How many of you are truly willing to live in nature? The Commune Experience

Why not Nepal?? I would perfer Nepal way more then india. India isent that much of a safe place.

I'm most definetly willing.

I think deeper bonds and a deeper sense of community would develop since we are all working to help each other and maintain the settlement. Plus, it would bring humans much closer to their roots, which is nature.

It's tough living but, yeah, I'd be willing to do it.

What about defence? What kind of weapons are we going to use to defend our self?

What kind of legal system are we going uphold?

What if someone tries to kill someone?
Do we banish them?


Does anyone here know how to build a house? Or are we going to live in Teepees

What if we only get a little bit of food one day? How are suppose to support a whole community?

What if a tornado happens and our whole community is destroyed?

We have to think of the cons as well for this to succeed.

Weighing all options pros and cons is only a barrier to movement. You need some general preparation but to much thought just creates gridlock you actually have to Do It. I myself am also up for this and could come up with the money but I do think we need a viable alternative to India, somewhere where basic rights are still protected and we don't have to worry about invading nomads.

Count me out... I LOVE good technology, and would prefer that style of living. In fact, my book (linked for free in my sig) shows exactly what I would like things to be - AND it shows how we could get there.

Also read my post here:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

And there's still a sucker born every minute.

Guys, it's illegal for foreigners to buy land in India.

And Parvati Valley, aka Hash Valley, is the least likely place to ever get a land-lease in.

Land in Parvati Valley is the most valuable agricultural land in the whole of India, because it is the hash capital of India. The guys sitting on that land are making a fortune. They are a close-knit ethnic bunch of Shiva worshippers, lovely to the tourists who come there to buy their product, but deadly to anyone who asks the wrong questions or tries to get a foothold in the community by obtaining land. They also has an underground of secret Kali worship. The land-owners are still a tribe, survivors of harsh times on whom the veneer of civilisation is spread thinly.

One favourite trick there if people come looking for land is to "sell" it to them at an inflated price, then "disappear" the buyer and get the papers back. There are disappearances every year of tourists who go there and try to buy land.

Please folk, don't hand over your money to a stranger on the internet for a scheme which, once you research it, is obviously stupid.


Just the fact that Parvati is all about hash, and the OP hasn't bothered to mention this fact, is suspicious.

Our siesta was interrupted by a now-familiar but nonetheless hideous hacking, indicative of yet another case of PARS.
As we said in our last missive, this entire region is famous for the marijuana that grows everywhere and the locals and visitors who smoke in unimaginable quantities in the name of Lord Shiva (and whatever else). They pack their ceremonial chillums (hollow conical pipes) with a combo of hash and tobacco, chant a little and chuff like there's no tomorrow. This is conspicuous charas (hash) consumption - for a new twist on tipping, the other night our teenage waiter handed me a hunk of the stuff and suggested it might finish off the meal perfectly, gesturing to the other diners who had all apparently seen the light of this post-prandial puff. I mean these guys SMOKE, morning noon and night in every imaginable locale and after some time, they inevitably contract the dread Parvati Acute Respiratory Syndrome (PARS).

www.travelpod.com...

Twenty-four-year-old Amichai is the 19th foreign tourist to have gone missing in Kullu (mostly from Parvati valley) since 1992. That’s an unsettling statistic for a tourist haven that is called the ‘Valley of Gods’, whose valleys and ridges offer a favourite setting for trekkers and tourists. Apart from the list of missing foreigners, official government records say 57 foreigners have died in the region between 1998 and 2009. Most of these deaths are attributed to accidents or drug overdose. But there have been murders too. Like that of Martin Young, a British national who died in a murderous assault in 2000. Similarly, Alessandra Verdi’s death in 2001 was described as murder. The Italian tourist’s body was recovered from the Parvati river bank.

www.indianexpress.com...

If anyone thinks that, despite the dangers, the potential for growing the world's best ganga would make this worth while, just remember, India still has the death penalty for trafficking.

www.fractalenlightenment.com...

Funny, me and a few people here have been talking about it for a while and I would be saving my money towards that goal right now if I could find a job. That being said, I don't know about India, I'd say Chile is a good way to go. No poisonous animals, they sell land to outsiders, 420 friendly, temperate enviorment so you can grow year around, cheap land, and with the proper planning solar and wind towers would be perfect for powering what needs we'd have. I know they just had that earthquake, but there economy wasn't as bad as a lot of others and by the time we get this going I'm sure they'll have a leg to stand on and then we cna help them get back up all the way. Anyways, just my 2 cents maybe it'd be good to have a few groups spread about and we keep in contact, that way we know what's going on world wide...

reply to post by Kailassa

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[...] Parvati is famed for its charas. Every year connoisseurs from around the world, although interestingly enough a disproportionate amount of Italians, descend to the valley in Autumn as the harvests are completed. One of the most revered parts of the valley is Malana, listed as one of the founders of democracy with a long established parliament.

