A grey bearded man was standing in front of the pigs’ shed as we moved from ahead towards the back of the farm. He looked simple yet elegant. Just as the pigs’ shed neared everybody closed their noses from the stink. The man, bearded man made a comment, “This how city people behave when they come close to animals and nature.”
City People! It touched my heart… when did I became a city girl??
In a sec. my mind traveled years back to picturize my home, my village, animals which were the part of my everyday life. Loved chasing hens and chickens, seeing grandma milking the cow and taking the fountain of milk directly from the teats of cow. Where is all that lost??
Today I paid a ticket to show my daughter and she is fascinated with the view as if she has seen some angel. I know I am enjoying being in a city and love the luxury it provides, but I miss the mud and sand of village. The true meaning of life it taught me. Witnessing full life cycle of the rice or wheat which gives us life and energy. That brings a kind of respect for the farmer who works hard to grow it and makes us respect our food more and compels us not to waste it.
I guess I am drifting away from the real topic I started to write. I guess I have become too nostalgic.
Anyways, back to that bearded man. Though he had grey beard, but he was young and looked energetic and happy. Being mesmerized with the kind of place, I felt like seeing the person who owns it and has started it. I asked gently, “Where is the owner Mr. Martin, would like to meet him”. With more gentleness he replied,” You are looking at him”.
I could not stop myself from saying that he is doing a great service to people like us, giving us a day away from hustle and bustle of city, spending time with animals, reconnecting with nature and getting some pure oxygen for free.
Further talking to him made us realize how a man busy chasing the commercial life chose to leave everything and enjoy his hobby while making it open to public. He told his future plans of making the farm a place for kids to learn and nurture nature and animals.
Workshops are conducted there for schools and colleges even now.
With all the excitement of keying down my experience I still haven't mentioned the name of the place. So guys, here, I am talking about a place not very far from city, located at Sarjapur road named as Martin’s Farm.
Reaching there was very easy, thanks to the direction provided in their blog- http://themartinfarm.blog.com/
Directions from Sarjapur Road:-
- Get on to Sarjapur Road from St. Johns Medical College.
- Come straight down, past the Outer Ring Road Junction and Agara Flyover.
- Drive down and you will pass the Wipro campus on your left after about 4 kms.
- Come down a further 1.5 kms crossing Doddakannali junction and a row of marble and granite shops on either side.Look for Mahabir Granites on your right.
- Opposite Mahabir Granites there is a left turn, which you will have to take. This is Carmelaram Bus Stop.
- If you see the Decathalon store, then you have gone too far!
- Cross the Carmelaram railway station and another level crossing and keep to the right.
- You will then cross the Carmel Convent School on your right.
- You will come to a junction where the road curves sharply to the left. This is Chikkabelandur.
- There is a signboard “Martin Farm” and an arrow pointing right to a cemented village road.
- Take this road, the first left and after about a hundred meters, you will see our gate on your right.
About the Farm:-
Open to visitors from 10 am to 6 pm, every minute spent there is worth a million bucks and we just have to pay Rs. 100 per head as an entry ticket.
There are lovely multicolored sparrows, Ostrich, Dogs, Pigs, Ducks, Rabbits and the best show was turkey. Mr. Turkey kept roaming here and there making some scared and some happy. Few times he reached our food bags and started smelling that. A friendly dog named Dusty, loves to play with the ball.
There are the times fixed for kids to feed the animals. Kids fed carrots to rabbits. The place was clean and fresh with thick trees providing shadow and cool breeze.
There is no provision of any food item, so visitors need to carry food, provided they don’t throw any garbage and make the place dirty. Drinking water is available. Visitors can carry mats or anything to spread down on grass and sit there. The shade is so good that anybody can have a lovely sleep under the trees.
There is a basket ball court; Kids play area with swings and thick trees for love birds to sing around them too ;). They provide space to organize birthday parties there, but they too need to be eco-friendly.
Overall the day was fun filled and physically active. Kids were so excited and happy that they kept their eyes open whole day.
We left around 5 pm with a feeling that we all will be very frequent visitors here and will tell more friends to join us!!!
Some come for having fun with games, some come for nature, some come for animals, and I saw few coming for a nice photo shoot.
Lovely place to click pics with beautiful backdrop.
I must say, "What a place Mr. and Mrs. Martin."
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