realize that convincing people and getting our boks into your homes are much more challenging tasks !-) We are committed to doing this in a transparent manner - but need your active feedback/support/involvement to make this successful.
last but not the least, we guarantee that you will enjoy our boks - fruits of our labour and if for some reason you are not, we will happily refund you, with no questions asked.
as always,
- ka
do visit www.houseofkodai.in to place your orders, alternatively you can email/call us also. For all of you who have already emailed your orders - thanks, you dont' need to reconfirm.
we have confirmed orders for about 100 boks and have 200 more to go - please order a few more, and spread the word today/tomorrow.
Our pickup points are Nungambakkam/Chennai and in Koramangala/Bangalore - We will be sending delivery/pickup details on Saturday after we consolidate all the orders. Please note that it helps us immensely, when we are able to bulk deliver 5/10 boks in the same home/office/area.
We thought organic farming was difficult, but now realize that convincing people and getting our boks into your homes are much more challenging tasks !-) We are committed to doing this in a transparent manner - but need your active feedback/support/involvement to make this successful.
last but not the least, we guarantee that you will enjoy our boks - fruits of our labour and if for some reason you are not, we will happily refund you, with no questions asked.
as always,
- ka
Sunday, February 21, 2010
first bok'up
one of the nice things about life is that it keeps popping up pleasant surprises all the time - I must admit that this little initiative of ours seems to have touched a sensitive spot in peoples lives. All of us at the houseodkodai are deeply moved by the emails and phone calls that keep coming encouraging us to do more…
a brief summary of our first bok'up
Price
Product
Delivery
the good news, tons of compliments on the 'quality' - people acknowledged the difference in taste and longevity (some of you have cooked and eaten our produce 2 weeks after we sent it across). We certainly are glad to be part of your delicious/healthy lives.
education is a perpetual process of learning from our mistakes - Im glad all of you are supporting our amateur attempts; We certainly have learnt a lot from the first bok delivery and have planned to adopt the following suggestions:
Community effort
We have had several suggestions to supply to shops; however, we are very keen on connecting with you directly and are committed to a community effort rather than a commercial one.
Increase Value
Improve Logistics
If we have one drop spot in each area within the city - we can complete deliveries by 10 AM. everybody in the area would then be notified, so they can pick it up by 5 PM. After which we collect the remaining boks from the bok spots and distribute them free of cost to needy institutions.
for those of you who are inclined to volunteer for bok spots - please email us; for others, please do consider this an aspect of community service and an opportunity to make new friends ;-)
as always,
Karthik Ayyar
a brief summary of our first bok'up
Price
- Everybody loves the concept and quite a few of you felt the price was high.
- We spent about Rs. 120/- per home delivery - Rs. 20/packaging Rs. 60/- to transport the box from Kodai to Chennai and Rs. 40/- for local delivery.
- Overall, we lost about Rs. 12,000/- in our maiden attempt - Personally its' the best money we have spent till date; as it has touched so many lives.
Product
- Not every bok had the same quantity of items - bananas were the biggest problem; some got more of one than the other. All packing was done in an hurried manner, the evening before, manually under low light conditions; not an excuse, but an explanation.
Delivery
- Simply put - logistical nightmare; biggest problem area: had to deliver from aynavaram to ambattur in Chennai. Had 2 delivery teams deliver for 2 days/nights (from 8 AM to 10 PM)
- Bangalore delivery was small but smooth - by 2PM Sunday everybody had their boks; it was because of my passionate high-school buddy jj and bulk delivery (5 boks in one house and 10 boks in the other, from where others paid and picked up)
the good news, tons of compliments on the 'quality' - people acknowledged the difference in taste and longevity (some of you have cooked and eaten our produce 2 weeks after we sent it across). We certainly are glad to be part of your delicious/healthy lives.
education is a perpetual process of learning from our mistakes - Im glad all of you are supporting our amateur attempts; We certainly have learnt a lot from the first bok delivery and have planned to adopt the following suggestions:
Community effort
We have had several suggestions to supply to shops; however, we are very keen on connecting with you directly and are committed to a community effort rather than a commercial one.