Over the last few years more than a dozen travellers have “disappeared” whilst “trekking” in the region, with some these confirmed as murders. Travellers have been known to try and buy a kilo for a couple of thousand dollars cash up front – five years of salary for a day´s work. Both the Lonely Planet and the Rough Guide have highlighted the dangers of travelling in this area.

Through pressure, most notably Israeli mothers have forced the police to take action which has included climbing some steep slopes and burning a few crops. However, the police will not kill this golden goose, a lot of baksheesh can be made from travellers leaving town carrying more than they should.

www.lonelyplanet.com...



Thanks for the heads up, Kailassa...
i read your piece and looked up the Parvati Valley in Northern India...& i found among other things a persons 'travel-blog' which is really more informative than either a wikipedia source or travel agents as a source for the nitty-gritty info about a different place..
'charas' is pictured (those 5 to 9 pointed, saw edged leafed plants) in the travel-blog heading.
i really think this dream has some underlying questionable aromas attached to it.... & the proposal of developing a primitive living compound

I would love to live in the wild. The freedom would be great and you can control your own life instead of the same old 9 til 5 life.

I love watching nature programs and stuff like Bear Grylls. I also love the idea of using primitive weapons such as axes and spears compared to the gun which I dislike.

I don't know how populated the Scottish Highlands are, but that's where I would like to live. Braveheart style.

[edit on 17-3-2010 by Sozen94]

reply to post by Sozen94


Agreed the Scottish highlands would be one of the best places to live. Unimaginable beauty.

Reality check!

It's easy to talk on a forum about romantic feelings of living off the land in harmony with nature and fellow travelers. The reality is it is much harder to find people who can work together and have the same work ethic as you or you them. And harder still to live off the land to any degree. Have any of you ever lived off grid for any length of time? Hunting and fishing for food is a hard life, farming is also hard and lots of work to have enough food to eat all the time etc.

The majority of groups who do this never make it and end up breaking up and going away mad at each other.

My suggestion is for you to find some already established intentional communities and go try living like this for a while first and see if you are really suited to it. I am not talking about out a week or two but at least a month or two or more. So you know what it really takes.

Also as someone mentioned in a foreign country there will be security problems. Also unfamiliarity with the land and natural plants and animals is also a steep learning curve. And unless you have ever lived in in a commune it is the toughest way to get along because there is always someone who is not pulling there weight and even if everyone is there is always someone who feels they are doing more then the others and it always causes contention.

You need to really know who your going to work together with very well first or it is highly unlikely it will work. Sorry to be the wet blanket but I have seen it time and time again.

Yeah. This would be awesome.....

Can we build treehouses?

Wow, just came back from work, loved to see all the comments!

glad to see so many like minded people..

about some comments:

- LOL im no charlatan, and im not going to ask you to fork over all your money.... each and every one is welcome to join regardless to how much he has, that will only determine how comfortable it will be for him.
So dont worry lol... If any money will be exchanged, it will be in India once the group is there and the land is purchased together.
I dont have a problem with even making the intial investment myself...
Or signing any legal contracts before any money is used to build the place.

- about not being able to buy land:
True, you cannot buy the land when you are a forginer, but you can lease it for 99 years and get infinite in/out visa.

- about india being a "dangerous" place.
Thats somewhat true and mostly not.
Having been there 6 monthes I know a bit about the indian (mostly Hindi) people.
They are very very very kind simple people.
In parvati there is one problem.
Mafia, and lots of it.
But that will only affect you if you intend to enter drug trafficing or other illegal businesses which the mafia rule over.
There are the Italian mafia, russian mafia, israeli mafia, and many more lol, simply because 90% of the best charas (hashish) goes streight to amsterdam and that fetches them millions of dollars profit.

But if you come to live peacefully no one will bother you.
A group of 20 people will obviously be armed to protect themselves, with cold weapons as knives, and a few rifeles for hunting could also be used for protection - but there is no reason for something like this to happen for the simple fact:
we will have no money or anything of value to robbers or people who will want to harm us.
We intend to live of the land....

I have no fear of something like that.

The only thing that we need to do, is set things streight with local mafia, and tell them we come to stay and we meen them no problems and we just want to live in peace with the land, they will respect it! I know some of them and have spoken to some of them.


____

In addition we will have people skilled with self defence, I personally am quite good with handeling myself thanks to a technique called "Krav Maga", I'm sure you're familiar with the name.

