Indian couple tame the desert to create slice of Kerala in the UAE

Organic farmers create rural idyll of rice paddies in Sharjah

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  Ragisudhish Guruvaywoor, 42, a microbiologist, in the vegetable gateway she and her husband created at Green Heaven Farm and Camping, Sharjah. All photos: Khushnum Bhandari / The National

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  The couple created the site to evoke the nostalgia of rural Kerala for the UAE's Indian diaspora.

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  Sudheesh Guruvaywoor and his wife Ragisudhish want their visitors to experience something of their homeland, Kerala, which is known for its lush greenery, paddy fields, bodies of water and age-old traditions.

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  A woman enjoys a nostalgic Kerala experience at Green Heaven Farm and Camping in Sharjah.

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  Because many people could not travel back to India because of Covid, Sudheesh created this unique space, where visitors can enjoy the nostalgia and educate their children about South Indian culture and heritage, including farming techniques.

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  Planting seeds at Green Heaven Farm and Camping, Sharjah.

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  A visitor treads a large water wheel over a small stream used for irrigating the paddy fields at the site, an ancient practice from India.

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  Rice grown at Green Heaven Farm.

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  A little girl feeds a cow at the farm.

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  The tea and traditional snack stall at Green Heaven Farm.

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  A family taking photographs at the swing at the main entrance to the farm.

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  Another photo opportunity on a traditional wooden boat in a pond at Green Heaven Farm and Camping.

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  Visitors can experience a little bit of Kerala at Green Heaven.

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  Grinding spices with a large traditional mortar and pestle, still used in many parts of India.

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  Watering is essential for the vegetable section of the farm.

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  Views like this make it hard to believe one is in Sharjah, and not Kerala.

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  Doves at Green Heaven.

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  Sudheesh Guruvaywoor has always had a keen interest in farming and opened the site in January 2022. He still works on the farm most mornings.

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  Young visitors draw water from a well using a rope and bucket from a well, similar to the experience of their peers in Kerala.

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  The garden gateway feature at the farm.

In the UAE, the desert has been transformed in myriad unexpected ways, but perhaps none more surprising than the farm created by Sudheesh Guruvayoor.

On land in Sharjah, the 45-year-old from India has created rice paddies, offering a slice of his home state of Kerala in the desert of the Gulf region.

Green Heaven Farms and Camping, Mr Guruvayoor’s rural idyll of water-soaked fields, also features a thatched hut, a pond ringed with sunflowers and bright red chillies growing by the dozen.

For people jaded by the hustle and bustle, traffic jams and high-rises of modern city life, there could be no better escape.

“Here I am, a one-man army who tamed the hot soil of the UAE to create my ‘Garden of Eden’, planting and harvesting seeds for future generations,” Mr Guruvayoor said.

“I used my spare time to plant household vegetables and have succeeded in cultivating [a rice] paddy and wheat in Sharjah.”

Mr Guruvayoor, who is married with two children, created the farm in the Al Zubair district of Sharjah after taking a long lease on the 1.5-hectare site from the Emirati owner in October last year.

Grinding spices with a large traditional mortar and pestle, still used in many parts of India, at Green Heaven Farm and Camping, Sharjah. Khushnum Bhandari / The National

Achieving the dramatic transformation took only a few months and the farm opened in late January.

Mr Guruvayoor’s inspiration for the project came from Covid-19 restrictions on flights. With families finding it harder to travel back to India, he decided to recreate a familiar countryside scene in the UAE.

But since opening this year, the farm has attracted people from a wide range of nationalities.

The plot includes a mini-waterfall, a pond with a boat where visitors can sit, an organic vegetable garden and a traditional hut made from coconut palm fronds that visitors can pay to stay in.

A young girl feeds a cow at Green Heaven in Sharjah. Khushnum Bhandari / The National

Other features include a large water wheel, a well and a viewing platform with views out over the farm.

The Green Heaven Farm additionally has banana plants, coconut trees, a barbecue area, a tea shop and a vegetable shop.

As well as the rice and chillies, other vegetables, including cabbages, are grown at the farm using organic methods. The farm is also home to animals such as rabbits, ostriches, pigeons, lovebirds and emus.

To add an authentic touch of Kerala, there are road signs highlighting towns in the state, including Thrissur and Guruvayoor.

A woman enjoys a feeling of nostalgia, echoing the experience of life in her homeland, India. Khushnum Bhandari / The National

The farm is open to the public from 8.30am to 6.30pm seven days a week, with Saturdays and Sundays being the busiest. Entry costs Dh20 for adults, and is free for young children and pensioners.

Mr Guruvayoor, a former electrical engineer, has lived in the UAE since 1997. His wife Ragi, 42, runs a microbiology laboratory at Sharjah Corniche Hospital, and the couple have a son, Shreyas, 19, and a daughter, Shradha, 16.

“We believe that the fast life of the city should be complemented with the placidity of a village and this is what Green Heaven Farms tries to provide its visitors,” Mr Guruvayoor said.

Looking after Green Heaven Farms and Camping is not Mr Guruvayoor’s main job ― he manages an organic farm in Dubai and a team of staff run the site in Sharjah.

Kerala itself has a tradition of rice production that dates back thousands of years, although from the 1980s cultivation began to dwindle as coconut and rubber became more popular crops.

Efforts have been made, however, to reverse the decline, both to reduce dependence on food supplies from other parts of India and to achieve environmental benefits, because the paddy field system provides drainage for flood waters and is credited with preserving some plants and animals.