The Road To Our Farm

After looking for land for several months, we ended up buying five acres in Athimanjeri, TN in 2013. This land didn’t have an easy access and we were not particularly bothered by it. The neighbour on the North had introduced us to this place and we were to go through their farm to get to ours. Soon after the purchase, we rented a house in the nearby village and started bicycling to our land through this neighbouring land. This was quite a fun ride for the children too. But then, in a few months, this neighbour instructed us to not enter their premises. We were quite puzzled and felt stranded in this new place.

Our land has creeks on three sides. These creeks are now dried up for the most part of the year; they flow after heavy rains. So, the other option was to walk in the creek for twenty minutes and reach our land. I wanted to explore this route. But just as soon as I stepped into the creek, the buzz of flies and a waft of unpleasant odour greeted me into the pooping zone, which happened to be the first hundred meters or so. Open defecation is not a problem by itself; but leaving the excreta exposed definitely is. I felt like throwing up. Disappointment, sadness, betrayal and anguish were raging inside me. 

Due to this upheaval, I went through several emotional phases during the following months. Being in denial, I just couldn’t come to terms with the reality. But then, I really wanted to get to the farm and work there every day. What was I to do? 

I started thinking deeply about human waste and the problems it poses. My readings on this subject helped me understand the history of the flush toilets as we know them today. So, clearly these local people do not pollute the oceans; they do not spend exorbitant amount energy that is needed by the sewage treatment plants; they do not waste water. Of course, they have increased their exposure to pathogens by leaving the poop open. To quote Joseph Jenkins from “The humanure handbook”:

“The world is divided into two categories of people: those who shit in their drinking water supplies and those who don’t. “

In the mornings, with this new found understanding, I equipped myself mentally before the arduous walk. I remember restraining my vision strictly to the next step and reminding myself to not look on the sides or anywhere else. This got me across on some days. On other days I sang loudly just so I didn’t catch anyone in action and also attempted to be cheerful. Sometimes I reminded myself that this was not so bad as I was perceiving it to be and that it was a mind game after all. This worked too.

Once I crossed this initial stretch, the place was clean and beautiful  – a creek with big boulders, tall trees lining the banks, lots of birds chirping, sunlight getting filtered though the canopy. “How can humans pollute this beautiful place? How did this level of disconnect come into existence? Do I have to go through this every day?” As these thoughts crept in, I used to burst into tears. Thankfully, the farm work healed me once I got there. But, the way back was again an ordeal. I was almost always irritable after getting home and Dev was usually my target. He began to see a pattern behind this and once asked me, “Hema, was there too much poop on the way today?” Somehow, poop didn’t bother him. The kids’ attitude was mostly a reflection of mine. Thus it was quite imperative that I mended my ways. I started meditating on this. Slowly I could walk the pooping zone without much agitation, but wanted to avoid it if I could.

About the same time, I started collecting data as to how we can obtain access and learned to study the field measurement maps. The maps showed us that our neighbour on the South had encroached into the Government land that could potentially be our access point. To understand this better, I decided to bicycle this alternate route along the hillside. Since this neighbour had blocked this access point, I had to ride up further and make a circuitous entry into our land. This was about three km bicycle ride one way, partly on a dirt road going uphill. At this point, we didn’t own a motorised vehicle. We were experimenting life without one for more than three years.

I preferred the strenuous bicycle ride to walking through the pooping zone. I was looking forward to mornings. The road passed through a small village. The rangolis infront of the houses, kids playing outside, cows, chicken, goats and everything I saw on the way lifted my spirit.

In our battle to gain access, we decided against bribes and using contacts/influences. So my next one year went in meeting various Government Officers, waiting long in lines, seeing our petition move from one table to another without much happen at the ground level, maintaining a paper trail of all the meeting minutes and sending those to all the Officers involved, writing thank you letters for any little progress that was made, responding to a false law suit filed by the encroaching neighbour and facing the threats of this neighbour.

I gained insight into Governmental operations. I learned that speaking and writing in English earned their respect. I also learned that the Officers had no real incentive to offer a viable solution to any petitioner. The Officers didn’t want to create a precedent, so they would rather not act.

Around this time, Dev suffered a tendon injury in his heel which lasted several months. There was an overwhelming amount of work that needed my time and attention. So we decided to simplify things for me and bought a moped.

It was almost a year of chasing the Government machinery. Since things simply didn’t work, we decided to make use of our friends’ connections. We were put in touch with one of the topmost, state level Officers. He saw the legal bearing that our access petition had and made sure that our case was resolved. It was like magic.

Finally after more than two years, we can now reach our land easily. It was sad for me to see this neighbour yield to power and not respect or humanity that we showed him earlier. He recently invited us home for lunch, withdrew the law suit and claimed to be our friend!

-- Hema