Mammalapuram

Its been an incredibly relaxing few days staying in mammalapuram. Its a fishing town that has most definitely become a tourist village with all the roads to the beach selling exactly the same stuff and all the restaurants charging the same crazy prices but walk 200m in the other direction and you find india again. Its lovely having these two contrasts and being able to pick and choose which you'd prefer for the day, or a few hours.

After living in sadhana I'd forgotten how entertaining india is and how the people make me smile. I've relented and become project as no one can say bridget! And everything needs to be done jokingly in order for it to be fun, for the buyer and the seller. I'm beginning to love the interactions with store owners and yet at the same time loathe the owners themselves. Every friendly overture is a hidden hope that you'll buy something but their attempts are so thinly veiled that it its just a word game that can be played for days. Everyday you walk passed the same stores and every day is a fresh line to try reel you in. in the end a smile and a subtle shake of the head lets them know exactly where you stand and the dialogue is brought to a momentary stand still. But tomorrow is a new day and perhaps tomorrow his friendly words will convince you that you need that pashmina or that stone elephant carving. Day in and day out these men stand outside their shops calling to every tourist in the hope that one might be persuaded to enter his store and buy from him rather than one of the other 10 identical shops surrounding his.

In order to escape this I'm on the beach front watching the fishermen untangle their nets. These men have nothing to sell to me and leave me alone in my staring and writing. Its quite nice to be the one doing the staring for once!

Times nearly up

My time living in a vegan community its almost up. I've had some amazing experiences and met some great people but I feel that it is time to move on.

Auroville is an interesting place. They have a lot of money (not sure where it comes from) but they are constantly putting on free shows and concerts which is a part of the system I do appreciate. Most activities on auroville are free and of a really high standard. They all build on great principles but I'm not sure how many of those principles work in reality. I think the idea of auroville, that each person can own land and farm it and work it the way they would like to is wonderful and that everyone supports each other in their endeavours. However, i have to wonder if such a community is feasible without the vast amounts of money the indian government pumps into it. It seems that people somewhere in the world have to do the dreadful jobs in order for the happy community of auroville to survive. One of the big things that comes to mind is the clothing. There are no cotton farms in auroville so fabric and clothing have to be brought in, fabric spun by factory workers well out of sight of the regular aurovillian. But wearing nice clothes doesnt seem to weigh in on their consciences. Also auroville is a completely flat town, yet very few people cycle here with most happy top jump on ancient pollution spewing motorbikes to get around. I would think such a place would value a cycling community and although cyclists are respected on the roads, they are few and far between.

I think this post is very cynical because I think people like modern day luxuries and when honestly given the choice tend to convenience over environment. If not even the hippies can do it, how can we expect the rest of the world to do it?

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Life in a community

So its nearly been a week here in Sadhana and I'm beginning to become more comfortable with community life. I can definitely see the benefits of living in a community where everyone works together and helps each other out. I like that I can spend the next few weeks exploring this way of living as a volunteer. I think that because Sadhana takes on so many volunteers and people are arriving all the time it makes for a bit of a different dynamic. New volunteers are enthusiastic and willing to do any job they are asked to do, volunteers that have been around for a week or two have realised the best jobs to sign up for and leave the not so enticing work to the newbies. The newbies soon learn and join the ranks of those who've been in the forest for a few weeks. I definitely think that Sadhana needs the newbies to take on the jobs that others get tired of but at the same time the community is not a long stay community. There are a few people who have lived in Sadhana for more than a year but in the grand scheme of things a community base is supposed to be a life time. People who are thinking of spending their lives in a community feel much more for the community and everything that is done should be done for the good of the community but themselves as well. If no one wants to compost the toilets then the whole community will suffer or if no one gets rid of the termites they'll destroy everything. When you only stay in the community for a few weeks or have the feeling you'll leave whenever you want, the onus is no longer on you to ensure everything stays running smoothly.The termites won't destroy the building in the 2 weeks you'e there, and if they do, well you can just move on to the next place. This means that in Sadhana people are given options (you are never forced to do a job you really don't want to do) and then working under a supervisor you complete the task, The long term volunteers have a skill in naming tasks so they seems interesting but as soon as you get to the task, its not at all what you imagined. For instance today I signed up for library and later found out that meant I'd be building shelves. Not quite the library work I was expecting. However, I see why this is done and understand that these tasks need to be done. Running a community where people only stay a few weeks is not an easy task. I can imagine that other communities have other difficulties and problems to face when people are around for the long haul. Maybe one day I'll join a long term community for a few years and see how that works.