This book is based on a single woman's experience living an autonomous life and finding peace and happiness in rural Indian villages: Understanding, learning from, helping and enjoying the simplicity of the rural lifestyle. It also deals with the current issues surrounding an ever-increasing number of single, young and not so young Indian women-both in rural as well as urban areas.

Besides empowering women to lead autonomous lifestyles, it is intended to motivate more women (men) to join the worldwide movements for an alternative Lifestyle. A Lifestyle which gives priority to good health and inner happiness and which defies the present increasingly monetarist, commoditised way of living. A so-called organic agricultural lifestyle! It will also mean re-orientation towards rural people and their lives, particularly those of the millions of agricultural workers and small farmers in India.

The message of the book is that it IS possible to live happily without too much dependency on cash. This is possible when one takes proper care of one's basic needs.

I have gone through the pages of Asha Kachru's book. I found that she is a hardworking woman and dedicated to her cause of rural development, particularly in agricultural issues. Her interest in motivating urban people, including woman, to see the value of working for rural development is commendable. The role of single woman, as she has tried to show, in rural family and community development programs, could be an interesting venture in rural development.