Increase Value
- With increased volumes and improved logistics, we should reduce costs significantly - If we do 300 boks to 20 spots/homes the next time, we should be able to reduce our costs and your price significantly.
- We have had a few nearby farmers approach us to supply us with organically grown produce from their farms (not everything grown is blasted with chemicals - most of the fruits trees are just allowed to grow and harvested during the season) Once we are convinced on the quality, we will choose to include them in our bok.
- Our goal - provide organic produce at market prices; with your regular participation and by eliminating the distributor/retailer we can do it.
Improve Logistics
- bok spot: We need volunteers for each area to store/distribute atleast 10 boks from us - so others in the area can pick them up during the day. The bok volunteer will be rewarded with:
- our deep gratitude
- free bok from us
- new like-minded friends who come over to pickup boks
If we have one drop spot in each area within the city - we can complete deliveries by 10 AM. everybody in the area would then be notified, so they can pick it up by 5 PM. After which we collect the remaining boks from the bok spots and distribute them free of cost to needy institutions.
for those of you who are inclined to volunteer for bok spots - please email us; for others, please do consider this an aspect of community service and an opportunity to make new friends ;-)
as always,
Karthik Ayyar
long time no hear…
first a brief note on the long silence – I have had to climb down into concrete jungles and came back up only this morning. although it was fun meeting old friends and making new ones, i'm delighted to be back home. pure no-strings-attached love from my four legged friends is something I enjoy always ;-)
since there is quite a bit to cover, i'm splitting them up into 3 mails/posts, so you can skip the ones you're not interested in:
1) this note (posting now)
2) first bok’up (posting a few hours from now)
3) bok'up: feb 2010 (posting tomorrow)
I still enjoy designing hardware and writing software – with the need to update our web-site, I wandered aimlessly in the Internet and found a few sites for inspiration; the site that finally won me over was www.thesixtyone.com
once the what was known, it was just a matter of discovering the how and so started the journey to learn html/css/javascript, figure-out filling-up pages with images, using the keyboard, and other nifty stuff. The final result after a few intense days mingled with sleepless nights, we are proud to announce the new and improved www.houseofkodai.in please do take the time to check it out and send us your comments/feedback.
as always,
Karthik Ayyar
ps. to my dear friend whose endrendrum has inspired me to shamelessly borrow the english version – thanks ;-)
since there is quite a bit to cover, i'm splitting them up into 3 mails/posts, so you can skip the ones you're not interested in:
1) this note (posting now)
2) first bok’up (posting a few hours from now)
3) bok'up: feb 2010 (posting tomorrow)
I still enjoy designing hardware and writing software – with the need to update our web-site, I wandered aimlessly in the Internet and found a few sites for inspiration; the site that finally won me over was www.thesixtyone.com
once the what was known, it was just a matter of discovering the how and so started the journey to learn html/css/javascript, figure-out filling-up pages with images, using the keyboard, and other nifty stuff. The final result after a few intense days mingled with sleepless nights, we are proud to announce the new and improved www.houseofkodai.in please do take the time to check it out and send us your comments/feedback.
as always,
Karthik Ayyar
ps. to my dear friend whose endrendrum has inspired me to shamelessly borrow the english version – thanks ;-)
Monday, January 25, 2010
well,
heart-felt thanks to all of you for the understanding/encouragement given to us. Because of extraordinary support given by you, we did manage to achieve 'harvest today, deliver tomorrow' for quite a few people.
We started with the goal of delivering 200 odd boxes - 25 to bangalore and the rest to chennai.
We managed to deliver all the boxes in bangalore by noon thanks to the tireless efforts of one of our passionate friends/supporters Anaha, Rakhi, and Jaishankar. The first customer to open our bok and chew on our carrots (less than 12 hours after harvest) was Dr. Samar Singh in Bangalore.
