As you know, we like the rustic life out here in our bunker in North Dakota. We’re off the grid, we get our internet via satellite and we generate half our electricity by making Abhi run on a treadmill. We find our lifestyle … bracing, especially at this time of year.
However, my relatives in India share little nostalgia for simpler times, so I was surprised to read that just as Bangalore is transforming itself into a replica of Silicon Valley (traffic jams and all), a village just outside of Bangalore is selling the experience of rural life to harried city dwellers:
Some of India’s richest people are paying $150 a night to live like peasants at a “native village” in the southern state of Karnataka. The village, Hessargatta – just outside India’s IT capital, Bangalore – is designed to encourage the preservation of some of India’s rural traditions. It offers visitors the chance to qualify in tasks like milking cows and looking after the other animals. [Link]
Like Tom Sawyer, they manage to sell the arduous tasks of daily life as a privilege rather than a hindrance:
Transport around the village is by bullock cart ride – “probably the slowest ride you’ll ever go on”. …Because of the slow pace, you notice so much more of life. It’s quite philosophical in my view,” [Link]
That’s right – the antidote to the aggravation of travelling slowly in traffic jams is … travelling slowly in a bullock.
This sort of idealization of rural life is nothing new, either in India or elsewhere. Gandhians have long argued for the “greater purity of rural life“, modern Americans have dude ranches, and Marie Antoinette had the Petit hameau de la Reine where she played at being a milk maid. Still, it’s a bit jarring to see rich Indians shell out big bucks (far more than the poor make in a month) for a Disneyfied version of the very life that the poor are trying to escape.
Still, if this floats your boat, you can book your vacation here.
Just back from a long trip to coastal Andhra. Some of the villages have a deserted look; many are moving to towns and cities. But I saw a few villages (like Pesarlanka, in Repalle Taluk, Guntur Dt.) where a few retired people have moved back and the villages look very livable and attractive to me. In some of the villages, one can buy an old house on a quater acre block for two lakhs. This seems to be a good opportunity for those who want a second home in India.
Surprising…but on further reflection, things like this may be quite natural…the pace of cultural change has been so rapid in urban India, that people may crave an experience like this to make them feel more rooted or anchored in something. Village life has slower, more timeless rhythms…which I imagine could be quite comforting to someone who is only 1 or 2 generations out of the village but living a crazy hectic doggy dog stressful urban call-center/MNC life. And at the end of the day it’s all make-believe; you’re not actually stuck in the village.
The picture here makes it look more “organized” and modern than an actual village.
One could rather pay $50.00 a night to stay with a real village family in an actual village. But there must emenities in this pre-fab village that are not in a real village or something. It certainly looks more pleasant and “new age” or something.
Comparing Bangalore to silicon valley is not fair. For one thing, the air in silicon valley is breathable.
I spent 2 years in Bangalore. It’s by far the worst place to live in. The people are obnoxious, the air quality sucks and there is no transportation system in place. It takes hours to get from the city to the airport and people miss flights all the time. To top it all, the quality of work is pathetic – its glorified code cooloie kinda work and none of the cutting-edge techie stuff that’s available in the valley. I would not even compare this shit hole to King of Prussia, PA leave alone to Silicon Valley.
I warned my mom not to sell off all her property in India in the 90s. Damn, she could have been pretty rich if she held on to it. In fact, I was advising her to buy some rural land back then.
“We like this very clever insider joke,†Mr. Ray continued. “We are taking something cheap and from the street, and reducing the quantity, turning it into a pyramid, putting it on a big plate, and all these white guys are paying 20 bucks for it.â€
hmm…
“We like this very clever insider joke,†Mr. Ray continued. “We are taking something cheap and from the village, and reducing the quantity, turning it into a pyramid, putting it on a big plate, and all these city guys are paying Rs. 500 for it.â€
Guess it has something to do with your choice of transportation. I relished your day in the laugh, I mean, life.
this seems so…..unnecessary. i can understand marketing this place to foreigners for an ‘exotic’ and different vacation experience—this fabricated, authentic village thing. but, considering the speed of urbanization in the homeland, I would have guessed that there would still be access to ‘country’ life by other aka cheaper avenues. wouldn’t you expect that an escape from city life would simply mean a visit to a relative’s home back in the native village?
Regarding posts #4 & #5, you are correct when you say that Bangalore has the crappiest air quality on the planet, overcrowded, etc.
