Anahad, A Heart-Life Institute In The Making

Posted by Ragunath Padmanabhan on Oct 1, 2019

How many ex-Microsoft employees are needed to light-bulb the change?

The answer: Two.

The catch? The two must be brothers!

This is a story of two brothers, their family and friends and a bold experiment that people like Mahatma Gandhi and Margaret Mead would have been happy about.

Abid Ali and Shabbar Hussain grew up in a middle class Indian family. Like many smart kids they became software engineers, became star performers at Microsoft, got married, had kids, built homes, nurtured friends... and thought that they were well on their way to becoming success stories in "Rising India".

However, influences like an incredibly compassionate mother, an intellectual and strict father, a family tragedy, random readings and meetings with some unique people had sown some potent seeds in them. Respecting their privacy and not to undermine an inspiring autobiography in the future, I don't want to get into more details about the nature of those seeds.

These seeds had taken roots and started sprouting here and there in their thoughts, speech and actions. Through the lenses of human values, sustainability and spirituality, they started pondering over the nature of their success. This led to questioning their way of life and to exploring ideas, people and places that showed another way of life. They were exploring the possibility of a way of life that may have struggles but is free of conflicts. That may hurt the ego but creates harmony. That may reduce monetary wealth but creates many other forms of wealth in abundance.

Abid has a sharp mind that is supported by his big heart. Shabbar has a big heart that is supported by his sharp mind. They are heirlooms true to their parents and hence their inability to adopt a hybrid life. So they decided to restart and redesign their lives from scratch.



After a lot of scouting, they bought a farmland an hour away from Hyderabad. In one and a half years, there are five families that includes cousins and friends, living in the farm in beautiful eco-friendly homes. They farmschool their kids, have adopted permaculture style farming, learn and practice a medicine-free, nature-driven health system, conduct residential workshops on education, health and right livelihood and have even launched a social enterprise that builds green homes. They call their farm Anahad - the unstruck sound/music. It is derived from the word that denotes the heart-chakra, Anahata. Inspired by them, already many individuals and families have started exploring similar lifestyle with their assistance.


Having shifted to a farm life ten years ago, I have come across dozens of people aspiring to make a shift to a meaningful and harmonious life. Only a small percentage of them are able to actually make the shift and that too mostly as a single family. So how did Anahad come into existence, from an idea to a small community-in-a-farm, in about three years?

Like most others, they too had done a lot of readings, traveled to meet many people who are great examples, attended workshops, did courses and dialogued and debated through countless nights. These are necessary but not sufficient.

What seems to have guided and accelerated their journey can be found in the "catch" mentioned in the beginning of the article: they are brothers.

No two people have ever become brothers by virtue of birth alone. In fact, in many cases, being born in the same family tends to create conflicts and estrangement.

I don't know how it had happened, but I am guessing that at some point, Abid and Shabbar must have become aware of what they could mean to each other and what they could do with each other. Unconsciously and consciously they are enabling whoever they touch to imbibe this spirit of brotherhood. This, I believe, is their greatest contribution to themselves and others so far. And will be perhaps long into the future.

It is their capacity for unconditional love and service that has helped them withstand every kind of struggle that they have gone through in setting up Anahad. Not that they exercise their full capacity all the time. They fall short, hurt themselves and others and lose valuable time and resources - just like anyone else attempting radical change. Not to mention a life threatening farm fire, highly poisonous vipers inside the home, dangerous falls during construction, a dysfunctional local government and their "services". But their music swells up unstruck from their hearts. It is Anahad.



Usually a theory comes first in the form of a book and if it becomes successful, a field-guide to implement the theory comes next.

At Anahad, the field has come up first. Their field guide is getting shaped, example by example. Their homes are made of laterite stone with no plastering and Wardha roofs with no concreting. The workers who built their homes are now owners of a Green Construction social enterprise. They harvest rain water and keep planting many trees. Their kids learn from playing and working, not from a syllabus. They seek out knowledge in all areas of sustainable living and offer their space as a learning center for everyone to learn and teach. Currently there is a software being developed and part of the business plan is avoid fundraising but to make social investors come to them. They are also heartstorming on how to make every neighbour, worker and volunteer a partner and perhaps a member of their community.



This is the kind of experiment that Gandhi hoped for to happen all over rural India. This is what Margret Mead believed can happen when a small of group of people come together. Anahad is a living institution in the making and I am happy to be part of the chorus in their orchestra.



One more thing: Two compassionate, brilliant and enterprising women, named Fatima and Fatema, married Abid and Shabbar respectively, many moons ago. How they managed to extract sanity out of the brothers and enabled the creation of Anahad is another story worth exploring.

Posted by Ragunath Padmanabhan on Oct 1, 2019 | permalink


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Previous Comments
  • Trupti Pandya wrote ...

    Thank you for sharing about their incredible journey with brother "Raghu" element in it. Its amazing.

  • Sunil Mor wrote ...

    Connecting with Nature may be the right step to light your internal candle .
    Be like the sun for grace and mercy.
    Be like the night to cover others faults.
    Be like running water for generosity.
    Be like death for rage and anger.
    Be like the earth for modesty.
    Appear as you are. Be as you appear. --Rumi

  • Abid wrote ...

