A rurban way of life

Residents of this Hyderabad community grow their own vegetables and live with the principle of giving back to Nature

Prabalika M Borah

Residents of Organo Naandi, a Hyderabad-based eco-habitat, call themselves rurban’ people (urban people living the rural life). The founders of the community, Nagesh Battula, Vijaya Durga, and Rajendra Kumar assure that Organo Naandi is built on the core philosophy of Samavriddhi — prosperity for all. Built on 36.5 acres of land in Aziznagar in Moinabad Mandal, it houses 73 villas and was founded to re-establish a conscientious connection with the way we produce and consume resources as a community.

Architects by profession, the trio has taken up the role of eco-habitat developers. Nagesh says, “By blending rural experiences and urban conveniences to support a healthy way of living, our approach is to counter urbanization by creating Rurban (rural-urban) communities, leading to a new growth paradigm.”

The community that houses villas in one part and farmland and goshala in the other, saw a lot of residents move into the community recently. Vijaya says, “These are residents who owned villas but weren’t residing here. Post-lockdown, the occupancy rate has gone up. Now, we have 45 families residing in Organo Naandi.”

A typical day in this community might not start with residents walking into the fields to till the land or graze cows, but it definitely begins with chemical-free, fresh produce reaching the doorstep. Says Nagesh, “The everyday produce is equally divided and distributed amongst the residents every day. This aside, we also have a community kitchen where we cook and residents can dine if they don’t wish to cook. Residents can go to the fields if they wish to. Otherwise, we have farmers who come to work on the fields.”

Nagesh explains that the thought process was developed using an innovative and closed-loop credit system called saptha patha, the seven strands of sustainability: food, water, energy, earth, air, shelter, and people. He adds, “It is a NetZero energy community which features organic farming, a goshala(cow shelter), earth air tunnel draft system, zero disposal of organic waste, zero waste water discharge, in-house production of natural fertilizers and pesticides, usage of local materials and bamboo for construction and 15 acres of afforested land, along with many other closed-loop systems.”

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Take a look at the feature in The Hindu right below

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