Q4: For Sriram: In one of your blog posts, you had said more Indians should become farmers. Do you believe bullocks and organic farming can meet our food needs? I can understand organic fertilisers being preferred; can we do without machines?
A; Sriram: We are not anti-technology. We trust Gandhi’s views on technology. It is possible to be productive to feed the world using simple technology and natural farming. The way you put it, this productivity is super-critical as a very few are growing for the rest. This is an imbalance which is why I said that more people should be in farming.
Q5: For Karpagam, Sriram and DV: To live a public spirited life, how much saved money do you think is adequate?
A: Sriram: Public spirited is a unreal concept. We will all be self-minded first and last. We are neither “podunala-vadhi” nor “suyanala-vatdhi” we are just “vadhis” [activists]. We want to live a life that is not very exploitative towards nature and that will necessarily be frugal and so we will consume fewer resources so that more is available for others as well. The key point is understanding our role with careful identification of our responsibilities and our rights.
Q6: For DV: What are your plans after pointReturn? Do you regret you have not been able to undertake fro lack of time?
A: DV: I look forward to steady withdrawal and total detachment from pR and
hope to see it function as a promising, sustained, sustaining centre.
I hope it silently conveys all I havd tried to, through my stories in gni,
as to what amounts to good work in life.
and, contradicting myself, I hope to travel again and write.
Q7: For Karpagam and Sriram: I get ‘job-satisfaction’ on about 5 or 10 days in 365. Rest of the time I want to chuck it all away. How were your days in your careers. Were you fed up too? Was that what made you quit? Or were there other reasons?
A: Sriram: We had “salary satisfaction” not job satisfaction. More than job dissatisfaction we had a problem with the very purpose of these corporates in the world. So we thought hard on why we are earning this salary and then realised that it’s more fun to live a contented life the way we want it without working for some shareholders.
Q8: For Karpagam: Did you follow Sriram, as Sita followed Ram to the woods, maybe gritting her teeth? ON a scale of 1 – 100, how committed are you to the cause? Do you have plans of your own after you are done with pointReturn?
A: Karpagam:I have also wanted to move away from the city. We had this common interest before we met and then we agreed on the move even before we got married. We moved to pointReturn 2 years after we married. So yes I am also committed independently to this life not because of Sriram. But I may not have been able to do it had I not met Sriram.
hi sriram
-first of all,have you experienced what life is like, growing up in a village as a poor,landless,low caste villager?
while ‘our’ education is not perfect,i wonder if something is better than nothing. for the urban elite,village life is very romantic and ideal,but it is not so for the millions of poor,illiterate,low caste,landless villagers.while they may have skills,those skills,unfortunately are often not enough to even provide them with 3 square meals a day.what freedom do they now enjoy that will disappear after they get ‘our’ education? are they not servicing the rich now,working for the rich in village,at wages which hardly are enough to make both ends meet,not to mention the other types of exploitations like the ignominy of casteism? at least’our’ education ensures that you and i do not go to bed hungry,that our basic needs are met.
you yourself have ensured an alternate source of income ( thru you rent) and the much maligned education system has probably helped that and also you relatives whom you don’t have to support.you have your own land.you can use media to find information.how many poor people in india have this luxury?whether you accept it or not,it is this education which has given you the knowledge and confidence to survive in this world and this is always a back up for you in case there is a need. why is it that the poor have to carry the responsibility of maintaining traditions,skills etc etc etc?
like i said before,’our’ education is not perfect but atleast it can ensure that people do not starve.as for happiness,it is not that all the well- to- do in the city are unhappy and all in the village are happy.if the rich are unhappy,they have only themselves to blame for it.more spirituality and less materialism is what is needed.but for the poor,tortured by hunger,casteism,exploitation etc,they are helpless.just by talking about idealism is not of any help.it is the question of survival.abandoning them just because it is not ideal,is not the way to help the vulnerable.
an education,though not perfect, and blending in the city is one of the best ways to escape poverty and casteism- and i say this from a near personal experience.
hi sujatha,
sriram has replied to your query as follows:
“we said – “teaching children OUR education…”
this ‘our’ is to signify the current education system prevalent in the country which makes our children literate/educated/city-centric/rote capable/rich servicing etc., but destroys their freedom and so on.
so unless, we are able to conduct education in a completely revised manner (for eg., like defined in gandhiji’s nai talim), we do not have the interest to impart education.
using the double negative to interpret this statement (or any other) is going to give you the wrong perspective.”
you say: ‘teaching under privileged children will make them lose control of their freedom and start servicing the rich.’ do you mean to say that uneducated/illiterate underprivileged children/people are living enviable lives now? and, have full freedom and are being serviced BY the rich?