It was a chilly February day four years back and I had travelled many miles from kalimpong, after a meeting, to Kolkata to Bankura to meet Bhairab, a committed organic farmer, wonderful seed saver & passionate about conservation of heritage seeds. I was eager to see the seed diversity work, which I was involved in supporting.
I had reached pitch darkness, up early in the morning I found Arun da in the basic kitchen of the two room house in the farm preparing to cook fresh, organic, winter veggies : carrots ,onions, peas & herbs.
Arun da from Kolkata was at the farm working on seed characterisation . Doing this exacting & involved work for a small honorarium, carried by his commitment to seed saving, he talked about his experiences while deftly preparing breakfast refusing my offer to help.
From a small container he took out some white poha & asked me to smell it. I experienced the gentle aroma of gobindabhog poha made from the wonderful aromatic rice .
The poha was quickly rinsed & added to the sauteed fresh winter veggies. With the sun streaming in we all started having the delicious gobindabhog vegetable poha for breakfast with a cup of piping hot laal chai.
That unforgettable breakfast in a small farm and so many such shared meals in farms, with farmer families, friendships, early morning phone conversations, discussions on the crop are all part of the grains we bring you.
These grains are not only organically grown, they are linked to small farms & farmer families. They represent commitment & conviction and extraordinary courage to fly in the face of convention.
Two days back when I made breakfast with Govinda bhog poha we received from Bhairab, the farm, the winter morning, the colors all came back vividly.
And now we finally have this wonderful, fragrant poha with its goodness & stories for you to make memorable meals with. Introducing the delicious, organically grown & naturally processed, single farm origin Govinda bhog poha!
@devi_lakshmikutty
#organic
#gobindabhog
#biobasicsgranary
#givingtothefuture
#biobasics
