Oh yeah! We've all been waiting for another cheesy blogt title that promises random news, spiced with hilarious thoughts and incredible insights into our life on Windarra farm in India.
No, not India ...Auroville! That's not the same. Let me conclude quickly what we've learned about Auroville so far (and why it's not really India):
It's a town for the whole humanity, created for everyone with "goodwill" to come, but "to live in Auroville, one must be a willing servitor of the Divine Consciousness" (http://www.auroville.org/). Basically that means there's lots of space for meditation. Also that means, no alcohol (or tabaco) is available in Auroville. The economy seems partially communistic, partially random (read: experimental), for example: every Aurovillian gets the same money for grocery shopping every month but the wages for the j. obs are different, depending on how long they've lived here, I think. Also, the house an Aurovillian lives in doesn't belong to them, you don't really possess anything. It all belongs to - guess it! - humanity! Ha. Sounds nice, but let me tell you this:
I think the experiment of what this community called Auroville tried has neither failed (as people from outside say) nor suceeded (as people from inside say). I like the different perspective on living with other people that you get here, that Aurovillians seem a little more relaxed, that there's almost no traffic, violence or environmental problems. Instead, they reforested a lot of the area, food comes from the local farms like Windarra and the community generally tries to live as ecofriendly as possible (that's why we have so many powercuts every day!).
On the other hand, it was all started on donations, the cafeteria, schools, retreat centers and not to forget the Matrimandir could only be built because of generous givers. That means so far, it wouldn't be possible to maintain Auroville without money from outside. The Matrimandir, by the way, is the spiritual center of the town, looks like a enormous golden golfball and is acutally very beautiful inside. A strange symbol which non-Aurovillians can only visit by appointment and by following strict rules like putting socks on inside, not touching the walls etc. But it's really worth it! Other strict rules: every guest has to register and pay a daily contribution of 150 Rupees (about 2€), so even if you live here and have friends staying overnight they would have to register and pay.
As far as I can say, people seem to be pretty relaxed and content, so it can't be worse then any average european city. But it can't be more fun, either...
Also, being that microcosmos that Auroville is, it's not really India. We don't get sick here so often, there's hardly any traffic and honking, no begging, no poverty, no suffering. It's more like a little Europe within Asia...
So why paradise? Why pain?
Well, everything above I wrote yesterday. This morning, I felt so happy and delighted by small things (more about the amazing details that is life here later) and continuously thoguht of Windarra as paradise. After lunch I got really upset because people were ignorant and hurt my privacy, so I cursed the community. Even in paradise people have to consider each other and communicate with each other, otherwise someone will suffer. Some say, you can have as much freedom as you want, as long as it does't disturb the freedom of others. That's fucking true!
by Lia
PS: Next time: more pictures, more animals.
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