October 5, 2022

By Pratim Roy
Founder, Keystone Foundation

Today marks a bittersweet milestone in our journey. In 2006, Keystone opened the doors of India’s first Bee Museum in Ooty. Several inspirations had seeded the idea of the museum – UK-based government grants scheme titled The Darwin Initiative, and Dame Hillary Blume of Tzedekah Trust, who shared the tale of Georgia’s own Bee Museum in Eastern Europe. The late Sam (Samraj), Anita, Leo, Sneh, Mathew and so many more of us worked tirelessly to create the perfect space that would reflect the beauty, diversity and necessity of our pollinators.

The then Secretary of Tribal Affairs, Government of India, Meena Gupta IAS, inaugurated the museum. Interestingly, two wild bee colonies of Apis dorsata came to perch on the verandah for the opening, stayed there for a few weeks, and departed after leaving their blessings. Being managed by the Nilgiris Natural History Society, the museum was a hub for a plethora of fruitful activities that invoked a love for the earth and furthered our mission: school programmes for students were held, indigenous artists were welcomed to share their traditional painting techniques with children and make beeswax crafts, people from across the world came for enlightening talks every fortnight and fireside chats.

After nine years of functioning, financial support towards the museum began to run thin. In 2015, the idea of a Slow Food Restaurant emerged, and a core team formed (Sara, Aritra, Sharanya and me). Another first in a new domain. We secured funding to start training and capacity building. Last Forest launched the restaurant, called Place to Bee, with Aritra leading the project and Abhijeet from Kolkata joining as a chef. An Italian couple helped put together a fusion menu with local dishes. It ran extremely well – Mathew used to say, some months the entire LFE team was paid from Place to Bee business!

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, there was a pause. LFE team members had to migrate back to their home base. When INDCOSERVE stepped forward with food trucks, Place to Bee made a humble comeback with the support of Aadhimalai. Karthick was a dedicated chef who revived the menu. The Organization Development team worked night and day, business began to pick up, as the pandemic receded. While there were many visitors who were elated, we were still making losses. Finally, in 2021, the Board decided to gradually hand over the Food Trucks to the community.

In the last few months, we’ve been attempting to reach out for support. We’ve approached professionals who run restaurants, ran a fundraising campaign with The Nilgiris Foundation, had several proposals written, and even some Toda youth showed interest.

Unfortunately, today we concede that our options are exhausted, and it’s time to move on.

Mr. Pathy, the owner of the restaurant space, has been a great support throughout these 16 years, waiving the rent during the pandemic and drastically reducing it further when we were not doing well, having faith in the vision. We thank him for his heartfelt generosity.