chennai sheela balajis philosophy for preserving heirloom varieties of rice is simple when you hold within you a history that dates back to 8000bc you deserve your heritage to be conserved says balaji who will speak on her journey in heritage rice cultivation at an event organised by the indian national trust for art and cultural heritage on friday balaji chairperson and managing trustee of the ngo aim for seva has been on the trail of rice for half a decade now growing the varieties at a farm in manjakkudi a village in tiruvarur district of tamil nadu we began with cultivating the traditional mapillai samba and seeraga samba on the 40acre farm she saysshe now grows more than 135 varieties and believes there are more than a lakh left to be rediscovered being indigenous to a particular region with its own taste and fragrance the kaatuyaanam variety for instance is light red with the crop supposedly growing to more than seven feet in height the kalajeera is dark aromatic and referred to as baby basmati said balaji india has a lot of rice varieties to offer she says adding that she plans to showcase two new varieties of rice every three months i am not a scientist i just do this out of interest says balaji whose talk will detail the history of rice how it came from china to india the benefits of the grain and how the little crop has come to be so ingrained in our culturei am now focusing on the coloured rice which though nutritious is not as popular as the whiter versions of the grain at the talk i will be showcasing dishes made of the coloured varieties says balaji the talk is scheduled to be held at at 630pm at amethyst