The Tropicalist

04/09/2023

Some Kargil + Bangalore + Canada for tea this evening. Jammy apricot muffins (from ) baked with a nugget of cambrie. Also, the end of summer in my North American life was when we had to use up all the zucchini, usually in breads and muffins, which I substituted very nicely here with nobody's favorite vegetable, the lauki.

26/08/2023

I'm so excited for to work his alchemy on Fayazbhai's apricots and to introduce the good people of Bengaluru to them! Looking forward to a delicious sandwich.

31/05/2023

01/05/2023

A great meeting with the Australian high commissioner to India, the Hon. Barry O'Farrell, on a gorgeous day in Srinagar, to announce an Australian government grant for our work in Kargil.

18/02/2023

October in Toronto or February in Bangalore?

30/01/2023

Naked barley is a crop that requires relatively little water, an important consideration in a cold desert. Irrigation of barley fields is done on a rotational basis, regulated by the villagers to ensure equitable distribution of scarce water. Farmers also pool their labor to plough the soil, helping each other out as needed, in a system called milak. This co-operative spirit continues to infuse Kargil’s agriculture despite the introduction of modern technology. The story of naked barley in Kargil is the story of making a lot from little, and thus holds lessons for a world grappling with increasing resource constraints in an era of rapid climate change.

An ancient grain that grows in the cold desert of Kargil | Shabir Hussain Fayaz and Madhavi Peters Esq.

30/01/2023

"Naked barley is a crop that requires relatively little water, an important consideration in a cold desert. Irrigation of barley fields is done on a rotational basis, regulated by the villagers to ensure equitable distribution of scarce water. Farmers also pool their labor to plough the soil, helping each other out as needed, in a system called milak. This co-operative spirit continues to infuse Kargil’s agriculture despite the introduction of modern technology. The story of naked barley in Kargil is the story of making a lot from little, and thus holds lessons for a world grappling with increasing resource constraints in an era of rapid climate change."

Thanks for running our paean to the humble grain. Link in bio.

19/12/2022

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After a previous career working in international development and the private sector, I realized that people in the so-called "less-developed" world already have all the tools and knowledge they need to thrive in their native environment. They don't need external experts selling them models that have evolved elsewhere. What they do need and what we can provide them is access - to technology, networks, capital etc. But the ultimate decision should always be made at the grass-roots level and not in an office in Washington DC.

And so I started Tropicalist Trust, a conservation and sustainable development non-profit focused on medicinal plants in Kargil along with Shabir Hussain Fayaz.

Leaving behind the support offered by a big institution in favor of starting something at the grassroots is never easy. I'm not native to Ladakh, my Hindi/ Urdu is really bad and being a lone foreign woman operating in an environment where they are not a common sight was a bit nerve-wracking. Then there's the fact that neither I nor my local partner have an educational background in botany. So I had to do a lot of networking before anyone took us seriously. But eventually they did, and now we have collaborated with some of the most senior scientists in the country, so I guess passion and pig-headedness can achieve a lot of things.

During the lockdown, I was stranded in the Himalayas, away from my two young children who live in Toronto. It was a challenging time for me, but having gone through it, I've realized that our current breakneck speed of globalization and globalized lifestyles is really unsustainable. I would love for future generations to have the option of sustainable livelihoods where we can leverage the power of global networks enabled by technology without the need to uproot ourselves for better lives.

One of my favorite quotes is by a Canadian poet, Earle Birney “The true cosmopolite, the great world figure, always has his roots deep in the peculiar soil of his own country.” There's a ton of traditional wisdom in a civilization as old as India's. I wish that collectively, we showed greater appreciation for it.

27/10/2022

Folks, this is Daan Utsav, the Joy of Giving Week, which is celebrated every year in India from October 2nd to 8th and is India’s biggest festival of giving during which people from all over the country join hands to perform acts of kindness. Please consider donating books to children in Kargil, who have a thirst for knowledge despite attending some of the remotest schools in the world. Here is the link: https://donateabook.org.in/product/daanutsav-rzamba-libraries-in-kargil/

Also rZamba is an amazing educational NGO run by the very inspirational Saldon Stanz, whom I am honored to consider a good friend, so rest assured your donation will be put to good use.

12/10/2022

I got the window seat this time! And we flew in via a different and especially spectacular route.

05/10/2022

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The RandomGood team has had the honor of spending quite a bit of time exploring and filming the Himalayan mountains. These mountains are some of the greatest natural wonders of the world. But did you know, they’re actually getting taller every year?! Research has shown that the Himalayas are geographically alive. The Himalayas continue to rise more than 1 cm a year. That’s because the tectonic collision that created them 50 million years ago is still happening today.

23/09/2022

Let's hope!

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India and Pakistan can future-proof their threatened rivers

 Indian Commissioner for Indus Waters is planning to visit Pakistan in March to attend the annual meeting of the Permanent Indus Commission