paradise pain

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.

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