In the midst of all this greenery were the residential buildings with the canteen in between. I occupied one of the rooms on the first floor of the four-storey building. It was a small room, with two beds, a few lockers, a table and a mirror. Since there was no one else staying the night, the watchman was asked to stay with me for company. The canteen served good and cheap meals. I had already eaten there in the afternoon with the others. For the night the cook prepared some fish curry rice for me. The next morning I had a breakfast of bread and vegetables for three rupees only. That night, not having much to do, the watchman and I decided to walk up the hill at the back of the campus, at the top of which was a temple. Most of the second day was conducted by Oscar. Oscar's presentation was more of a practical exercise. He gave very practical information on how to grow mushrooms and interspersed his talk with slides and live demonstrations. He showed us the inoculation and culture room for tissue culture as well as the ultraviolet tube where the mother spawn is prepared. Rushing up and down the lab and the lecture hall we were shown how straw is boiled, how the mushroom bags are filled, and so on. We were allowed to actively participate and fill in the bags ourselves. All the participants enjoyed Oscar's session and wished it could have been longer. None of the participants had any experience with growing mushrooms for commercial purposes so Oscar had invited two people who grew mushrooms for the local market as well as for export purposes to address us. They had been growing mushrooms for the past one year, selling them fresh or dried according to the demand and they gave us very practical information based on their personal experience. They said that they filled two hundred bags of straw everyday. They told us of the problems they faced with pests (mainly rats) and diseases and also the difficulties they initially faced when selling mushrooms. The programme finally concluded with a speech by the Director of the Farmers' Training Centre who told us about the general activities of the FTC and the ICAR. Some of the students took spawn-filled bottles home. I didn't, because I knew I wouldn't be in a position to get into action immediately as my travel plans for getting out of Goa for the next few months were already underway. So although I didn't really get into the act of mushrooms-growing, I learnt much and also made many friends. Field Work Notes: How to Grow Mushrooms There are many varieties of edible mushrooms, of which the oyster and button mushrooms are the most popular with both the mushroom cultivators and the general public.