It was 7am when I met Narender, my guide, and Raj, my driver to partake on our 4 hour journey to Mysore. I had been so looking forward to this day, not because Mysore is known as the “City of Palaces”, but because for most of my life I have studied Ashtanga Yoga, and Mysore is its home.
It took us about an hour to get to the outskirts of Bangalore, and then just like any city, there are numerous small towns that seem to all be attached to each other before we finally got to see countryside. What a surprise I had coming to me, rich farmland. As many of you may know, I grew up on a farm and am always interested to see what is growing where.
First we came upon sugarcane fields. (picture-far crop) The harvest was just beginning so I was lucky to see the cane bundled together and tied in the field and then cut at the base. To my surprise, many of these workers were women.
The bundles were then either placed on their heads or under their arms and transported to a number of different vehicles depending on who owned the field. Some bundles were tied to the back of bicycles, some to motorcycles and some placed in tiny trucks. I even saw some placed in wagons pulled by cows. (what a treat).
Next we came upon banana groves. I learned that once the plant produces the banana bunch, it is cut down and left to grow back again to produce another bunch. These were really beautiful orchards.
Millet, a grain in which I have just become familiar with in the last few years (a great grain for Kapha imbalance), was next to be seen. It grew about 3 feet tall and the grains were a darkish brown. It looks sort of like a sorghum plant. India produces the most millet in the world, approximately 8 million tons a year.
Millet grows easy in the rich, fertile soil of Karnataka. It is also grown in many African countries where the soil isn’t rich and fertile. The varieties grown in India are Ragi and Bajra. In India, millet is used somewhat like wheat.
Roti, a popular bread product is usually made from millet. It is starchy and has about the same amount of protein as does wheat, but the protein found in millet is not easily assimilated. Other uses for millet are alcoholic beverages and cow feed.
Then there were the rice fields. Many had already been harvested so you could see the “tier” method of planting which made irrigating quite easy. This picture of course is of an unharvested field. India is one of the world’s largest producers of white rice and brown rice, accounting for 20% of all world rice production. Rice is India’s pre-eminent crop, and is the staple food of the people of the eastern and southern parts of the country.
Many of the fields were lined with coconut trees and there were massive amounts of coconuts hanging from them. A coconut tree is often called the Kalpavriksha or the tree that grants all blessings…
Because of its properties, coconut is considered very auspicious in Indian culture and is usually used in every festival. Vedas and other religious literature have description of its many utilities. Below in the picture you can see an offering that could be taken to a temple. It is hard to see the coconut, but its there and I saw these sorts of offerings at many of the temples.
Coconut is used both as a food item and as a medicine. It is a rich source of vitamin E, B, C and calcium, iron, phosphorus and other minerals. It has high quality alkaline oil. It is a rich source of fat. The protein found in coconut is also of high quality. Coconut is easily digestible, nutritious, blood enhancer, urinary tract purifier, strength giving and remover of the three doshas.
Chewing coconut daily prevents all types of mouth cancer. It is said that the baby is healthy if the pregnant mother takes coconut regularly and the delivery is also less painful. Coconut milk is very healthy for people suffering from ulcer, colitis, constipation and weak digestion.
At this time of the year, when the weather was very warm, green coconuts were seen in the markets. Green coconuts have the coconut water. According to Ayurveda, coconut water has “cooling” qualities. We also know that it is a great hydrator because of its rich electrolytes. This is important in an area that is so hot and humid. Coconut water is called amrit or nectar. A glass of this sweet water each day cures many ailments and washes out all toxins. Some consider fresh coconut water almost as good as breast milk. Children`s health remain good by drinking it regularly.
Whatever coconuts that are not used for water are left on the trees to ripen more. Coconut milk and meat will soon be produced and the coconut will turn brown and hairy. In fact the coconut is known as a Shrifal or fruit of prosperity because every part of the tree is used for some purpose or the other in India.
The tree yields not only refreshing water and milk, but tasty kernel which is eaten fresh or dried, or is grated or ground and used in a variety of luscious curries, chutneys and vegetable delights. In addition, the coconut’s kernel is also used for extracting oil.
