FAWES - ReWild

We have recently made this place our home. It is at an elevation of around 1800mts in the Palani hills about 30km before Kodaikanal, in Thandikudi Taluka. The area is called Geranium after a factory that was there in the 80’s which grew Geranium flowers for extracting from the flowers.

We have been in search of a place outside the city for many years as our work is mostly anyway in the forests and natural areas and we have been immersing considerable time in wild places. This place spoke and invited us to make it our home. We will be transitioning out of Chennai in the next couple of years.

Staying a few days in the hut we noticed a few things we are grateful for. We wake up to the bird calls of the forest as they follow down the canopy along with the rays of the morning sun. The gnarly rhododendron trees fighting to stay in the grassland dotted with Eucy trees in the upper areas planted in the 80’s. We see a couple of shola patches in the folds of the mountains through which the springs arise to bring us the all life sustaining water fed slowly by the grassland which soaks all the rain & condensed water from the moist clouds like a sponge. The few indigenous trees we have are delightfully occupied by endemic species like kerala laughing thrush, nilgiri thrush, nilgiri dusky squirrel, bar winged flycatcher, indian blackbird, nuthatches, white eyes and a multitude of other bird species. A few buttonquails run hurriedly to cover across the open patch in the grassland near the hut.

Every day there renews us and brings in new purpose; the sky awash at times with myriad of colours & at times with subtle colours, at times brilliant blue with mare’s tail white clouds and at times with dark and moody rain clouds and changing in mood every now and then. The resounding call of the Barking deer & Sambar deer accompanies the stillness of late evenings.

We wish to invite people who would like to give themselves time to come here, sit and contemplate; to look inward; discover the quiet space and a new rhythm; to put their hands in the soil and be part of creating a space that is sustainable and earth friendly & by doing this, to heal; and to those who are pulled by the idea of us belonging to the earth as much as it belongs to us.

If you would like to come stay or work with us, send us a private message on fb or mail us at [email protected]

Hello everyone, We are restarting our camps after 2 years of pause. This Summer we welcome you to join us in 2 treks in the Himalayas.
Get in touch with us to know more.

Hello dear earthlings,
As we approach the Winter Solstice, we would like to invite you to a ‘mourning circle’ for ecological loss and climate change on the 21st of Dec, 6:30 - 8pm IST
You can register for the circle using this form: https://forms.gle/FQa7Bcaa6jS88FvP8
Please note that the form has information on what to bring to the circle. We also welcome you to share this invitation forward! Thank you!
The hosts for the circle are Dayalakshmi and Gayathri.
Dayalakshmi is a nature guide, co-founder of FAWES, practitioner of nonviolent communication (NVC), trauma-informed facilitator, certified Resonant Healing Practitioner and Play for Peace trainer

Gayathri is a permaculture gardener (certified permaculture designer and teacher), a scientist by training, a nonviolent communication (NVC) practitioner and a practitioner of ‘The Work that Reconnects’

JOANNA MACY: Climate Crisis as a Spiritual Path This 20 minute interview with Joanna Macy will help answer an essential question:  How are we going to live our lives fully, with inner peace and courage (and…

"As a climber, athlete, human being and storyteller, I felt like the sum total of all of my experiences, in life, in loss, grief, creativity and performance all came together to ensure we had both the logistics safely in place and the recorded media we needed to tell this story. "

K2’s Bottleneck and the giant serac.

This traverse is one of the most iconic and dangerous obstacles in high altitude mountaineering. You fall here and you will die. The serac destabilizes in any way whatsoever and you’re in a lot of trouble. I’ve studied this section, watched amateur videos, analyzed photos and mentally walked myself through it hundreds of times, knowing that one day my time would come to document it and negotiate the blue ice extremely carefully, camera in hand.

We left just after midnight and were gifted with a bright moon that lit up all the mountains below. Headlamps were unnecessary. The images on video that night are extraordinary leading up to this point.

I don’t have the luxury of only climbing, I have to think video, shots, coverage, storytelling and content. On the ascent, my filmmaking mind I knew I wanted Sajid crossing the traverse under the serac with the sunrise beneath him. By the time I traversed, it was 4am and Earth’s first light in Pakistan became the backlight of Sajid’s interview standing at the edge having just crossed the most dangerous section on K2.

It was hard to believe what I was filming. Where I was standing was absurd, but I was locked into the anchor and safety line and Sajid was comfortable standing on the foot and a half wide path with the abyss below, sharing his feelings about coming face to face with his father.

I didn’t have time to feel any pain or discomfort up there. I was occupied with wireless mics, focus, batteries and the most important task of adapting to Sajids every move, trying to anticipate what he might do and always ready to flip and drop any expectation or plan to accommodate his actions.

As a climber, athlete, human being and storyteller, I felt like the sum total of all of my experiences, in life, in loss, grief, creativity and performance all came together to ensure we had both the logistics safely in place and the recorded media we needed to tell this story.

With the right mindset, adversity and hardship become the greatest of enablers.

Something good.. ❤

Electronics contain a surprising amount of valuable metals, including gold, as it conducts better than any other substance at normal temperatures. Citizens of Japan pitched in to donate their leftover tech to help make the metals. 🥇

Playing outdoors has always been a most natural way of being; climbing trees, splashing / swimming in the water, walking down mud paths, playing with stones and sticks, watching the sun rise and set and walking in the moonlight.. pushing our limits physically also while doing this sometimes, watching the golden light on snow capped peaks or the eerie white in the night.. these are magical experiences that we all need to have a healthy vibrant living.
We believe that when children play outdoors they have a multitude of experiences which contributes to their well-being holistically. Children naturally protect what they have a connection and love for.

https://theconversation.com/rewild-your-kids-why-playing-outside-should-be-a-post-pandemic-priority-156077?mc_cid=b0c4bfe260&mc_eid=859ff9cca2

Rewild your kids: why playing outside should be a post-pandemic priority If we want to avoid playing outside becoming a thing of the past, we need to restore the habit in our children after lockdown.