Our Native Village 11.16.07 This 20-room rustic hideaway bills itself as India’s “only 100 percent eco-friendly back-to-basics lifestyle resort.” In plain English, that means solar power, windmills, composting, bio-gas plant (no, it doesn’t smell), organic gardens, and a “zero-waste” policy that recycles everything including water from washbasins and toilets to irrigate the garden. A…
Read MoreThis one’s for you, Mahen-uncle and Vina-aunty. Can paradise be regained by arresting development in Kashmir? I left Kashmir on September 1st after attending a 75th birthday celebration in Srinagar. The event was held near the Dal Lake and the famed Chinar trees (Platanus Orietalis) were resplendent. Kashmiris clad in saris and pashmina shawls gathered…
Read MoreBangalore may be India’s high-tech heart, but in one part of its leafy suburbs, there’s a group of environmentalists trying to get back to the garden. In 2003, husband-and-wife architects Jeeth and Natasha Iype, working with Stanley George, a civil engineer, designed the Good Earth Orchard homes. Each of the 60 projected houses, now in…
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