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