Little Hearts of Hiregudda is a schoolroom project within the plantation, established in love and embellished with the credo of providing a nurturing environment, care, and primary education to the children of the resident working community. The program resolves to work towards eliminating illiteracy within the greater village community. This step transcends into lessons in basic hygiene, moral values, and fundamental communication skills. APD pledges to award scholarships to deserving students, taking care of their secondary education by placing them in appropriate local schools that promise credible learning. It further pledges to establish a small library, an arts and crafts room, and a computer facility.
PEOPLE & PHILOSOPHY ( - )
PEOPLE & PHILOSOPHY
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In the late 1600s in Chikmagalur, a saint named Baba Budan brought seven seeds of coffee from Mecca and spread them on a hill where he resided. The hill, later named Baba Budan Giri, gradually became the centre from which cultivations around coffee began to spread successfully in the district.
Later, in the 1800s, during the British occupation, an Englishman, Mr C.S. Crawford, owned this estate—a unique terroir characterised by natural streams and rich laterite soil that came to be Hiregudda Estate.
The illustrious and revered Lokasevinaratha M.S. Dyavegowda acquired and further cultivated the plantation to a prosperous scale. M.S Dyavegowda was a pioneer in establishing the bus transport business in the town of Koppa. Besides having been a prolific agriculturist, he is synonymous with philanthropy and community service. His extraordinary legacy was carried forward by his beloved son, the distinguished planter M.D Balakrishna.
M.D Balakrishna's immense contribution and sincere, dedicated efforts toward the coffee industry in South India for over six decades are noteworthy and influential. His exemplary leadership and management skills on the plantation are legendary. A gentle visionary, a brilliant mind and a compassionate humanitarian, his voice and luminescence live on through his daughter on the plantation.
A Planter's Daughter is Sonali Devyani Balakrishnas heartfelt ode to her late, beloved father M.D Balakrishna - a luminary in South India's coffee plantation industry.
She graduated from New York City's Parsons School of Design with a Bachelor's degree in Fashion Design Marketing and a minor in Art History. She began her career at the Manhattan offices of Giorgio Armani and has since lived and worked in Bangalore and Paris with her line of sustainable yoga wear, selling at select spas and wellness retreats in the U.S. and France.
A wellness girl at heart, her love of European apothecary traditions led her to collaborate with expert herbalists around the world to create concoctions and potions of exquisite formulations that safely incorporate adaptogenic herbs and medicinal mushrooms with coffee and cascara. And by encouraging people to nurture a greater harmony with their bodies, their spirit and their environment, she is determined to create an elegant, intentional and a considered life for herself and others.
Most festivals, deeply rooted in local communities, celebrate the onset or end of seasons and are often tied to a sustainable agricultural cycle. The people of Malnad (the name given to this region meaning “Hilly Country” in the local Kannada language) have a deep-rooted connection to this land, having inhabited it for centuries.
The plantation has always welcomed workers, managers, and labourers from all walks of life and religious backgrounds. Traditionally, various festivals are observed throughout the year.
In addition, a sacred ceremony is held at the end of the monsoon season, followed by a prayer ceremony before the harvest in late November. The annual Thanksgiving prayer ceremony, held at the close of the harvest season in March, is celebrated with great pomp, merry-making and feasting.
