giffy land

Today is my last full day in Auroville. Staying here has been quite the experience. I am no longer staying at the Centre Guest House. I only had a reservation there until the 7th, today. I went looking for a place near were my friends are staying. The first two guest house I talked to were full so I went looking for the third, Celebration guest house. I took a wrong turn and this man noticed I was lost. He asked me what I was looking for and I told him “Celebration Guest House” He said that he had a guest house and asked if I wanted to see it. It was a very nice place with a bedroom, bathroom, office and kitchen, all for half of what I had been paying. So that’s were I am staying now.

Not much new to report on Auroville. I went in to Pondicherry this morning. It’s just another over crowded Indian city, but it does have a little French influence. I had broken my film camera a couple days ago. Nothing to serious but the latch that holds the film door closed is broken. Unfortunately no one there could fix it by tomorrow. I was able to take care of a couple other things I needed to so it wasn’t a total loss.

Tomorrow I leave for Chennai and then it is off to the Andaman’s. I am really looking forward to doing some diving out there and perhaps getting my advanced certification.

So what to say about Auroville. First it is an incredibly beautiful place. There are lots of animals and trees and the buildings blend well into the surroundings. The people are also quite friendly. However the first thing that comes to mind is colonial. Basically auroville is filled with Europeans and some Americans. In the 1960’s under the guiding of The Mother a bunch of euros bought up a bunch of land in India and set about building a community how they wanted it, they have since expanded into the surrounding area and are continuing to do so. Before they came the land was barren and deserty but they terraformed it into a lush forest. Most of the work was done and still is done by the local Indian population, which makes you wonder how possible would this ideal world have been if not for the ability to exploit the locals. Now the thought of people motivated by semi religious inspiration (for the Aurovillians The Mother provides the Christ like figure) using local labor to build a “city on the hill” on the back of indigenous workers in a land that is not their own strikes me as awfully familiar somehow. I guess Auroville is best described as the Disney Land of India sort of like Swaziland is the Disney Land of Africa.

The biggest problem facing Auroville today is that they have deified The Mother and what she says is infallible. No this poses the same problem that fundamental Christianity and Buddhism face. The Mother, like Christ and Buddha sometimes said thing that were contradictory or may not be relevant in the modern world or are just plain crazy. Of course they also said things that were incredibly wise and insightful, and oddly most of them agreed with each other. In the case of Auroville, many conflicts apparently devolve into a battle of scriptures or turn into decisions on the nature of the faith.

Seems I can’t leave the country without some sort of auto related mishap. First I was in a roll over accident in the deserts of Namibia. Then we hit a kid while driving though western Cuba, She was ok, but still. And now I was in an auto rickshaw accident on the way to the train station. IT was actually quite comical if not for the fact that people were involved. We came up to some cars stopped at a stop light. The driver did not brake in time so we bumped into a scooter in front of us. A few seconds later a car plows into us from behind, which in turn pushes us into the guy on a scooter knocking him to the ground where he is then hit by a guy on a bicycle. No one was hurt but the rickshaw and the scooter were both bumped up and the car hit with enough force to bust open the radiator, so the car is leaking water all over. WE pull up to a corner and the drivers begin to sort it out, under the watchful eye of anyone who happened to be in the area. About 10 minutes later we get going again. The poor driver was really shook up. It too bad to because he was the nicest auto rickshaw driver I had had in India. I imagined that his would probably cost him a bit so I gave him 500 rupees (11US) for the fare.

Well I am now safe and sound in Auroville, I just need to find Maria…

Not much has happened as of late. I decided to go down to Mysore as it seemed like an interesting place. Had a rather uneventful train ride save for a derailed train on the side of the tracks. Unfortunately I could not get my camera ready fast enough. Today we are going to go to the zoo as well as to the palace and perhaps an incense emporium. Tomorrow though we are going to a couple of wildlife sanctuaries and then are driving back to Bangalore.

Some of you are familiar with my “commercials that will never air.” Most designed to combat the anti-choice zealots on the right. Well I have another one; this one is actually for the cigarette companies. Now while I support the pro-choice movement, I am not really a supporter of the tobacco companies, but hey humor is humor. This one was developed with Rachel and Tara during dinner in Bangalore. Here is the scene. It’s a polluted city, smog is everywhere. A person lights up a cigarette and begins smoking. The narrator then says something to the effect of “the air around you is full of pollutants, our cigarettes have filters to help protect your health, SO light up and save your lungs”

Two Posts today

So I am back in Bangalore. We took a taxi from Mysore to here, it was a rather enjoyable way to travel. The scenery is rather reminiscent of Cuba including ox carts and other slow moving wooden vehicles. The day we got back we didn’t do much expect go out to dinner at Ebony, this cool rooftop restaurant near our hotel. The next day we went to a rather lame palace and attempted to see Bangalore palace. The only problem was that it is private property and is not viewable form the road. It is supposed to be a complete replica of Windsor palace in England.

Before we left Mysore we went to the zoo. The whole zoo was about the size of an exhibit at Woodland Park. Most of the animals were in poor condition including some chained elephants and a malnourished lion. The other animals appeared healthy, but were in cages that were way too small. Me and sis were both attacked by a praying mantis that landed on both of our legs, in my case awfully close to you know where. :( The highlight of the whole zoo was getting to feed some monkeys peanuts.

I don’t really have much planned before I leave Bangalore on the 4th. I have to resolve this annoying lost ticket issue and am having dinner with my friends tonight. But that’s about it.

Not much has happened as of late. I decided to go down to Mysore as it seemed like an interesting place. Had a rather uneventful train ride save for a derailed train on the side of the tracks. Unfortunately I could not get my camera ready fast enough. Today we are going to go to the zoo as well as to the palace and perhaps an incense emporium. Tomorrow though we are going to a couple of wildlife sanctuaries and then are driving back to Bangalore.

Some of you are familiar with my “commercials that will never air.” Most designed to combat the anti-choice zealots on the right. Well I have another one; this one is actually for the cigarette companies. Now while I support the pro-choice movement, I am not really a supporter of the tobacco companies, but hey humor is humor. This one was developed with Rachel and Tara during dinner n Bangalore. Here is the scene. It’s a polluted city, smog is everywhere. A person lights up a cigarette and begins smoking. The narrator then says something to the effect of “the air around you is full of pollutants, our cigarettes have filters to help protect your health, SO light up and save your lungs”