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Published: January 30th 2006
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Recycled Paper Making
Big bright red sheets of paper come through the assembly line to dry. After the elephant ride (read earlier blog first), we headed to a recycled paper factory. It was so impressive. They take the scraps from trimming cotton t-shirts, underwear, etc. and turn them into beautiful paper products. We toured the plant and saw the whole process (some by machine, but mostly manual, as most things are in India due to the huge number of workers and expense of machinery).
The final products are fabulous...as beautiful as our most expensive wrapping papers, note cards, book marks, etc (afterall, they import to us), except they were so inexpensive...I always want to buy more of things like this, but my suitcases are already bulging at the seams...I think that I'm going to have to buy a new suitcase in order to get everything home. (At every rotary meeting and most of our host homes we are given wonderful and generous gifts...the hospitality here is amazing...at first I was uncomfortable with all the fuss given to us, but I've grown to see how much joy they get out of pleasing us. All they want is for us to go back and convey how wonderful and amazing their country and people are...which is a given...I'm so
Pizza in Pondy!
American capitalism at its finest. This is Pizza Hut--where I never eat in America--in India impressed on so many fronts--even tho I'm tired of the food and lack of hot water! 😉
After lunch at Pizza Hut (did I mention how yummy it was?!), we went to visit Auroville. This is a town about 20 minutes outside of Pondy...it is essentially a commune, designed for the purpose of enlightenment. It is owned by no-one and the mission is to transcend human limitations. About 2,000 people from all over the world live and work there. No one owns anything...the purpose of Auroville is to "realize human unity." It was really yummy. And impressive. The founder ("Mother") died 33 years ago, and the mission and town live on. Check out www.auroville.org, if you're interested in knowing more.
I really enjoyed Auroville and its mission, but some members of our team asked if we "drank the kool-aid," which was funny. There's a part of me that could give up everything and go live and work in a peaceful neverland...and then there's my entrepreneurial spirit that keeps thinking of all the business opportunites there are here! Both sides of me are working overtime with the impressive growing economy and the rich spiritual life here...it is overwhelming and fun to get to explore all of this at the same time.
Right now we've got some precious downtime to be on the internet...my team jokes about me being able to "smell broadband internet connections." (By the way, this is a fast, dependable internet connection...yay...and I could smell it as soon as we drove into town and saw how modern this place is. Oh, and 98% of people are educated and literate here. Rather than the huge dependence on agriculture, Pondy is more industrialized, so it is a richer and more developed place than most of the rest of Tamil Nadu--the state we've been exploring here.) Later we will go to dinner and enjoy yet another Western style meal...thank goodness, tho I was starting to enjoy the all the weight that I was losing.
Before I go, I wanted to address my sister's question about the caste system. The influence of the caste system is difficult to know because it is such an undercurrent of the society and culture here, particularly to an outsider. I can say this: it is slowly losing its hold. The current Prime Minister is an "untouchable" and the government has been giving educational schlorships and incentives to the lower castes for awhile...this is all a part of in their Vision 2020 efforts (that I described in an earlier blog). Folks here are clear that they won't end up where they are committed to being (a major economic power) if they don't educate and develop everyone. (There is also a big push to get people to have only one child to curb population growth.) I've also met people who have been bold enough to break out of the arranged marriage system and have love marriages with people from different castes...these seems to be becoming more and more common. As people marry out of their castes and the lower castes become more educated and take on more important roles, the caste system will be more dismantled, I think. However, I'm willing to bet that it is much more powerful than I see because I can't tell who is of what caste and what this means for them...and this isn't something people openly discuss.
Okay...I've gotta run. Mike is calling this time. Love to you all! I'm home in a week...counting the days til I can be with you, pick up the phone and chat with you when I want, climb Squaw Peak, go to bootcamp, eat what I want, drive in a way that doesn't terrify me, etc. xxoo.
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Shari
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Take a deep breath
And then take another deep breath. You're almost done with your amazing opportunity. Yes, it's been more than hectic with less privacy than you've known in ages. You will never pass that way again with the same kind of experience. Soak it up while you can. Someone commented that it's great we're getting to share in all your adventures. Hardly....there are tons more adventures that we can't wait to hear about. Hugs to all.