Blogs from Auroville, Tamil Nadu, India, Asia - page 3

February 22- March 16, 2011 Wow, what a few weeks it’s been. In the interest of saving you all from reading too much more than I usually print, I’m going to skim through the basics for the next bit, and then in the text below (I’ll warn you if it’s going to get long) I’ll give a couple highlights. Beryl left on the 28th of Feb. evening, heading out in the taxi to Chennai International airport with our French roomie and the son of an American friend; all three had flights leaving at varying times on the 1st. I stayed in the house in the village for a couple extra days while moving our stuff into the house in the forest (hereafter called the cottage). I was waiting for our (other, of several) French friend and ... read more

Jan 29- Feb 13 Hi there blog-aficionados! We are publishing this installment from our new (temporary) home just outside of Auroville proper. We are still in Auroville, however, because the community that owns this property is part of Auroville the collective… erm, like many things in collective living, it’s a little complicated. Auroville is actually not just a place, rather, it is many places. Most of these are part of a contiguous collection of properties, with one community butted up against another. There are a bunch of reasons for this, but mainly it is because Auroville has been buying the land it occupies over forty-plus years, rather than as one lump purchase of land. The result is that some property even inside Auroville ‘proper’- the main bulk of Auroville land and considered ‘the city’ by some- ... read more

A 2-week intermission: December 27- January 9, 2011 Hi everybody. Sorry about the delay in updates, but I came down with what we are calling the AV flu- a virus going around that seems to last a week or so, affecting head, throat and stomach. On top of that, B had it the week before, as did our host. I thought I had dodged it, but I was wrong. So I’ve decided to condense two weeks into one because this past week has really been not very fruitful (as far as adventures go). I did get some fieldwork data on healing herbs, and worked out another step in interviews, and got some reading done, so it wasn’t a wasted week: just low in the engaging narrative category. On Monday I started reading One Straw Revolution by ... read more

December 12, 2010 Wow. We just realized Yule is around the bend! This week has been not quite as full as the previous one, but I’ll try to find something to talk about. ☺ Monday we went out to the La Terrace to do some emailing and we managed to catch both Benji and Charlene on FB chat! We are usually on-line open if we are actually where there is net access, but we aren’t always able to do that- it was great to touch base a little with friends from home. We ran into one of the woman that B works with too- she is looking for an English tutor, in exchange for the same in French. I told her I’d be ok with doing that, so maybe by the time I get back home ... read more

Travel Blog notes: November 21, 2010 This introductory blog will probably be long- just be warned! Also, so you know, I will not be sharing research info on this blog- this is for sharing impressions and telling stories (and the boring mundania) of everyday life so I can say in touch with my peeps back home. I will alternate between journalistic and narrative styles as suits my whim. Most of you know we were delayed getting to India by a couple months. Visas finally in hand we bought tickets and headed out on the evening of the 11th of November. The flight was long, with a delay in London due to a passenger on our flight passing out as we were taxiing for the runway. We left Heathrow an hour and a half late. We arrived ... read more