While the rest of Mumbai turns into an insipid soup of rainwater, debris, concrete, and other elements that we don’t deem fit to mention in print, in Aarey Forest, it’s rice o’clock this monsoon. Come July, and the communities residing in the green lungs roll their sleeves up to cultivate paddy in the few rice fields that remain in the forest. “There’s an Aarey beyond what Mumbaikars see in the news. There are agrarian communities that are abuzz this time of the year. It’s worth a visit,” says Atul Katdare, who will lead a rice farming tour near the Filterpada hamlet this weekend with his venture Bhovara.

Participants at the pre-farming trail. PICS COURTESY/BHOVARA

“The heavy rains during this time of the year ushering the sowing period (Marathi: bhaat laavni) in Vasai, Palghar, Wada and Dahanu. The community in Aarey sows its own share; most of it for self-sustenance,” the organiser who has previously been a part of the Save Aarey Movement informs us. With help from local guide and tarpa player Manoj Dhinde, participants will wade through muddy fields to play their part this year.