Last year (2025), we did a bit of experiment with our life. We chose to stay in a village and do homeschooling of our kids. We joined a group of parents to form a community to eventually live in a farm after 1-2 years. Though that did not eventually happen for us, as we decided to return back to Bengaluru on 31st Dec’25 after living in the village for about 6 months.
The outcome of the experiment is the rich experience we have got. It was not as expected but that’s the rule of life anyways. I wanted to put down pointers for anyone (including us for future) who may be considering joining a self-sustainable/off-grid/eco-village community anywhere :-
- Adults come with a lot of baggage, conditioning and are difficult to adjust.
- Most members would offer supposedly valid excuses for not being on the ground to do the real work required to build the community.
- Only a handful give the required time for discussions; the rest just want a timeline for everything.
- Before joining any community, stay a minimum of 3 months before making a final call. This will help you check
- whether regular meeting are happening or not
- how conflict are being resolved
- how accounts are being maintained
- how community is bonding, through play, farming, community kitchen etc
- if there is real work on the ground or just marketing
- if that kind of life is for you, so there are no surprises
- Legal and land documents
Thanks to the experiment we could stay in the village and take the first steps in our homeschooling journey. Our kids became comfortable with cows & dogs and even went cow grazing. Kids also got used to playing some of the traditional games. We enjoyed the simple village life with clean air. We also got chance to attend many village functions.
During our stay there, I also thought that a village by itself is a community with all necessary infrastructure. What is the need to spend money to build an eco-village and construct houses in it? By just moving to a village, we can fulfil our dream of a simple life; without spending a fortune. One can live very comfortably in a village for under INR 20,000 per month. Think about it !!
There are many layers to our experience, and it’s difficult to put them all into words here. Feel free to reach out if you would like to know more. Happy to connect.
After experiencing the village life, I would definitely want to settle down there in future. Let’s see how the life unfolds for us.