For two of the days here, a group of about 30 farmers were here for training in organic farming methods. The first day we didn't observe much, as the materials were mostly lectures and in Oriya, a language neither Dolly nor I understood. The second day invovled field practicals, and we watched them learn to make liquid manure (a type of compost) in earthern pots and prepare vegetable seeds in a mixture of dung, ash, and soil from under a mango tree. Speaking to their team leader, we learned that all the people were from the same village and were making a commitment to switch to organic farming. Through the non-profit, they had already built a farm pond (a simple water storage structure) for nearly every family.

At dinner, they did a local dance and invited us to join. The dance was basically stepping forward and stepping back while moving in a circle with arms around each other. I don't know if its traditional, or if it was made up on the spot. There was a young man who sang very well and played the drums, and clearly had a crush on Dolly. He was always looking at her, and as they were leaving, he even asked for her cell phone number. We were invited to come see the village.

We left with a better sense of what we need to do to help Jacob successfully get SRI spread through Chattisgargh. We took an early bus - at 5, they said they would be at Sambhav at 5:20, and they didn't show up until 6:15. We stood for the first hour of the ride until we found seats. We got off just short of town to get a ride the rest of the way with Prof. Rashamohan, Sabarmatee's father, who just happened to have a morning meeting across the street from where we were going, the Xiaver Management Institute, where we meeting with Dr. Prasad who had written extensively about the spread of SRI in Orissa while it was happening.