    Ragu, Many thanks for making the story shine. It has been collective energy of many seen and unseen hands. Hoping much-more unfolds with collective energies of many-more people who deeply care. Even in this short journey, it is heartening to come across a lot of such people.

  • Sachi Maniar wrote ...

    Thank you for sharing this story Raghu! Was looking forward to it! I am Inspired !!! Abid! Looking forward to our paths crossing soon!

  • Nipun Mehta wrote ...

    Beautiful writeup, Ragu. I particularly love you put the emphasis on the field building first. When Giang, from Vietnam, was visiting this month and share about her incredible ripples, she said that was her first major insight she learn from all of us -- build the field, before you get to even thinking about the fruits. :)

    And Abiddaaa, now we can't wait for the autobiography. :)

  • Shabbar wrote ...

    Wow Raghu, I knew you being a good story teller but not knowing the story writer part of you...It is humbling-embrassing to read this story. Just like movie people talk about hero-heroine but there are so many people who make up the story( producer, director, musician, lyricist and so on...). In this story also it is the same:)...This journey would not have happened without the support of Fatema(shabbar's better half), she built the foundation of community with love & compassion & that allowed g  See full.

    Wow Raghu, I knew you being a good story teller but not knowing the story writer part of you...It is humbling-embrassing to read this story. Just like movie people talk about hero-heroine but there are so many people who make up the story( producer, director, musician, lyricist and so on...). In this story also it is the same:)...This journey would not have happened without the support of Fatema(shabbar's better half), she built the foundation of community with love & compassion & that allowed germination of seeds. And Fatema(Abid's better half) help in acceleration of his inner journey. Then Shoma : conscience keeper; Vaibhav's : calmness; Mustafa's : courage to bring the whole family even though initially they were apprehensive & how he supported them; Debanjan's humour, Our granmother's, Uncle/Aunt grace & blessing, Smile of Amreen, Care of Fatema & Shabbir. Tirupathy Reddy: Building up the Physical space with attention & love. And the most important are the kids : Eeshita, Alefiya, Abizer & Sophie. Blessed to have Artisans( Dinesh, Tulsiram & many more) who helped in created physical and now part of Anahad....

    Then there are many invisible hands who made this possible( Some of them Raghu mentioned)...to name a few which are missed is the author himself( Raghu & Nisha). Raghu & Nisha, you people are not in chorus but a musician:).I still remember your talk in ISB...Nipun for the introduction to *service* in a very subtle way & providing an framework to discuss about this in start-up retreat( 2016). Shahul for making me vulnerable with all the hard questions...Shalu didi/Ajay bhaiya for the introduction to Baba nagraj's teachings...Prof yogananada grace & offering for eco-construction....Shailendra bhaiya selflessness in everything he does....I am sure would have missed many more....Deep gratitude towards all the visible & invisible hands....

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  • Sourabh Agrawal wrote ...

    Very well said about them!!! It is rare to see bold steps taken when you are successful in your career.it is good inspiration for others..Keep it up.

  • Vinod Eshwer wrote ...

    Ek gaav mein ek kisaan raghu thata! Ek aur gaav mein ek kisaan family raghuthata! Ab ek aur gaav mein ek kisaan raghu ne shifting Kar raha hai. It’s happening raghu! The internal and external shift closer to the earth is happening. Dheere dheere re mana...dheere sab kuch hoye...ragu bole sau bar...ritu aaye shift hoye!

    Abid, shabbar and Fatema! You wonderful people are a wale up call to folks like me pondering over the shift for a long long time.

  • Hardeep Singh wrote ...

    Wow.. glad to found this. This bought so much excitement and smile and many blessing for this path choosen.
    I am presently looking for someone to guide me on this... would also like to visit this place too.

    Who to connect to on this? please suggest.
    I can be reached @9873664583 and hardeep.delhi@gmail.com.

  • Anup wrote ...

    Beautiful ...

    I had the good fortune and opportunity to attend a 5 days NC (Nature Cure) camp here during the last week of February this year, 2020 with Dr Arun Sharma and bunch of 30 odd NC enthusiats and was pleasantly surprised by hospitality and objectives & future plans of the Project Anahad_space ...

    My best wishes and full support every respect as volunteer and otherwise ...

  • Ankita wrote ...

    I recently heard of Anahad from the team of Dr Jinendra Jain [Naturopath, Healer and Founder Shatawashyak Arogyashala (For Holistic Transformation)]. I started researching and to my surprise saw articles on servicespace - talk about 360* of connections - I am an Awakin Circle member in Hyderabad [but yet was not actively connected to the community.]
    Thank you Ragu for bringing the story of the 2 brothers and the intentional community to us. The space and vision sound beautiful. I am in awe to see entire families move to such a space, living in permaculture and home schooling - in today's modern age and city dwellings, materialism and capitalism.

    Look forward to visiting the space and connecting with the founding team, learning about this side of life - higher quality of life QOL lifestyle.