There are no fences to keep the wild out and no switches to flip — only fireflies to light the night.
This is Off The Grid, a forest retreat situated in a 2500 sq km area, built and run by a couple — Sylvia Kerkar, a journalist turned potter, and John Pollard, a professional in white-water rafting.
The couple connected over their love for an offbeat way of living. In 2001, they moved to Dandeli, where John worked with the forest department to scout and map river routes.
In 2003, during one of their treks, when they stumbled upon a patch of dense forest, entirely untouched, they decided to call it home.
This is now ‘Off The Grid’, whose journey into becoming a homestay took over four years. “It took a few years because we didn’t have a road,” Sylvia explains. “We had to carry all the bricks for the main house for the last two kilometres or so,” she adds.
Much of the homestay came to life not through contractors or architects, but through the hands of villagers from a tiny hamlet of just 15 houses nearby.
Accustomed to forest life and deeply skilled in traditional craftsmanship — from digging wells to carving wood — these villagers became the backbone of the build.
When they first built their home in the forest, electricity was out of the question. “We had no choice. We started off with kerosene lamps, and then moved to solar,” Sylvia says.
Even now, while the main road just two kilometres away has an electricity line, they’ve chosen to remain off-grid.
The sustainability quotient extends beyond solar. A stream nearby was tapped for water and naturally filtered using gravel and charcoal. Rainwater harvesting became second nature. “We use the power of water gravity to supply the entire homestay,” Sylvia explains.
In a world hooked to connectivity, Sylvia and John offer a rare gift: disconnection, with purpose.