Ultimate EMS Do India

Yes, you heard it here first! It's the official 9 year old report and I would have to agree. This week we have continued to enjoy Banyon beach, the thrills of the scooter, playing with the Tamilian children, visiting the Auroville Botanical Garden and planting some seeds in the vegetable garden at Aspiration. In the garden we planted lades finger, a variety of beans and watermelon. However, after the monsoon rain last night I examined the watermelon seeds that had washed to the surface and I noticed that they were bad seeds, so there goes the excitement of seeing them sprout before we leave. I might replace them with some fresh Rosela seeds that I bought. We've continued to document the flora and fauna we've come across and we visited a portion of The Auroville Botanical ... read more

After finally settling into a very simple routine that included lots of exploring, plenty of playing, art and relaxing together at Arka, we turned in our scooter and moved this past Friday to a different guest house. The new place is beautiful and I am free of feeling unwelcome due to the disquietude that Malek and Sephina produced in such an otherwise serene environment. Where we sleep now is my idea of a the perfect room: it's uncomplicated, the widow frames, doors and all furniture are handmade solid wood, the floor is covered in spanish style tiles, and the space is small - just enough. To the surrounding villagers, this would be considered a very nice place and that is why it cost a fair amount in comparison to stay here; we subsidize the Tamil and ... read more

To start, we made it! The trip went as smoothly as possible, actually surprisingly so given that I was traveling with a 4 and 9 year old. There was no complaining and it was fairly easy to keep them entertained. The lengthy layover wasn’t such a big deal- they mostly spent it running back and forth on the airport walk way belt in UAE Dubai. They needed to burn off all of that extra energy and at 1 in the morning, they weren’t really in anyones way. (I was banking on empathy if they were.) When we finally landed in Chennai, I was pleased with my decision to spend the night in Dubai and take a red eye to Chennai, as it was a tiny and old airport. We easily found our prearranged cab driver and ... read more