We hope this finds you well. It has been a year since we suspended our visitor programs, workshops and retreats at Navadarshanam and we wanted to share some updates and perspectives. These days most people seem to prefer short sound bites or video clips as opposed to this sort of old-fashioned long emails – but it takes what it takes to communicate these points – hopefully you will be able to take the time to read it.

As some of you may be aware this is the 30th year since the founding of Navadarshanam. We had originally planned a celebration as part of our annual day on 26-Jan-2021 but with the continuing Covid restrictions we limited it to a smaller gathering focused more around our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) initiative. 

• The CSA program is progressing reasonably well – we see more interest from potential members as well as more small organic farmers wanting to join the supply side. One interesting and encouraging trend during the Covid times has also been that we have seen more folks truly valuing the weekly supply of groceries, fruits and vegetables more so than ever before.
• Over all the SHG and its food initiative has been functioning uninterrupted apart from some logistical issues during the initial stages of the lock down last year
• Having had a good rain year, the Navadarshanam campus had an above average harvest of all of the rain-fed crops like ragi, various other millets, tur, alsandae, avare, moong, turmeric, ginger etc.
• The wilderness areas continue to increase in diversity despite the set backs from recent fires. We have had over 40 visits from elephants during the year, lots of constant leopard and deer activity and as usual at least a handful of new bird species identified. 

Much has transpired in these last 12 months – lives lost, economies in negative growth, people displaced across the planet and lives turned upside down. As a country there is a vague sense that India seemed to have fared better in the first go around than most expected for reasons that are not entirely clear as yet. From the standpoint of impact to livelihoods and sustenance, clearly some sections of the population have suffered a lot more than others. However through all the trials and tribulations, there have been some valuable lessons learnt and new perspectives that have come to the fore especially true for the urban middle-class. To state a few:

• Faced with a global crisis, deep down there has been a subtler undercurrent of a shared sense of humanity across peoples of all nations – nations co-operated with one another in unprecedented ways and we altered and adjusted our lives in ways that would have seemed unthinkable. We would do well to hold on to this spirit for the kind of crisis that looms ahead.
• We found out that we will survive despite the negative GDP growth and perhaps it gives an inducement to critically reflect on the very idea of GDP as a measure of our sense of wellbeing
• We rediscovered the obvious – that when everything else slows down one thing that still has to go on is that we still need to eat to survive. So rural producers of food despite their struggles during the initial phase of lockdown fared better than others and in the end their deep inherent value to society was hopefully further underscored.
• We saw the unfolding of the colossal struggles of migrant workforce caught in a political ping pong. We also saw the blossoming of the noble armies of volunteers stepping in to help them on their epic journeys back home wherever that may have been. Even in this there was some learning – when the dust settled(!) and the pain and bewilderment of the mindless displacement had subsided, some of these migrant workers in fact rediscovered their agricultural roots(?) and have no intention of coming back to serve the cities.
• Across the globe, huge urban office infrastructures of glass and concrete that typically consume lots of energy lay idle saving millions in expenses and keeping the earth that much pollution free – and without so much as misstep we all adjusted well to it. 
• We took a significant component of daily stress out of lives – the commute to work.
• We discovered that we can do without a lot of the business travel in todays connected world and we were able to survive months with none of the global airlines flying anywhere
• With lockdowns preventing even local movement, we discovered more creative ways of channeling our restlessness that would otherwise have been expended in holiday travel
• Parents with school going children learned to “home-school” their children and in the process made invaluable connections 
• We rediscovered our palettes and re-cultivated the culinary skills to satisfy the newly regained sense of taste – that was otherwise smothered and overwhelmed by the sensory overload of non-home-cooked food. We were even perhaps forced into a regimen of healthier eating.
• With limited access to shops and non-essential things, we learned to live more frugally and realized that we could live easily without so many of the things we otherwise end up buying
• And the list goes on…..

When the clouds of fear and uncertainty over Covid begin to clear, it would be a shame if we forget all that we have learnt and promptly revert to the old and wasteful ways. The climate crisis that is upon us is an existential threat to life on the planet and leaves us with a small window to attempt changes that can potentially alter the course of events and save us from rapid extinction. Perhaps we ought to use the gravity of the situation created by Covid to slingshot ourselves into new social and economic systems that are sustainable, resilient and compassionate so that we may continue to indefinitely inhabit the planet in peace with other living beings.

The link below provides a brief historical context and perspective on the Navadarshanam journey as part of a TedX Climate Change Summit that we participated in Oct-2020:

We were hoping to restart our visitor and workshop programs by the end of March but it appears that there may be another brief period of lockdowns before we are able to do so – we will keep you posted with workshop announcements as soon as it becomes feasible.