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
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