THE STORY BEHIND MAHUA.
By RADHIKA MOHANDAS.
Mahua
Step away from the city for a weekend of peace and privacy.
Why we made Mahua.
They don’t show you this side of Maharashtra in the catalogues. Home to terrains — fertile, arid and wasted, the interiors of the state are often the step child of any development, and devoid of the lush greenery that the coastal areas enjoy. Places like Moho khurd have tribal settlements far removed from any urban development around them, who depend on what the land gives them.
The recent changes in the climate have resulted in the worsening of some of the regions in Maharashtra, making agriculture and unreliable profession. To imagine any kind of wildlife, let alone tourism here is a far-fetched dream.
I remember when I was around 6 years, my dad — T Mohandas, talking to me of how he would like a house in the countryside, quiet and peaceful, away from the traffic and the city’s hurried life. A small quiet place, may be as small as the playground of our apartment building where we lived. A place where he would have no noise or pollution. I remember it because in a couple of years he bought a piece of land which he said was ‘ours’. I was happy that something was ‘ours’. My young mind did not fully grasp what was ‘ours’ about this thing he called land. But I was swept away by his happiness and excitement. One day he took my mother to show it to her. It was then a piece of parched land which was cracked earth and devoid of any trees. She was very saddened that her husband had paid good money to buy a dry unattractive piece of scrubland which looked very desolate and barren. It depressed her, and she cried when she returned from her first visit to the place. (Now, it is a different story.)
He bought the 4 acres of the barren land in this area — Moho Khurd — in 1997, with the hope of building a house on it someday. We’re talking of a time when the journey here, a mere 90 odd kilometers could take any time between 3 to 5 hours from Mumbai — after having to go through the traffic jams at Bhiwandi and / or the Western Express Highway. The highway was at that time undeveloped and most unpredictable.
I believed only Dad could possibly know how to get to this land. Though city life, growing children and full-time job kept him from pursuing the goal, he kept the dream alive. — He made frequent visits to repopulate the land with greenery. Many of the saplings he planted were stolen when he was back in Mumbai. He found consolation in the thought that, “it is taken and being planted in places where he would not have otherwise been able to plant them”. He planted more saplings.
An avid bird watcher, he started seeing more and more birds as the saplings he planted grew into trees. Observing the wildlife that lived in the neighbourhood and on the land, assisted by my mother Manju, making plan after plan of shaping the perfect escape from the city was what kept him in touch with the ultimate aim –‘a quiet and peaceful house in a small forest’. He had created a small forest, Now he had to start on the house.
In 2009, with 7 years to go for retirement, Dad found the momentum and assistance he required to build ‘Mahua’. Inspired by the organic, airy and most sensible architectural style of Mr. Laurie Baker, he designed and began to build the home we see today. As time passed, the effect of 12 years of planning, planting and preserving the land began to show. Nearly eighty species of birds have been spotted from the farm. The farm has grown thousands of mangoes, corn and other vegetables. Today, you see the organised layout clearly and you find us on ‘Maps’.
Various ideas of irrigation, efforts and experiments by Dad to bring the vitality back in to the soil slowly and steadily started yielding visible results. It’s no mean feat to turn an arid wasteland into the green haven we treasure today.
To share the experience of this home, Mahua, we have made it friendlier for the city nesters to enjoy a break here. A home built for everyone — young, old, creative — Mahua gives you the serenity you need.
Understandably, Dad is protective of the place. The effort, resources, time and emotional toil it has required means that everything you see at Mahua farms exist in a delicate balance. Nature has once again bloomed in the land and to keep it from falling back into its wasted state; we have a number of sensible restrictions or rather have to monitor what one may or may not do at Mahua. We hope that in the days that you spend here, you help us maintain the balance.
