From typical Urbanites to Mountain Dwellers
How this family moved from Bengaluru to Nilgiris and instilled hope
Suhas Ramegowda and his wife Sunita, were in high-paying corporate jobs and led a comfortable lifestyle in their plush apartment in Bangalore. The couple found themselves disillusioned longing for something more fulfilling. The year was 2015 and they took to fitness, cycling, running, and other activities to look for happiness. This quest took them to Yoga, which helped them turn inward.
By the following year, the couple embraced minimalism, consciously letting go of their accumulated material possessions over the years. They felt disconnected from urban life. Simply spending money, buying things, dining out, partying, and taking vacations, weren’t enjoyable for them anymore. They were re-evaluating their life choices and took a major decision to un-school their son. They introduced him to alternate learning methods and thus started their own unschooling journey.
Around this time, the family took a road trip for 2 months covering 10,000+ km travelling across 14 states, traveling mostly in the rural landscape. This transformative travel experience made their resolve stronger to move out of city life.
By the end of 2017, the couple decided to live off the grid in a rural setting. They moved to the Nilgiris, bought a piece of land, cultivated it, built an earth home for themselves, and became part of the indigenous community.
While they were living the life they dreamt of, they couldn’t help but notice the dissatisfaction among the locals with their financial and living conditions. Men stepped out to work as daily wagers on tea estates and construction sites but the money seldom made its way back to the household. Women were left with the ardent task of managing household and children’s education without any financial assistance and independence.
Indian Yards Foundation is a social enterprise in the Nilgiris that is improving the socio-economic well-being of local women. Sunita herself a professional quilter, introduced crafts to them to improve their livelihood. The initiative focuses on upskilling women with crafts such as crochet, macramé, embroidery, needlework, and quilting, etc. to make home & lifestyle products.
This intervention is designed to ensure women aren’t removed from their traditional ways of life. IYF has built a decentralised model that allows women to work from their respective homes and encourages women to work only 6 hours in a day. Since the communities that IYF engages with didn’t have a traditional craft to lean on, international (yesteryear) crafts were chosen to suit the working conditions of the women. Needless to say, with attention towards the planet.
Sunita and Suhas are now the life force behind this ecosystem which is bringing a positive impact on the community creating first-generation women artisans and, enabling them on their entrepreneurial journey.
Earthy Hues celebrates these stories of transformative travel and supports the positive impact created for rural & indigenous communities.
As conscious consumers, we can choose to empower such purpose-driven initiatives by creating awareness, encouraging their efforts, and boosting their incomes. As travellers, we can put the needs of the local communities alongside ours and choose to travel sustainably.
Around this time, the family took a road trip for 2 months covering 10,000+ km travelling across 14 states, traveling mostly in the rural landscape. This transformative travel experience made their resolve stronger to move out of city life.
By the end of 2017, the couple decided to live off the grid in a rural setting. They moved to the Nilgiris, bought a piece of land, cultivated it, built an earth home for themselves, and became part of the indigenous community.
While they were living the life they dreamt of, they couldn’t help but notice the dissatisfaction among the locals with their financial and living conditions. Men stepped out to work as daily wagers on tea estates and construction sites but the money seldom made its way back to the household. Women were left with the ardent task of managing household and children’s education without any financial assistance and independence.
Indian Yards Foundation (IYF) was thus born in 2019
Indian Yards Foundation is a social enterprise in the Nilgiris that is improving the socio-economic well-being of local women. Sunita herself a professional quilter, introduced crafts to them to improve their livelihood. The initiative focuses on upskilling women with crafts such as crochet, macramé, embroidery, needlework, and quilting, etc. to make home & lifestyle products.
This intervention is designed to ensure women aren’t removed from their traditional ways of life. IYF has built a decentralised model that allows women to work from their respective homes and encourages women to work only 6 hours in a day. Since the communities that IYF engages with didn’t have a traditional craft to lean on, international (yesteryear) crafts were chosen to suit the working conditions of the women. Needless to say, with attention towards the planet.
Sunita and Suhas are now the life force behind this ecosystem which is bringing a positive impact on the community creating first-generation women artisans and, enabling them on their entrepreneurial journey.
Earthy Hues celebrates these stories of transformative travel and supports the positive impact created for rural & indigenous communities.
As conscious consumers, we can choose to empower such purpose-driven initiatives by creating awareness, encouraging their efforts, and boosting their incomes. As travellers, we can put the needs of the local communities alongside ours and choose to travel sustainably.
Earthy Hues is affiliated to
