Once upon a time, there was a farm!!!

Once upon a time, there was a farm in every village, there was a farmer in every house and every house had a field. Every person woke up to the call of rooster and chirping of birds. Everyone opened their eyes to a beautiful sunrise.

When I was small our day started by brushing our teeth behind our house. We all stood in a line facing beautiful green paddy fields and brushed our teeth with Umikari (activated charcoal usually made from rice husk), followed by a quick rub with mango leaves. Umikari did the cleansing and mango leaves gave a refreshing smell. No child had toothache or cavities at an age below ten. The only toothache was when a tooth was falling off.

That was the life we all had once, that is the life our kids and our grandkids are going to miss. When I was small, one of the morning rituals I saw was my -paternal grandmother doing Suryanamaskar. It's not the 12 — step Suryanamaskar that we do in posh yoga studios now. It was an everyday morning ritual she followed to thank Lord Surya (Sun). She would hold her hand up towards the sun and then she would bend to touch the earth. An act of gratitude to the sun that gives us light and the earth that holds our weight. Our grandparent’s generation never took nature for granted.

They were thankful to the sun who gave the sunlight because they had experienced life without electricity. They were thankful for the water they drink because they had to carry it from ponds and well. They were thankful for fire, as they never used gas stoves to cook, or heaters to keep them warm. Lastly, they were grateful for the air they breathe as they never had to use air fresheners or air purifiers.

Life was good for the people who were grateful towards the elements of earth and for the ones who cared for nature.

Then the next generation came up with gas stoves, non-stick pans, and bakery foods. Old healthy snacks homecooked by our grandparents went for a toss. Our cupboards filled with biscuits, tooti-frooti cakes and jams with harmful preservatives. People started forgetting the taste and satisfaction we got from drinking kanji (rice gruel) with jackfruit leaves. We forgot the taste of fresh fruits directly plucked from the trees. We forgot how our vegetables tasted better when we were small.

Everything became light, from egg yolk to the color of bindi (okra). Then we colored it with chemicals, which in turn started coloring our insides with bacterias or viruses. We lost strength and we started getting older in our 30s.

But friends, it’s better to be late than never. Before we forget our beautiful childhood, make sure to bring back the healthy lifestyle in the best possible way. Life has changed for everyone including me, who is a wife and a working mother. But better to try than accepting defeat, better to try than bending our knees before the modern way of living. Change your thoughts to the below and you will know the difference.

1. Cooking is not old-school, its the new trend. We all sit and watch Masterchef, we actually binge-watch it. Why don’t we become the masterchef of good, healthy, fresh food? Men and women……
2. Have a snack in a coconut shell, if it looks boring paint it with your favorite color and give it a print.
3. Drink coconut water, if it doesn’t look as sexy as Katrina Kaif drinking Maaza, don't give a damn! Just drink it for yourself…
4. Buy fruits and veggies from local vendors. Do not bargain with them, you never do it in big supermarkets like Big Bazar or D-Mart. You pay as per the label without uttering a word.
5. Let your children play around in parks or gardens without their shoes and socks. Let their soles get strong and perfect. Let them grow strong and fit.
6. Let them touch leaves, smell flowers, feel pollen on their fingers and watch bees. If you are in a city, take them to a park nearby or a village nearby. Explain what our bees do to this environment. Let them watch and learn.
7. Make your kids plant a tree and water it. Tell them it’s their gift for their 20th birthday.
8. Once in a while, take a bath in a nearby pond. Modern swimming pools can never match this.
9. Pray, make sure you build faith in yourself and in your kids. If you don’t believe in God, pray to the forces around you and the elements of nature.
10. Lastly, stare at the night sky with your little ones. Tell them when you were their age, there were 10000 times more stars seen in the sky.

Be grateful to nature, take responsibility for nature and teach the next generation the importance of it. Let our kids live a good life. Don’t try to make their lives better by buying everything you never had, because it is you who had it all, not your child.