There is no reason to have trouble if you dont seek it.


Basically if the people here are interested seriously, we can really do this.
And if not, well... then I'll do it alone not a commune, but more of a Hermit life lol....

I just want a peacfull life, and I'm willing to do anything to get it.


As to the kind of life:

Things we need to discuss:

- Way things will work / "Goverment" lol
My best notion, is no ruler. Majority rules, after a healthy discussion, and a verdict is set only after it is unanimous. Just like the jury in modern courts.


Tech vs Humility:

- This is the most important thing. To have modern convinances such as:

Solar panels -> electricity -> light bulbs / internet can be nice

Water purification -> A must in my opionion, but we can also do without.

Heating system -> A MUST! Winter in Himachel Pradesh (Nothren India) is very cold, snowy )))
I have never seen snow in my life if you can believe that, and I intend to fix that!

This doesnt have to an electrical system, Modern heating tanduris used in india are very good if you have a proper built house with good insulation.
Which is what most of the money will go to, building proper homes for us all.
I guess it will not be very nice to have a make-shift spruce shelter in winter time.

Education -> We will need atleast one/two members very knowledgable of important things in case some have kids to school, Also possible to give them westren education in India, but personally I'm highly against that.

Skills -> If we will be around 20 people, each will have to posses a skill of some sort to teach others. Some are good with hunting (The american team prolly lol ))) ), some will be good with arts (Musicians etc..), some will be good with farming etc etc...... (AND A DECENT COOK!)

All these things are just the begining and are the roots of living a life at ease.
From one side -> its better to be less occupied with things such as boiling water all the time.
At the other -> its best to be more dependent on nature which is more stable then a piece of equipment that can break.

There is alot of thinking to be done.

But if some of you are truly serious, we can discuss this all together.

But i'm afraid its all easier said then done, specially major moves like this.

I Know india very well! I have local Indian which is a very good friend (perhaps soon to be brother in law) and he can help us with all the bearocrucy.

Its all possible if you want it enough.

BTW
You guys are awesome, I would never find so many like minded people no matter how hard I looked in the day to day.

reply to post by InertiaZero


Haha this reminds me of the movie Time machine. Where the world is destroyed and the people live in those tree houses. Those people will be us

And most important.

I think if we decide to go for it, we should first go for a try.

We can all go for a summer there, build makeshift shelters, and try living together for a few monthes.

Lets say the plane ticket will cost more then the 3 monthes of living there so its not such a useless expenss.

We can all go and look for a perfect spot together.

I would be ok with that idea, if it was Nepal but besides that I am probably out. I have no interest in living in India.

Krav Maga will help with close quarters fighting, or street defence. It’s not going to stop a bullet coming at your head. We would need some sort of weapons to fight off people coming in. There are a lot of messed up people in India. With a population of a billion people you know there must be a lot and I mean a lot of messed up people. Who wouldn’t say they would come to our "village" and shoot us all for fun?

Peak Moment 83: Communities Magazine editor Diana Leafe Christian concisely spells out what the successful 10% of intentional communities do: common vision and purpose, fair participatory decision-making, clear agreements in writing, good balance of right and left-brain knowledge, methods of staying accountable to agreements, criteria for new members, good communication and processing skills. She also discusses peak oil effects on the wider community.

Zendik Farm is an intentional community devoted to building a new culture.

reply to post by Maddogkull


Nepal is also an amazing place and a good option.
Besides the fact that wilderness there has much more wild animals.
And the local people are a bit more charlatans then indian.
Not to mention the now ruling Maoist goverment... Armed soldiers everywhere all the time.

I have been to nepal also, amazing place. But I will allways prefer india
For many many reasons.


(About the guy who said chille, south america is out of the question for me, much more dangerous, much more volcanos, much more fault lines, much more neuclear power plants.

India is the most stable sub-continent after africa.
It does not have as much nuclear power plants as other continents, and local people dont have guns usually.
Cops hardly get sticks.

Much less violent.

Trust me, after being there I can assure you, Indian people are very kind!
I have seen nothing but kindness from them.
On the other side, I can tell you stories of my friends who went to trips to south america and came back with bullet holes.

Originally posted by Maddogkull
Krav Maga will help with close quarters fighting, or street defence. It’s not going to stop a bullet coming at your head. We would need some sort of weapons to fight off people coming in. There are a lot of messed up people in India. With a population of a billion people you know there must be a lot and I mean a lot of messed up people. Who wouldn’t say they would come to our "village" and shoot us all for fun?

LOL, have you been to india mate?
doesnt sound like it...