hello Auroville

YESTERDAY:

Man, it's so warm here! Unbelievable! Luckily it's cloudy most of time and we have so chilly winds... Besides, it rained yesterday, but not when we were on the motorbike. But let me start from the beginning of the trip...

Travelling:

Easy. New plane, just "minor technical problems" and an 1 hour delay. Fancy entertainment system, no sleep, but silvery shimmering full moon over the clouds. That"s how flying doesn"t get boring. Amazing view over snow-covered Afghanistan mountains, Delhi is covered in clouds.

Airport is nice, some sleep, lots of security, plane to Chennai is old but we"re fed again! Great food, always veggie options available.

Chennai airport, first toilets "with challenge" (aka no toilet paper, no seats), taxi is more expensive than we thought, but it's getting dark and we wanna take it easy. In the cab: no belts, A\C = open window, indian music, driver speaks "english". On the roads: 3 lanes but 4 rows of vehicles, up to 4 people on a motorbike with less than 1 or 2 helmets, no rules, just honking, many shops on the side, many cows in the middle.

Arriving: 

We arrived in the dark without an idea where the farm is, but a nice Indian called Lakshmi took us on his motorbike and drove us to the farm. The rained had stopped and the moon was shining. On Windarra Farm people were up, playing the guitar, just chillin. Anna showed us around, and we met our flatmates Inbal (girl from Israel) and Matilde (from Australia), who are staying with us on an open space on top of a hut. It's very basic, like a treehouse, withouth windows or doors, and we sleep on the floor.

The first day was easy because it was sunday and we didn't have to work. I looked out through the mosquito net to the kumquat tree, listened to sounds of the jungle. Inbal gave us breakfast and we met many of the other volounteers. The first impression was very good, everything is green and it's quite calm. Ok, toilets, showers and living in general is very basic but we have fresh water and a shop nearby. We hang out at the cafe next to it and almost naturally melted in with the community (consisting of all kinds of nationalities, especially Israelis). Sunset happens quickly, there's just a short dusk and dawn, so we made a fire and some great music. People jammed with drums, a space drum (?), ukulele, flute and some others, quite amazing. A good sound to fall asleep to.

Unfortunately some spiritual people think that God only hears their "prayers" only if they play record music incredibly loud over bad speakers at 6 in the morning. Everyone on the farm hates it, but also says you get used to it. We have to, otherwise we'll be woken up to this sh** every morning for the next month...

TODAY we worked from 7 am to noon, having a short break at 10, and then ate lunch together. The harvesting and washing was ok, because we had no:

* spiders

* sun

* terrible music

Instead, Klaus and me saw millions of centipedes and harvested chicken spinach together. I helped preparing lunch, it was vegan and so tasty! We all ate a whole garlic bulb! 

Klaus had his first blisters from working on the fields and many stings from some kind of insect, or maybe an allergic reaction? No worries, we're doing well so far, still waiting for diarrhoea to hit us. We feel kinda save here in Auroville, though, food and water is clean.

Because he was very insistent, Klaus managed to organize a moped for us, so we can get around the village. And that's how we made our way to a computer. Yay.

But we have to go now, out of the door, putting our shoes back on, hop on the moped, drive back to grab dinner and then go out for a "new year's party in the canyon". Whatever that means...

by Lia