Majestic Mahout
The small shed you see on top is where the temple elephant of Vidyaranyapura is kept. The mahout wasn't willing to let us photograph the elephant unless we had some kind of permission which we did not, but I'll be putting up a picture soon.
Name: Mr.Keshavan
Years in business: 9
Tools: Elephant req 80 litres of water and 200kg food per day
Earns: Rs 5000 a month
Mr Keshavan has been working as a mahout for around 9 years. Born and brought up in Tamil Nadu, his ancestors have been mahouts for 3 generations. Sree Durga, a 12 year old elephant is taken to the Durga Parameshwari temple 3 -4 times a week. The rest of the days, she is taken for a walk for nearly 20km per day. The elephant is fed sugarcane and grass.
Asked about how well she is taken care of, Keshava replied by saying that the elephant is monitered by Mrs Ganguly from CUPA. Elephants have a life span of 120 years in the jungle.
One wonders whether Sree Durga can live that long in this situation. The space and shelter provided was very poor.
Hindus pay respect to Lord Ganesha through the elephant and kids certainly seem amused at the sight of an elephant in a temple. Sree Durga may not be.
But this certainly is an innovative way of building a livelihood for Keshavan. Though he may not be earning much, he seemed happy with his job.
Fruit plantation
In our next trip, we take off to GKVK(Gandhi Krishi Vigyana Kendra) which is joint with the UAS(University of Agricultural sciences). Large areas comprising of cash crops, the GKVK is a foundation for many livelihoods.
Name: Mr.Vinay
Years in business: 6
Tools: All kinds of tools needed in farming
Earns: Wouldn't reveal
Meet Mr.Vinay, a 40 year old family man who seems really confident about life, dosen't give a damn to any criticism he receives. And why not, he has a degree in Science, was into chemical networking later on and now owns a 500 acre farm. Wild chikoos, Mangos of the variety Mallika and Arampoli, Guavas, Papayas and Coconuts are grown on his farm. These fruits are sold in small shops and sometimes even exported.
Two special things we saw in his farm were, it was completely organic with absolutely no use of insecticides or pesticides. This keeps the soil intact and fertile and the fruits turn out to be tastier than what you buy in conventional stores like food world. Other speciality, students from the UAS are free to conduct study on his plantation.
Mr.Vinay, like any good businessman would not reveal his profit when asked. He sold us a kg of Mallika for Rs30 and gave one mango free, great generosity?
Swim n Save
Thindlu, also known as the tennis village in Bangalore is where Mahesh Bhupathi learnt tennis as a kid. Next to the tennis academy is a swimming pool, which is not just a swimming pool. We'll have a look.
Name: Mr.P.K.Rajagopal
Years in business: 5
Tools: Water, chlorine and other farming equipments
Earns: Rs 500 a day in summer as a pool owner
Fortunately for Mr.Rajagopal and unfortunately for us, this is not his livelihood. He is a BJP worker and owns this pool know as P.K.Rajagopal Swimming Pool. Innovative?
Nevertheless, here's an interesting set of events which occur mainly during summer.
The pool opens at 7 in the morning. Subsequently kids uptil the age of 20 rush to take a dip. They need to pay Rs.25 an hour. The number of people is maximum at the peak of the afternoon. This is when you see more heads than water and you can literally walk over the heads to get across. It gets closed on Thursday.
All around the pool is around 250sq feet of farmland. Yes, you guessed it right. The waste water from the pool flows into the farm which is used for growing ragi, rice and all kinds of fodder for cows. Not a drop wasted!
Asked about the impact of chlorine, Mr Ravi, a colleague of Mr.Rajagopal told me that chlorinated water dosen't affect the soil. Having researched on it I found that to be true.
A great way of giving a good time for poor kids and feeding many families and animals. Unfortunately though, this pool is being shut down with real estates grabbing this part of the town. That may not be innovative.
South Indian Chaatwala
Having had a wholesale shop which did badly in business, he did not lose any grip. Went on to invent around 480 chaat items. This shows how one can snatch victory from the jaws of defeat when you keep your heads high up.
Name: Mr.Sanath Kumar and Mr.Chandrashaker
Years in business: 13
Tools: Different crunchy items needed to make chaat
Earns: Approx Rs 20000 a month
These two names mentioned on top might be the greatest ones in chaat history. They started making chaats 13 years ago on a small cart with only 5 items. Since then then, they've moved on adding more and tastier ones. Soon they were able to purchase a fiat car for selling chaats and now they do it in a Piaggo. Selling chaats in a mini-truck, marvellous!
With over 480 different snacks right now, one cannot question their creativity. What else? They have cool drinks too. One of them being masala pepsi, pepsi with jaljeera and chaat masala. May not be healthy but the drink is refreshing and worth a try. Another snack I would recommend is the bun nippat masala. Contains two layers of thick bread, nippat inside it with all different kinds of spicy items which include spicy groundnuts, chillies, cucumbers and tomatos. Nippat is a snack from Karnataka which could be compared to the kakra but beig much harder.
You could also call these guys in case of a birthday party or a wedding. They bring their vehicle with chaats in it at any spot.
Selling 480 different chaats in a mini-truck and earning Rs20000 a month has made a great livelihood for these fatsos.
Road to your future
Here's another person who doesn't like others taking his picture or documenting him. Well, all astrologers wouldn't. We decided just to carefully observe him.
Name: Unknown
Years in business: Unknown
Tools: A pack of cards, a parrot in a cage
Earns: Approx Rs 200 on Tuesdays and Fridays
The road to Durga Parameshwari temple in Vidyaranyapura is full on Tuesdays and Fridays being auspicious. Like what we did with jackfruits, many people gather on both sides of the roads selling various items, especially creative ones. This astrologer sits on the footpath with a parrot in a small cage and a pack of cards. He takes 5-10 minutes to read your future and charges Rs.10. Cheap, isn't it, well ya he could charge much more. Through our observation, we saw him reading a person's hand and decides that person's fate. In the middle of it, he asks the parrot to pick a card and the card decides the persons future. May not be a good sight for organizations like CUPA or PETA but a mild business for the astrologer and a livelihood as well!
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