India: Away from the city bustle, these professionals choose to live close to nature

One of the challenges that such a project comes with is to integrate with the local community and those associated with it acknowledge it.

On a recent public holiday, some of its owners and a few volunteers have driven down to get their hands dirty. “We call it ‘agri cult fit,’” grins Sameer Shisodia

By Indulekha Aravind
Economic Times
Nov 11, 2018

Excerpt:

The investment gives each owner 1.5 acres and an eco-friendly, one-bedroom house, with the farmland being pooled and cultivated collectively.

The idea is to let natural ecosystems function with minimum interference. The farm, which aims to be self-sufficient in another 5 years or so, will also have a set of rooms that would be let out, to supplement revenue.

Owners share similar values of sustainability and do not see it as a real estate investment, says Shisodia. They would also need to be people who can afford to invest close to Rs 40 lakh, wait 2-3 years for the soil on the farm to recover and also not rely on the farm as a source of income. “Around 330 people had approached us, from which we took 47 on board. But every single one of the people I spoke to were certain they do not want to continue living in the city — it was a very strong sentiment,” says Shisodia, who sees the initiative as a kind of Noah’s Ark whose residents would be protected from the storms already buffeting our cities.

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