Siddarth is the fourth person to commit to the pointReturn mission. He came on board earlier this month and has moved swiftly to share our work and responsibilities. He comes about eight months after Karpagam and Sriram; that isn’t a surprise because they have been friends for over a decade.

Like Sriram, Siddarth too is an IIT alumnus and an MBA from IIM Calcutta. He is 39. He worked for 9 years with a software firm, rose to be a Vice-President, travelled the world and made money. But he says he had a finite goal even as he began his career. He decided on this, he says because of a great human being, Dr Dilip Veeraraghavan who mentored him in IIT. “Dr Dilip was a professor of humanities; he truly humanised many future technocrats. I learnt how limited material success was without larger concerns, spirituality and a respect for traditions as a teacher. By ‘tradition’ he meant a very broad set – traditional agriculture, for instance.” That influenced Siddarth to resolve he would make enough money to live the simple life and then quit to live it.

He did just that. In 2005, he joined two other IITians [-some of them seem to be right-programmed in that august institution!] to care for a patch of land in Karnataka. In 2007 he moved on to buy two acres of his own to practice agriculture. I met him briefly around that time, when I myself was starting the pointReturn adventure. Once Karpagam and Sriram moved in at pointReturn, his own interest quickened. And so he is here. “I realised the ride is more enjoyable and productive when you are in kindred company,” he says.

I am of course delighted to have three committed young people to work with. All three enjoy the rough and dirty physical work [-not common in 'educated' Indians], share a commitment to the environment,have the easy smile and friendly ways.

They arouse a curiosity in me. Why would such young people leave lucrative careers? In 2005, when I was still publishing GoodNewsIndiaI met the great Dharampal in Wardha. He lay dying but suffered to receive me. When I mentioned I went around gathering good news, he growled: “What good news have you found?”. It was clear he was a disillusioned man, quite broken by the path India had taken.

Quite unprepared, I found myself saying, “Well, young people today have the potential for bringing about change”. He was nearly angry and wanted to know why I said that.

“You see they begin in highly paid jobs and lead highly stressed lives. When quite young most of them brown out and look for something less stressful to do. They put away enough money and gain freedom from ‘jobbing’. I believe they will make the corrections for India.” He stared at me for a while and turned away, unimpressed.

He may have rightly distrusted my optimism. Many do make the big money but most go on to create comfort zones to insulate themselves from the India beyond their front doors. But there are a few who commit to living the life of their deep convictions.

I know at least three; they are at pointReturn.

I can see working residents grow their own food, document their production and experiences, run courses for those that would return from the cities, care for their own inner lives and administer the whole project as a committee of ten. They get to keep a modest share of all the produce as reward for their labours, with which to pay for their personal needs beyond shelter and food. In the ten years leading to that status, I see my work as making the 17 acres realise surpluses of water, energy, food and cash. It’s a grand vision I know; for even stating it, I have been receiving compliments. But I am frequently overcome with bouts of panic and fright at the journey I have undertaken. A man of 68 must be permitted these scares. Because a man of that age knows well that no vision descends from dreamy mists to hard ground just because it is grand.

Nor, because one can spray money all over, trying to grow the vision. In the last three years, I have experienced despair even as I stood clutching a wad of notes. A dried up pond, a lack of colleagues or a lack of knowledge is not remedied by money. You need access to people with passion, knowledge, commitment and capacity for hard physical work. Rarely do you get qualities these in paid staff, as serial corporate training programmes testify.

In the last three years, even I as laboured alone or with contractors and paid staff, I had an eye cocked on the horizon to see if anyone was headed this way- with their whole life packed and carried on their backs, so to speak. There has always been a steady stream of well-wishers and enthusiasts. Tens of emails have expressed admiration, sought to visit, solicited advise or help or declared they would sculpt their own dreams some day. Volunteers from Chennai have been enthusiastic though their numbers failed to grow nor did a committed core emerge.

In ‘sustainability’ discussions we seldom factor in people who sustain things. All enterprises fail when people are not attracted to co-own the dream. How do you find them? You don’t. You must so go about realising your dream that they find you.