Chennai was a different experience though, we had to deliver from Ambattur to Palavakkam - Our truck reached Chennai around 8 AM in the morning and we had 2 delivery teams (headed by R.Venkatesan) starting the delivery process from that time till 10 PM. In spite of our best efforts, we were unable to complete all the deliveries. We even had one of our dear friends/well-wisher Krishna, who performed over 10 deliveries till late in the evening. We faced typical problems like people not answering their phones, wrong-contact numbers, improper addresses, not being at home, and the usual difficulty of locating addresses in chennai.
We did not complete deliveries to around 30 homes, if you are one of them - please accept our sincere apologies. We are getting our non-delivery lists and are planning to distribute the rest of the boks today, free of charge. All our boks are in Nungambakkam - and 2 delivery vehicles will be used to deliver them today; we recognize that traffic today will be more painful, but we are committed to honoring our responsibility. A few friends, notably Vijaykumar has volunteered to pickup the boks from Nungambakkam itself.
We started with a dream, and with your active participation, it has become real, Thanks.
After completing todays deliveries, we will take some time to review what has happened and plan on the future course of action. We'll keep you informed. In the meantime, when you get a chance, do visit us in our houseofkodai.
heart-felt thanks to all of you for the understanding/encouragement given to us. Because of extraordinary support given by you, we did manage to achieve 'harvest today, deliver tomorrow' for quite a few people.
We started with the goal of delivering 200 odd boxes - 25 to bangalore and the rest to chennai.
We managed to deliver all the boxes in bangalore by noon thanks to the tireless efforts of one of our passionate friends/supporters Anaha, Rakhi, and Jaishankar. The first customer to open our bok and chew on our carrots (less than 12 hours after harvest) was Dr. Samar Singh in Bangalore.
Chennai was a different experience though, we had to deliver from Ambattur to Palavakkam - Our truck reached Chennai around 8 AM in the morning and we had 2 delivery teams (headed by R.Venkatesan) starting the delivery process from that time till 10 PM. In spite of our best efforts, we were unable to complete all the deliveries. We even had one of our dear friends/well-wisher Krishna, who performed over 10 deliveries till late in the evening. We faced typical problems like people not answering their phones, wrong-contact numbers, improper addresses, not being at home, and the usual difficulty of locating addresses in chennai.
We did not complete deliveries to around 30 homes, if you are one of them - please accept our sincere apologies. We are getting our non-delivery lists and are planning to distribute the rest of the boks today, free of charge. All our boks are in Nungambakkam - and 2 delivery vehicles will be used to deliver them today; we recognize that traffic today will be more painful, but we are committed to honoring our responsibility. A few friends, notably Vijaykumar has volunteered to pickup the boks from Nungambakkam itself.
We started with a dream, and with your active participation, it has become real, Thanks.
After completing todays deliveries, we will take some time to review what has happened and plan on the future course of action. We'll keep you informed. In the meantime, when you get a chance, do visit us in our houseofkodai.
Friday, January 22, 2010
well,
so far, we've received orders for around 150 boks.; thanks to everybody who have called me/emailed me. We’re halfway there and have 12+ hours to reach our target of 300.
for the others, yet to decide, here a few vital statistics:
* bok contents: 7 items (total weight of 5/6 kgs)
1. Carrots (with the greens)
2. ChoCho
3. Radish (with the greens)
4. Hill Plantain
5. Lemons
6. Cilantro
7. Coffee sampler
* cost: Rs. 300 (100 for packaging/transportation - 200 for the produce)
* all the produce is grown organically, here in the hills of kodai, without any chemicals
other than convincing people that im now an organic farmer; our biggest challenge is logistics - a few of you are helping us by taking boks in bulk and distributing it to co-workers/family/friends. We could use a few more volunteers to take bulk boks (any number above 1 is considered bulk for near/dear distribution.
Please spread the word around.
so far, we've received orders for around 150 boks.; thanks to everybody who have called me/emailed me. We’re halfway there and have 12+ hours to reach our target of 300.
for the others, yet to decide, here a few vital statistics:
* bok contents: 7 items (total weight of 5/6 kgs)
1. Carrots (with the greens)
2. ChoCho
3. Radish (with the greens)
4. Hill Plantain
5. Lemons
6. Cilantro
7. Coffee sampler
* cost: Rs. 300 (100 for packaging/transportation - 200 for the produce)
* all the produce is grown organically, here in the hills of kodai, without any chemicals
other than convincing people that im now an organic farmer; our biggest challenge is logistics - a few of you are helping us by taking boks in bulk and distributing it to co-workers/family/friends. We could use a few more volunteers to take bulk boks (any number above 1 is considered bulk for near/dear distribution.
