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Published: April 9th 2009
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So there will not be an official part 2 to Sadhana Forest Part 1... for laziness or change of path, I am not sure but let us move on together. As of now it has been over a month since I stepped into the Sadhana Forest. It is a uniquely special place and an incredible opportunity for learning ad growth, but eventually time grabs your wrist and pulls harder than your grip on the present. It took a bike wreck to add the final effort, but I have left, and instead of sadness or regret i feel completely free again, which is probably what I needed most.
.... I will begin with the bike wreck. One afternoon, in an attempt to fill our hot and endless afternoons, a large group of us decided to got to a Seitan making workshop in Auroville. It is not often that something happens in Auroville that we actually want to go to and have the schedule availability to do so, so it seemed like the perfect idea. My friend Liz hoped on the back of my scooter and we took off down the dirt road into the pristinely paved Aurovillian roads. As we
coasted down the empty roads, the trees shading the blaring sun from our eyes, we chatted with each other, yelling over the loud gusts of wind. Ahead of us a man and his wife were walking a group of cows, and one majorly large bull, with blue and red painted horns, which was walking on the edge of the road. I slowed down a little due to the cows near the road, but since the bull was on a rope in the Indian man's hand I thought that simply driving on the other side of the road would be sufficient for an appropriate safety measure. I however was wrong, as the shepard let the rope go and the bull jerked his body across the middle of the road. With his massive horns pointing at us I realized that going around him was not an option and I turned the bike, tipping it on top of us, as our bodies skidded to a halt feet from the cow. The Indian couple stayed just long enough to see that we could stand and then made off like bandits with there cows. I took the majority of the fall, the road tearing into
my legs and arms under the weight of the bike... And I ripped me shorts and shirt, and when you only have two changes of clothes it is quite frustrating. So we stood on the side of the road, dazed , in shock and in silence, as we watch the blood pool up in each of the wounds. We knew how lucky we were that our heads were safe, but the road rash was massive enough to make us shutter.
Some fellow Sadhanites came by minutes later to find us bleeding and shaking on the side of the road and drove us back to the forest.... on the back of their bikes. And the only thing that muted my fears about being on another bike just after the crash, was the pain of the wind blowing into my wounds. We made it back, got some basic cleaning and dressing on our wounds, and fell asleep for the rest of the night. The next morning we decided to leave the forest, since a couple people had gotten bad infections the week before. We held up in a crazy nice guest house in Auroville for the next week. It was in
the middle of a massive garden, with our private balcony and enough space for 10 people. It was the perfect place to recover and so we spent a week there, staring at our wounds, watching as the scabs slowly formed around them. it was there that I decided it was time enough to move on from the forest. Life wasn't gonna wait for me to see everything that I wanted so waiting around stirring poop at Sadhana Forest was gonna have to wait for another time of my life. It was time to see some more of India as I could feel my time there slipping away.
So on Sunday we left for Varkala, and have had wonderful adventures since. Our night back in Chennai was nice, because I got to see the city from a different light. The first time I was there was after I lost my passport and had to run around the city to police stations and got angry and held a bitter resentment towards the city which it really didn't deserve. So Juli and I had a really nice time. Explored, saw a better side of it, and now I can say that I
don't HATE Chennai. We had a smooth train ride, watched an incredible sunset from the train, and got a good night sleep. We also shaved off a couple of hours from our transite cause we met an indian guy that told us our destination was a stop on the train, and we were planning on riding it all the way to the end and then taking another train back, so it was a nice discovery. Once in Varkala, we were up on top of a beautiful red cliff cove, towering over a beautiful beach and the massive ocean. We had a wonderful meal (pictured... and yes those are MY eggs). We found this guest house that is incredibly cheap, has two awesome German neighbors, old enough to be our fathers, and a hammock. it is a little oasis and exactly what we needed. That night we stayed up with our neighbors talking philosophy at a restaurant until the wee hours of the morning, as we watched a terrential downpour over the ocean, lightning and thunder striking massive blows against the sea every couple of minutes. And after Juli and I ran through the rain, jumped into puddles, and returned to
the table soaked and laughing i realized what an incredible night we had stumbled upon.
The next day was equally great. We learned of a festival happening in the afternoon, and so we made our way down the beach to the temple expecting a few people chanting and singing devotions. But when we arrived, madness completely engulfed us. We were quickly in a sea of Indian people, barely able to raise our arms because of the crowd. There were massive floats, depicting Hindu deities, often in some strange positions. There were some of the most elaborate costumes I have ever seen. Masses of drummers banging furiously on their drums. Elephants processing down the road, parting the sea of people in a gigantic procession. We walked up and down the parade of floats and people and we couldn't help but smile, just by watching how much fun everyone was having. Indians sure do know how to have a party. It was yet another one of those memories that are so unlike any others that you have had before that you know they will be vividly in your mind forever. And I am so thankful for it. So thanks again for
following me around the world.
...until next time.
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