In the meantime I'm working on changing my ticket. But because of the holiday yesterday the British Airways office in Chennai is extra busy. My efforts today were again futile. I couldn't get though...
The interesting thing about traveling in India as a westerner is the amazing range of options available. Because there is such a huge spread in the relative wealth of the native population (favoring the "poor" end of the spectrum) there are myriad choices for inexpensive travel and rooming. Buses, dorms and staying with friends. The South African in the earth architecture course usually goes this route to stretch his travel budget as far as possible. (he tours for 6+ months at a time...) Then there is the sort of middle of the spectrum, where one rents a motor bike and just drives. There are many choices for room and board at this level. It's still very cheap from a westerners perspective. $10-30 a day, total. I recently spoke to a German fellow who went this route. It sounded like good adventure. But maybe a bit more adventure than I'd like.
I'm somewhat adventurous, but I don't like being lost. Not that it's really very easy to get genuinely "lost" in India, there are so many people. What I guess I mean is, I don't like FEELING lost. (Which is easy...for me at least...)
Being the chicken I am, and not being able to find a travel companion at the last minute, (In which case I might have gone the motorcycle route, or at least shared a tour) I chose to go with a very tame, personalized taxi driven tour. Here we come to one of the advantages of touring as a westerner in India. I will have my own personal driver and taxi for about half a month and it will cost me roughly what a nice rental car would cost for the same period of time in the USA. That's right, my own personal driver/tour guide. Part of my room cost will go toward putting him up each night at the hotel. (The hotels have "special" accommodations for drivers... I hope they aren't too bad.) Of course, the cost of the hotel room is separate from the cost of the driver. I'll be staying in three star hotels, which lowers the price. Considering how rustically I've been living the last month, as long as there aren't bed-bugs and scabies, anything will be an upgrade. Overall, I don't consider the price of the total 16 days overly expensive. Considering that the tour is completely personalized... I was actually surprised how "reasonably" it is priced. Of course, that's from a westerners perspective. It costs what most villagers make in a year. (And it would probably still be pretty steep for many middle class Indians)
While wandering around Auroville today doing errands, like shipping home some of the stuff I've purchased, I ran across Simplicity Farms. Simplicity is the unit responsible for producing the spirulina I mentioned in an earlier post. While I was there I spoke to the main steward whose name, I'm sorry, I've forgotten. He described the process they use to grow and sun-dry spirulina. He also offered me a pinch of dry spirulina "crumbles", the raw product of the operation. I have to say, eating it in the crumble form is not nearly as nasty as drinking it in juice. Spirulina is pretty salty, so mixed with juice it's nasty. But dry it's almost like eating chips... green chips.
In Simplicity Farms we see again the interesting economy of India at work. i.e., the way everything is is done is too labor intensive to ever have any chance of working in a developed country. But here it works fine. (provided the spirulina is sold to westerners / well-to-do Indians!) The farm only makes about 5 kilos of dry spirulina a day yet it employs 7 workers full time. They are all part of the Auroville pension/social security - like system so they aren't being exploited.
Here is a video of the women setting out the spirulina to dry.
[Video once technical issues permit]
Every step up to this point has also been carried out manually.
The ladies seem to be used to guests and being photographed. As I've found many times so far on my visit, people are happy to have me take photos... in exchange for simply seeing them on my digital camera.
This past weekend is the holiday where Indians clean and bless their tools. As a result all the cars, trucks and motorcycles also had pujas performed on them. (they are tools, after all) Here we see the owner of a bicycle shop breaking a melon, which is part of the ritual near the end. The stuff on the ground burning is camphor, which was just on top of the melon (burning). I haven't bothered to ask anyone what any of it means because it seems pretty complicated and I doubt I'll understand it anyway.
[Video once technical issues permit]
Performing a Puja on a van at CSR:
Puja "goodie bag". I felt bad for taking the bag because I only showed up at the very end of the puja and took some photos. The owner of the van seemed happy to give it to me though. (This is the first apple I've seen in a month!):
South Indian buffet in Pondicherry. Yummy! (I hadn't gotten my rice before taking the photo):
Indian Super Market. Villagers don't shop here (just yet), only middle class Indians or richer and westerners. Hopefully the villagers wont ever develop a taste western junk food:
My freshly Puja-ized motorbike laden with bootie for shipping. I'm still an amateur at piling stuff on my bike. But I'm learning. (this was the first time I carried two bags. Next time I'll go for three!)
Orchids in the Botanical Garden:
More Auroville dwellings. The fancy Japanese Garden style house is Upsana Guest House, reputedly the most expensive building/compound in Auroville. It looks like wood but really the entire building is made from concrete! (Wooden buildings don't last long here against the termites) Upsana fills the roll of "Five Star Hotel" in Auroville. The last day of the intro to Auroville workshop we had lunch here. Very Nice...
These two cute little houses were tucked away in Discipline Farm. Discipline Farm... That sounds like a prison or something... but it's actually quite nice (excluding the mosquitoes)
These two cute little houses were tucked away in Discipline Farm. Discipline Farm... That sounds like a prison or something... but it's actually quite nice (excluding the mosquitoes)
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