Organic Living for Soul

Anita Ghatnekar
Vishuddham – Soil to Soul

A Statistician with having a social mind and heart; Anita Ghatnekar is now dedicating her time to spreading the message of organic living to society. Her Journey from various sectors to social organizations like Lok biradari, Seva Sahyog, and organic living is truly inspiring.

After completing her M.Sc. (Statistics) degree in 1992, Anita engaged herself in various jobs. This gave her exposure to various sectors like FMCG, Real Estate, manufacturing, etc. Her job included mostly IT-enabled services. In 2016 she completed her MBA.

Her hefty schedule and pressures at work were the reason she turned diabetic. Few other health problems also surrounded her. Hence she quit the full-time job and started project-based work with seniors. This was going better. By that time her brother, Shri Abhijit Deshpande had made the mind to quit his job and was willing to do something different. Anita with her brother, Abhijit decided to go for this organic farm produce and the journey towards organic living was started.

It was a totally new field for both of them. Initial times were very hard. Collecting the farm produce was much easier than conserving and its timely distribution. Many products like fruits were perishable and created a great loss if not distributed within a span of 3 days. This unbalanced their economical equations at times but gradually bad times passed. This business took a nice shape with the brand name ‘Vishuddham’.

As time passed she came in contact with various farmer’s groups, agricultural produce marketers, and others. Now she knew that there are evaluations, certifications, and farm procedures for organic produce. Interaction with various people changed her mindset. Her work with Lok Biradari and Seva Sahyog helped her in these moments.

A holistic approach was imbibed on her mind while doing social work with Lok Biradari and Seva Sahyog. She had started a project to work with physically challenged persons. This was started with 2 people and today has reached around 35 persons. Under promise and over delivery with a holistic, dedicated approach was the instinct involved in this work.

She extended this approach to her organic farm produce distribution activity. Today she supplies more than 35 chemical-free products. This includes sprouts, cereal, two varieties of rice, and four varieties of wheat, Jawar, bajra, Nagli, Jaggery, edible oils, and other products.
With this approach, her lifestyle transformed. Waking up early in the morning, regular Yoga & Meditation, reading, writing became essential parts of her daily life. During the Covid-19 pandemic, she lost a few of her close relatives, friends. She got reasoning for this in her daily reading of ‘Dasbodha’ penned by Saint Ramdas. Which goes like the following:-

सरतां संचिताचे शेष| नाहीं क्षणाचा अवकाश | भरतां न भरतां निमिष्य| जाणें लागे ||
Meaning – If death is the ultimate reality, then life should be lived with the proper practice of yoga & meditation regularly. Saint Ramdas writes further,

असार ते नाशवंत तर शाश्वत ते सार होय. ज्याचा आज ना उद्या नाश होतो तें सार नव्हे.
असार म्हणजे नासिवंत|सार म्हणजे शाश्वत|जयास होईल कल्पांत|तें सार नव्हे||
(Meaning – What is sustainable? the answer is to provide the best quality food, water, and air for the next generations.)

During her journey towards organic living, Anita came across many farmers. She acquired knowledge from them and the journey continued. As of now, she has a customer base of nearly 400 people.

She is facing challenges with logistics and she is confident to resolve them soon. There is a supply chain in place. She had tied up with few companies for delivery. Her online presence is helping her in growing this business.

Anita has come to the conclusion that in statistics she has learned many concepts. These concepts are the basis of technologies like Machine learning and others. But farming is the basic science that has explored and applied the science of statistics.

Everyone knows that there is a full stop to human life. We are here to live for just a few decades. Whether you want to live with an artificial and miserable lifestyle using chemical-laden products or you want to live a happy, natural life adopting organic products is your own choice. Considering the whole scenario, particularly the post-Covid scene the latter is the best choice and everyone should adopt that one.

Anita, with her dedication, changed her routine, thinking, and overall lifestyle with a little change in mindset. This must be adopted by everyone. Nature is the greatest teacher. Everything surrounding you teaches you something. Only you should be eager to learn. Anita has learned hundreds of things in her journey towards organic living. Her ambition is to continue this journey extending this movement of organic living. Let’s help her in her mission, for organic farm produce, for organic living, and for our own healthy, happy and holistic life.

www.vishuddham.com
anitaghatnekar@gmail.com
+91 9881714890