Ant hill in the premises
Nature lovers’ haven in the outskirts of Mumbai
-S.Ananthanarayanan
A short two hours drive from Mumbai takes one to Dattatreya Ashram, a
dream come true of Prakash
Tendulkar, mountaineer, swimmer, yoga exponent, Sanskrit scholar, nature and medicinal plant enthusiast and civil servant; and of his wife, Jyotsna, mountaineer, trekker, storehouse of Maharashtrian cuisine and folklore
and professor of Statistics in a leading Mumbai College.
With the help of an architect from Kalyan, Mumbai, Prakash was able to finalise the design of the ashram - the Geodesic dome, surrounded
by 10 comfortable dwelling rooms, laid out in the form of a “lotus opening out”.
At the entrance to the Ashram are a massive Mahua tree and 3 teak trees, originals of the plot before Prakash came there. Almost
no tree was cut in the layout of the Ashram, but ever so many were planted!
Over 150 types of medicinal plans thrive in the plant beds. A start had been made with 33 varieties that were already in the farm
– which were identified and labeled.
There are varieties of trees, there is a solar cooker,
the farm has its own cows, with calf; and Nandi the bull, till Prakash gave it away to a farmer who had lost his own. The farm also has Bambi the dog, ever ready to welcome visitors, and sundry birds, cobras, monitor lizards, rodents, insects, wild boars,
rabbits, nature’s bounty!
There is a pebble walk, paved with pebbles collected from different rivers in India and even from the banks of Manasarovar, in Tibet. “The idea
is that a walk down the pebble path can bring to the walker the benefit of visiting all the rivers and Manasarover too”, quips Prakash.
Prakash and Jyotsna would love to have you over. Just drop them a line, at
pstendulkar@yahoo.com.
( Text and photographs-S.Ananthanarayanan)