Narender, as we were discussing farming in the region was also asking about the farm I grew up on. How big was it? What did we grow? Who was running it now? As we were having this very light conversation, he said “Up here on the right side of the road you’ll find a silk cocoon auction”.
“What?” I asked, not thinking that I heard him correctly.
“A silk cocoon auction”, where the farmers that raise silk worms bring the cocoons to market, they have an auction every day.”
“No kidding”, I said with giddy amazement. Remember I used to be a buyer for Neiman Marcus and have loved silk for a long time. Silk worm cocoons had not even entered my train of thought for the day.
Seeing my surprising and wild excitability and curiousity, he asks, “Want to go?”
“Heck ya” I replied. “Turn the car around Raj!”
As Raj pulled in to let us out, men were bringing in giant burlap bags (gunny sacks) of the cocoons from all directions. Some were coming in on their bicycles, some carrying them on their heads, under their arms or even driving cow-pulling wagons. There were trucks coming and going delivering these cocoons to the auction.
Some of the men were dressed in blue jeans but some wore “lungi’s”, like the two men on the right in this picture. Many were bare footed.
Narender said, this goes on every day here. On our way home tonight from Mysore, the place will be deserted, but tomorrow morning, it will look just like this.
I am sure I looked like an alien to all these men (no women in sight). We walked into this huge building where hundreds of table-like troughs were filled with silk cocoons. Narender said they separate them by their quality.
I asked if I could pick one up and Narender asked one of the men if it was okay (these men did not speak English). I was told that I could and when I picked it up, it was really light. When I shook it, you could hear the silk worm inside it. He said the silk thread buyers would be here to buy these different lots.
The thread company would boil these cocoons and the silk would start to string off of them. It took 3 fibers to make a thread. (Silk was discovered after a cocoon accidently fell into hot water). The thread would then be dyed using vegetable dyes and sold to the fabric companys who would weave the silk fabric and then sell it to the clothing or furnishings companies.
Most of the cocoon farmers raise their own worms, but not all. The worms are kept in the farmers homes in woven baskets. The worms are fed mulberry leaves. Remember that picture of the sugar cane field. The crop being grown in the foreground is mulberry.
Karnataka produces 9,000 metric tons of mulberry silk of a total of 14,000 metric tons produced in the country, thus contributing to nearly 70% of the country’s total mulberry silk. In Karnataka, silk is mainly grown in the Mysore district.
The growth of the silk industry in the Kingdom of Mysore was first initiated during the reign of Tipu Sultan. Later it was hit by a global depression, and competition from imported silk and rayon. In the second half of the 20th century, it revived and the Mysore State became the top multivoltine (producing several broods in one year) silk producer in India.
The silkworm is the larva or caterpillar of the domesticated silkmoth, Bombyx mori (Latin: “silkworm of the mulberry tree”). It is an economically important insect, being a primary producer of silk. A silkworm’s preferred food is white mulberry leaves (monophagous). It is entirely dependent on humans for its reproduction and does not occur naturally in the wild. Sericulture, the practice of breeding silkworms for the production of raw silk, has been underway for at least 5,000 years in China, from where it spread to Korea and Japan, and later to India and the West.
Well that was fun! Now back on the road to Mysore. One thing that needs to be said about the roads here is that with the influx of Tech Industry money coming into this region, many new roads are being built. From Bangalore to Mysore is a new 4 lane highway, 2 lanes each way. (You can also take a train if you prefer) The new road makes for a little faster trip but because of so much foot traffic and incoming roads, speed bumps are quite popular. There are lots of them, around schools, intersections, cows and markets. These are not the little speed bumps we see here in the States, the India speedbumps are massive or they put 2, 3, or 4 of them in a row. Raj, not too familiar with the new road yet, missed a couple! Left our head prints on the roof of the car, but we understood, LOL.
In this farming area you see all kinds of things. Of real interest to me were these cow-pulled wooden wagons.
I love this guys face, so expressive and focused as he is on the highway right next to us.
There are 3 types of cows in India. These are the working ones you would find in the farming region. A discussion on the sacredness of cows in India will have to wait for another day.
Well we are almost to Mysore, catch the next blog. Thanks for reading.