Please spread the word around.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
first harvest
hi folks,
after 2+ memorable years of living in the houseofkodai - we finally are going to have our first/second organic harvest in the next few days :-)
living here is peaceful, healthy, and fun. peaceful, because its quite (most of the time its your own thoughts making all the noise), healthy, because of unpolluted air/water and fresh (pluck from the garden type of fresh ;-) organic food and fun because we've been having tons of friends visiting us all the time. While we'd love for all of you to come and join us in our simple-rural-lives; I guess, its not something all of us are destined to do. We figured, if you cant come to kodai - we'll just have to box kodai and deliver it to your homes ;-)
we have always believed in organic farming - and started 6 months ago, after the griha pravesam of our new house (namma veedu) was complete. We tried potato as our first crop; generally one gets 10 times the yield with potato (we planted 500 kgs - expecting 5 tons and got 50 kgs instead ;-) it was certainly a learning experience; we kept the potato for our home consumption, and i'd have to say its' the finest potato we've ever had (if you doubt it, do visit us and we'll roast a few for you)
we're quick learners, we spoke to a few been-there-done-that friends and planted again - and guess what, we're going to have a good harvest this time. of course, a new challenge has come up - what to do with the harvest (this time the yield will be more than 10 times - over a ton). We figured that selling these in the regular market would be a wasted effort (since it would get mixed with the regular stuff and people would never get the opportunity to appreciate it). After a bit of thought and discussions, we have decided to home-deliver it to people, who can enjoy this.
our plan is simple,
"what we harvest today, you eat tomorrow"
every month, we harvest our vegetables/fruits on a Saturday, clean them, pack them in a box, transport it overnight, and get it delivered to your homes the next-day on Sunday. We're calling it the "bok" (box of kodai); it will contain a combination of organic fruits/vegetables/products - few of which will be harvested from our land and others (only organic) from nearby farms/forests. We will maintain a contact list of people interested in our efforts, and update them before every harvest with the cost and contents of our bok; we then prepare a delivery list and get our boks to your homes on Sunday.
This weekend, we are starting the bok-deliveries in chennai (because thats where my grandmother lives ;-). The first bok is going to contain radish, cilantro, mountain-banana, lemons, carrots, cho-cho (squash), and a bit of coffee - its going to weigh around 5 Kgs and cost Rs. 300/-
We need atleast 300 regular customers in chennai to make this an economically feasible, self-sustainable effort. Please, spread the word, inform your friends and family about this, and have them email their contact details (name, mobile, postal-address) to bok@houseofkodai.in - so we can deliver boks to them this Sunday, 24th January 2010.
after 2+ memorable years of living in the houseofkodai - we finally are going to have our first/second organic harvest in the next few days :-)
living here is peaceful, healthy, and fun. peaceful, because its quite (most of the time its your own thoughts making all the noise), healthy, because of unpolluted air/water and fresh (pluck from the garden type of fresh ;-) organic food and fun because we've been having tons of friends visiting us all the time. While we'd love for all of you to come and join us in our simple-rural-lives; I guess, its not something all of us are destined to do. We figured, if you cant come to kodai - we'll just have to box kodai and deliver it to your homes ;-)
we have always believed in organic farming - and started 6 months ago, after the griha pravesam of our new house (namma veedu) was complete. We tried potato as our first crop; generally one gets 10 times the yield with potato (we planted 500 kgs - expecting 5 tons and got 50 kgs instead ;-) it was certainly a learning experience; we kept the potato for our home consumption, and i'd have to say its' the finest potato we've ever had (if you doubt it, do visit us and we'll roast a few for you)
we're quick learners, we spoke to a few been-there-done-that friends and planted again - and guess what, we're going to have a good harvest this time. of course, a new challenge has come up - what to do with the harvest (this time the yield will be more than 10 times - over a ton). We figured that selling these in the regular market would be a wasted effort (since it would get mixed with the regular stuff and people would never get the opportunity to appreciate it). After a bit of thought and discussions, we have decided to home-deliver it to people, who can enjoy this.
