Day 8 in India: what a good day. We started today by returning to the Vivekananda Institute for Indian Studies. We were given a tour and told more about their wonderful outreach programs . It seems there are many opportunities ripe for collaborations with this center. I hope we can make some of those happen.
Afterwards, we were fortunate enough to hear from Dr. on humanistic sustainability. I loved the concepts he spoke to us about, the importance of building human capital through healthy communities and connections (conscientious awareness, focus on sense of community, relationship with nature, and emphasis on global citizenship). It was inspiring and informative. He also mentioned some interesting resources many of us want to check out when we have time.
Lunch was at another organic restaurant known for its wide millet menu. It was over lunch that I learned more about the Indian philosophy of food and flavor. There are 6 tastes, or “rasas” that are to be used in every Indian dish for balance both inside and out. These are sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent, and astringent. They are tied to the ancient scientific and holistic practice of Ayurveda, which suggests that pure, fresh ingredients are necessary for good health. Another interesting note is that they are also tied to the elements of earth, air, fire, water and space.
Late afternoon we took a field trip to the zero Waste Management facility. They serve 3 wards and collect garbage from 10,000 homes a day to being back to their property where the wet and the dry garbage is separated. The wet garbage is composted and given back to farmers for free and the dry garbage is then sorted and sold. The owner also talked about the possibility of capturing/compressing/canning biogas. He and others are using that as a green options in their homes.
Our last stop of the day was to our leader’s beautiful home that was designed With sustainability in mind. His wife is an architect and she designed it. They had us over for dinner. What a treat. It was a beautiful meal. Nice to be invited and have this experience. We had two people who had birthdays (one today and one tomorrow) so they even bought two cakes to top off another informative and good day.
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