Things were not always that bad according to my mom who was born in Bangalore & grew up there during the 1940s and ’50s. Bangalore used to be one of the best towns India (in comparison to Chennai, Delhi, oppressively humid Mumbai, etc) in terms of climate, lack of crowds and noise pollution, etc. That was her experience and she says that the Bangalore and even Mysore of today bears little resemblence of the area she grew up in. I think Mysore will be the next formally pristine city to go down the tubes with overdevelopment.
I wonder if the overdevelopment and pollution caused by the cars, buses, factories, etc have changed Bangalores original pleasant climate. It was originally a hot place without too much humidity but now it’s hot as hell and more dirty from what I hear.
5 · DesiDawg said
Would have to object to that generalization. No doubt people are a lot more on the edge these days in B’lore, but that just sounds like you had some bitter experiences.
I see this “Back to nature” as a good thing. Hoping that it will help cities reconnect to the villages and smaller town. Hope it creates better harmony and erodes the impediments holding back investments in smaller towns.
I just stayed at this resort for a family gathering a few weeks ago. Most definitely not village like, more like a nature-retreat or eco-resort. Fantastic amenities, minimalistic style. The closest we came to a village experience was driving past a few on the two hour trip from Bangalore.
5 · DesiDawg said
well desidawg, if you think people are obnoxious, more often then not they will be so to you.
i am from bangalore, and i am more or less always treated extremely fondly when i go there. try to belong there, people will take you among themselves, this is very very true in india.
on the other hand, i have seen some people treated shabbily in front of me—and in some cases, i do think it is latent hostility towards outsiders. not a very nice thing.
at the same time, in many other cases, if not more, such hostility is completely understandable if not defensible—the condescending attitude many, typically from the north, have towards locals, and local art, culture is abhorrent. distance yourself from these louts by making an attempt to speak in kannada, and see the u-turn in how people treat you.
Whenever my husband goes to Mysore and Bangalore for a business trip, he really never mentioned any problems about rudeness in Karnataka. Then again, he was born in Mysore and is a Kannadiga. He also speaks fluent Kannada and that probably helps when dealing with the local people. Maybe he would have a different story to tell if he visited Andhra or Chennai. In general, it sounds like most big cities in India have people with attitudes. Good customer service and civic sense are a bit rare according to some of my relatives who live in India.
Most people will appreciate you if try to communicate in their local language. (just like bytewords said in post 13). I had a frustrating experience when visiting French restaurants in Paris since I don’t speak French at all. I really believe I got ripped off by the taxi drivers and one restaurant because of my pathetic attempts at French.
I can understand Bytewords last paragraph and observations. I have heard some Indians from the Northern regions give a few choice words about “Southies” but I have encountered only a couple of Southies with bad opinions and experiences with Northern Indians. Again, this is just anecdotal. Sometimes humans feel the need to feel superior to someone who is just different. Personally, I don’t care for anything that divides people and hopefully these attitudes are fading.
For village life, you don’t have to go out of Bangalore. If you choose to look, there are pockets in Bangalore city itself that haven’t changed much for decades. The homes are from a time when Bangalore was just a large village. For instance, all you have to do is take a left into any of the Patli Gallis from Brigade rd, south of St Joseph’s Commerce college and you will see homes and encounter smells that will remind you of rural South Karnataka.
These pockets come alive and spill on to the streets when the festivals of past days are celebrated. In fact, they are grander and truer to tradition than what you would find in Hessaraghatta Village. The Karaga is probably the most popular but there are a few others like this one that is celebrated in the Karthik month.
No techies or code coolies here at the Carnival-Bangalore Style. This is part of Karthik Month Celebrations in 2007 .
Sampangiramanagar Irrigation tank has made way for a stadium but the residents don’t forget to celebrate the harvest festival to this day. The Annadevi Festival Celebration.
They have retained a small water tank and shrine on the Sampangiramnagar Tank bed. This was taken during the Annadevi Utsav in November 2007.
5 · DesiDawg said
Grand sweeping generalizations.
“Back to nature” is a good thing. If we actually do it, that is. Places like the Hessargatta village are theme parks.. I would’nt kid myself that I’m going “back to nature” by checking into one of these places. I’m trying to do that by driving less and not buying stuff that I dont need. But I would’nt say they are evil .. they generate jobs and aid that “trickle down” of wealth from the cities to the villages.
Change is inevitable. The simplicity of village life is only going to become rarer. I hope India does not repeat the West’s and particularly American mistakes by following thier model of life as we move towards being a “developed” nation.