When dreams come true- going candid with this cool city dweller, biker, writer, doorman...

Bwahahaha we couldn't stop laughing.. ok rolling when we read his updated Instagram bio- you have to meet Debabrata Sarkar a.k.a. Debu @debu_s on Instagram, go see why!

A freelance writer, photographer and a professional tester and reviewer of all the cool things in the wheel world! He gets to test ride/drive and report on all the cool new bikes and cars coming on the roads. Yeah he gets to go for road trips officially... long, multiple days, beautiful places, foreign countries road trips and chase cool races around the world trips to put extensive number of words/ articles in the best magazines! 

So the man decides to live the real life and move to the farm because city life, print world, access to places.. is all "maya" and what is this life if you don't do it all?? Eh?

We totally jumped on the wagon, cheered him on saying "you're living the life dude" and saw him off on his road trip with bike, bag & baggage to "The Farm" because we love the idea of living closer to nature... where the wild things are... where we are in harmony with life... hehe ok tell me who doesn't dream of living the farm life?

About a year n half and we had to get the real deal on Debu's experience especially when he got lucky to spend the entire lockdown at the farm while we were holed up inside the four walls wondering when will we breath fresh air, feel the wind on our faces, eat fresh food and live again!

So it was super exciting when Debu's article came in and believe you me... this guy is the deep in your belly kind of laugh. His writing keeps it real and we dream of getting the best of both worlds!

Here you go, in his own words-->

Enter Debu:

Life on a farm

You know that thought that most of you have had through this weird locked down year, the one about moving/ building a farm, where you could sustain yourself, enjoy the airy outdoors and be ready for apocalypse. Well, I decided to do that, much before the world went balls up, to a farm that was barely outside the city and was ragingly functional. Lots of boxes checked, it must be a blast. Right?  

Well, in a word, yes. 

But, yes, you guessed it, there is a big but. 

The farm life is something I had dreamed of for some time and this was a place I visited several times. It wasn’t because I had super foresight to have seen a pandemic coming, but it was a simple, genuine interest. By the way, who even came up with that word? What was wrong with ‘The Plague’, or the ‘Spanish Flu’. I suppose they needed to be gender, race, region, political, sexually neutral to try and not offend anyone. But that is a topic for another time. Back to choosing a farm life. With a fairly good idea of what I was getting into, I decided to take the leap. This essentially meant packing my motorcycle and riding across the country with most of my belongings, minus all manner of warm clothing. This was a move to Chennai and there really isn’t any place for anything but shorts and tees in that land.

At a functional farm, where everything is already in motion, say like the little farm your family has had in the village, but you have never bothered visiting, things are smooth. You don’t realise it, but the pathways are kept clean and the webs haven’t taken over your room and the dust gets dusted off. Yes, these are all things that don’t really occur to you when it is an apartment that you live in. As space multiplies, the maintenance does too. Outside of the beautiful plants you intend to have in your garden, which hopefully the cows won’t munch through, and the crop you intend to harvest, ditto, these real chores need to be watched over. Even better, done. I have left my bags in the store room for a few weeks to discover webs that could provide for a spider empire and a lizard hatchery. And I am not best friends with either of them, but I don’t need to leave the room screaming if I see one either.

Given the space and trees and animals, what farm would it be without a few animals?, there is also likely to be a fair amount of foliage and a lot less disturbance than you are used to. You know who else likes undisturbed spaces? Fauna. It should be easy to spot at least five different kinds of lizards, a dozen different sorts of ants, a whole variety of spiders and bugs and slugs and frogs and snakes. Oh, did you happen to notice that last one I threw in there? The good thing though, is that there is absolutely nothing to worry about. If you have spent any amount of time outdoors, you will know that they are all far more scared of us than we are of them. Give them a moment and they will be on their way, find a way around you and let you be. It’s always a good idea to be extra heavy with your footsteps or carry a little stick around to tap the ground, because believe it or not, the nights are darker when you move away from street lights. Jokes. But it is true. 

Is this farm life that you have been dreaming about worth it? It absolutely is. But, it isn’t instagram and there are no filters. You need to put your back into it and unlearn a few reflexes that city life has taught us. It is one thing to visit a florist and come away with a beautiful flower/ plant and a completely different feeling when you sow a few seeds, nurture them, care for them and watch them sprout out of the ground. Growing your own food, caring for animals makes the whole experience exponentially more rewarding. And don’t worry about the darkness and the natural world that surrounds you, embrace it. The bees will help you make a better garden, the spiders will act like pest control, the lizards will keep the mosquitoes in check and so on. You remember that little illustration in biology class about the circle of life, well, this is your chance to be a part of it.

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There are more fulfilling moments daily out there and that's what we are after... wonder how to get more of those here in our modern city homes?

We increase our contact with nature through little things in our daily routines. Taking comfort when we sit in the balcony and see a new leaf that uncurled during the night, our eyes rest on the things around the house, sub-consciously registering the colours and materials of nature, we hope to touch nature as easily and often as it is out there...

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All links below:

Have questions for Debu? Hit him up on Instagram @debu_s  or the farm through his lens @lifeontheudderside

Want to know more about the farm life, go to www.thefarmchennai.com or on Instagram @thefarmchennai

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