our plan is simple,
"what we harvest today, you eat tomorrow"
every month, we harvest our vegetables/fruits on a Saturday, clean them, pack them in a box, transport it overnight, and get it delivered to your homes the next-day on Sunday. We're calling it the "bok" (box of kodai); it will contain a combination of organic fruits/vegetables/products - few of which will be harvested from our land and others (only organic) from nearby farms/forests. We will maintain a contact list of people interested in our efforts, and update them before every harvest with the cost and contents of our bok; we then prepare a delivery list and get our boks to your homes on Sunday.
This weekend, we are starting the bok-deliveries in chennai (because thats where my grandmother lives ;-). The first bok is going to contain radish, cilantro, mountain-banana, lemons, carrots, cho-cho (squash), and a bit of coffee - its going to weigh around 5 Kgs and cost Rs. 300/-
We need atleast 300 regular customers in chennai to make this an economically feasible, self-sustainable effort. Please, spread the word, inform your friends and family about this, and have them email their contact details (name, mobile, postal-address) to bok@houseofkodai.in - so we can deliver boks to them this Sunday, 24th January 2010.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
hi folks,
lets start with the introductions – its just you, we and us - embarking on a journey into the past for the future ;-) now, that the formal part is over; its time to get not so serious:
rather than rant about the past – which is just the usual story of a city-boy driving away to become an organic farmer in the hills of Kodaikanal. After the, all so common, been-there-done-that ride that life offered – one particular aspect stood out – nothing ever happened as planned; it was always different – way worse or way better. From this, anybody could infer that I was pretty lousy in predicting the future; so I just gave up and stuck to the simple practice of
“not planning anything and accepting life as it happens”.
this philosophy has transformed a deeply confused urbanite into your run-of-the-mill organic farmer. let me stop ranting about the past now ;-)
this part of our lives started around 2 years ago – to move away from broadband-connected civilization to mud-walls/tin-roof/no-electricity/hole-in-the-ground toilets/… to building a home for all of us (namma veedu, as it is named means “our house”). Built passionately with complete ignorance; 80% old-fashioned (mud, stone, recycled wood, clay tiles) 20% modern (cement, concrete, electricity, telephone, internet !). Good news, namma-veedu was formally opened (griha pravesam) about 6 months ago. That event could easily fill a 100 pages with readable words.
yup, this is where we live - nice isnt' it?
I guess this is good enough for the first blog…don’t you ;-)
bore you later,
- hok
lets start with the introductions – its just you, we and us - embarking on a journey into the past for the future ;-) now, that the formal part is over; its time to get not so serious:
rather than rant about the past – which is just the usual story of a city-boy driving away to become an organic farmer in the hills of Kodaikanal. After the, all so common, been-there-done-that ride that life offered – one particular aspect stood out – nothing ever happened as planned; it was always different – way worse or way better. From this, anybody could infer that I was pretty lousy in predicting the future; so I just gave up and stuck to the simple practice of
“not planning anything and accepting life as it happens”.
this philosophy has transformed a deeply confused urbanite into your run-of-the-mill organic farmer. let me stop ranting about the past now ;-)
this part of our lives started around 2 years ago – to move away from broadband-connected civilization to mud-walls/tin-roof/no-electricity/hole-in-the-ground toilets/… to building a home for all of us (namma veedu, as it is named means “our house”). Built passionately with complete ignorance; 80% old-fashioned (mud, stone, recycled wood, clay tiles) 20% modern (cement, concrete, electricity, telephone, internet !). Good news, namma-veedu was formally opened (griha pravesam) about 6 months ago. That event could easily fill a 100 pages with readable words.
yup, this is where we live - nice isnt' it?
I guess this is good enough for the first blog…don’t you ;-)
bore you later,
- hok
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