I noticed that all the other participants (there were thirty-three other students) were older than me. Most of them were farmers, so all the people who gave talks either spoke part English and part Konkani, or if the lecturers spoke only English then Oscar would translate into Konkani. The course which basically comprised lectures and demonstrations started with a talk by the tall, thin, long-haired Nandakumar Kamat. His first question was: "What do you want to cultivate mushrooms for? Kitchen gardening, small scale production or large scale export?" Depending on your objectives you can decide on the variety and the quantity, he told us. His talk included slides of different varieties of mushrooms, poisonous and non poisonous. The talk was lengthy but very interesting. It ended well past lunch time and most of the participants including myself were happy to go straight to a meal at the FTC canteen where a delicious fish curry thali could be purchased for just Rs.6. The second session began at three in the afternoon. There were two talks in this session, the first by a scientist from the ICAR who spoke on pests and diseases that attack mushrooms. Among the problem areas he mentioned insects, fungi, bacteria and improper management. Unfortunately most of the remedies he suggested were limited to spraying of insecticides and pesticides such as lindane, malathion dichlorose, copper sulphate or citronella oil. To be fair, he also laid stress on proper management and hygiene as an effective way to reduce diseases. Since none of us had ever grown mushrooms before there were not many questions or doubts raised at the end of his lecture. Then there was a talk by a woman who explained to us the nutritional value of mushrooms. For half an hour she spoke on the low fat and sugar content of mushrooms and how mushrooms prevent pain in joints of bones, tooth decay and bleeding gums. It made me feel that I should make mushrooms my staple diet! The programme for the day ended at 6 p.m. That's when I was surprised to discover that everyone was going home and I was the only residential participant. I decided to stay the night anyway since the organisers told me that adequate arrangements had been made for anyone wishing to do so. I spent the evening and early in the morning the next day looking around the campus. I noticed that the ICAR had a small nursery, a flower garden, a small fish pond, pens for small animals such as rabbits and chickens, cattle sheds and vast paddy fields. There was also an orchard with a variety of fruit trees such as mango, chickoo, coconut palms etc.