There are many lessons one learns in an undertaking such as pointReturn. Those from Nature come in accompanied by compelling evidence and demonstrations. These are exciting to learn. Those of a personal nature however, seem harder to accept . I will quickly deal with the latter first. …read on

Bill Mollison, 80 years old, toddled up to the
blackboard and wrote “You are so lucky. Three teachers!”. Then swinging around, he stood, cuddly as a lad, cocking an eyebrow up and smiling the friendliest conspiratorial smile you ever saw. That kick started the Permaculture Design Course [PDC] in Melbourne, Australia on September 22, 2008. …read on

For just over a month now, hardly anything has happened at pointReturn - except, most gratifyingly, the 300 odd plants in the ground have continued their growth and the windmill has continued to water them. With that comfort, I spent the time of inaction to observe a few oddities. …read on

An invitation from Samanvaya has to be taken seriously, for Ram, his wife Rama and colleague Priya who run it are serious, commited people. The invitation was to a weekend retreat to discuss Gandhi’s view of Self-Rule, which he called Swaraj. Everyone has heard the word Swaraj and understands it differently. I too had my own understanding of it. What might have made Samanvaya convene a weekend retreat focused on it, in Gandhigram, near Madurai? I decided to attend, and returned with practical ideas to experiment with at pointReturn. …read on

On July 31, 2006, the 17 acre main body of the pointReturn site was formally registered. It took until the December 21, 2006 to buy an additional 0.91 cents on which to lay an all weather access road. But that didn’t quite start off the project. I had to wait until April, 2007 for the fields to be harvested of a standing peanut crop, before the road could be laid. Still, there are significant achievements on view. How that happened is a story of disappointments that led to workarounds and it could be of some value to other beginners. Throughout this article, there are […more] markers that will lead you to detailed stories on the topic. …read on

The new windmill has been trying its best to be of service. There were a few anxious days when a part had to be replaced, the piping and pump to be changed and ways of managing it, to be understood. It pumps water now, but with some notable caveats. After digesting the unpleasant messages it delivered, I have learnt to see the pointReturn challenge very differently. Not only is the task greater, but solutions are more involved. The new windmill has already proved itself a wise and eloquent teacher. …read on

Sometimes the task undertaken at pointReturn seems too formidable. The fibre of a 64 year old is supposed to be tough but it often weakens. To survive such moments, I was given on April 29, a humbling lesson and a supply of motivation at Aaraasur, a tiny hamlet even farther away and more unheard of than Jamin Endathur where pointReturn is. …read on

Even if you are not an environmentalist, it pays to be attentive to natural resources because they can affect your wallet and well-being. Modern economies depend on growth but they can be stumped when sustainability of natural systems is ignored. I may have waxed a little lyrical when I declared that at pointReturn, I proposed to show how to treat Nature as a capitalist. Now it’s reassuring to have Willem Buiter a professor of London School of Economics reinforce my views …read on

Whether or not one likes it, capitalism has prevailed. In the 230
years since Adam Smith, capitalism has created sturdy institutions,
converted many infidels, gone global and bound the world in a seemingly irreversible way. It’s a hard to beat the capitalist brotherhood. But the ‘capital’ in capitalism is money; it’s about investments, returns and growth of capital. Is there a way to extend its concepts to other aspects of our life? Well, I think there is and it must be tried. …read on

Without casting doubts on the technical viability of biofuels for use in internal combustion engines or their ability to counter global warming, a number of environmentalists have pointed out some possible adverse side-effects. What is pointReturn’s response? …read on