Pondicherry and Auroville

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First few days in India were easy and not so intense ( as India can be) , as I was met by Katie Pye and Bala our Tamil taxi driver sent by Tia the art therapist I am working with...and after Bala drove skillfully out of Chennai dodging the melange of moving vehicles and cows, dogs, goats & people, not slowing down for anything until a snake crossed our path on the highway south...we turned off the highway at a juncture obscurely signposted towards Auroville, which is a haven of low rise jungle green after Chennai and the drive south through coastal marsh land and open fields.

We were to have a sneek preview of Auro while dropping off Krisey, Katie's friend to stay with a woman who's had a long time association with the place. The "house of curves" is where she was staying. This is my name for the house; as all the lines flowed, apparently a popular Auroville architectural style. The names here tend to these types of associations; "New Creation", "Certitude", "Serenity".

Lara gave us an intro to who Sri Aurobindi was. Poet, mystic, revolutionary, writer, visionary whose ideas such as "divine anarchy", and invested energy and presence, along with "The Mother" were foundational in Auroville. This of course makes me want to know more about him and "divine anarchy" and her of course. We head of to Pondicherry and find the Park Guest House..which is associated with the Aurobindo Ashram, so the style is simple, clean, but I didn't expect the palatial size of the rooms....we are blissed to have such a room where we can come together in the middle but have beds that are so far apart that its like we have a private space.

The outer area of Pondicherry is Indian, as you get closer to the sea colonial architecture dominates. Unsurprisingly its called "the White area". Some of these extraordinary buldings are renovated or being so, others have small trees growing from them and are objects to dream on, so massive and beautiful they are in their "post colonial" deflated faded glory. Expressive Arts centre, hotel, both in one building... Here the streets are less busy, and on Sunday even quiet.

As well as Auroville, this really is Sri Aurobindo and The Mother's town. Their pictures are in shops, hotels and many buildings are associated with them in various stages of their lives. Some show them holding hands. I wonder how rare this is in India, if there have been other male and female avatars...

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