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Geo: 11.9329, 79.8371
The waking sounds of India are playing like an orchestra with birds, cows, dogs and swishing brooms each contributing their uniqueness while I meditate and do my gentle morning asanas. Accompanying those surrounding sounds, I play Deva Premal music, her peaceful repetitive rhythms soothe my soul here on our second floor private balcony.
Yesterday I laid on this floor, totally naked, as a local village masseuse managed to give me a massage in this tight space. She had a number of tricks up her sleeve like, while I sat on the floor, she stood above me with my hand squeezed between her thighs to hold my arm out straight while she bent over to knead my arm muscles.
The warmth of the day hung suspended in the air. This was Pure Bliss.
Pondicherry is the home of the Sri Aurobindo and the Mother's Ashram (www.sriaurobindoashram.org) that spreads throughout the city, and has over 70 departments, some set up as businesses, schools and accommodations. Although not part of the Ashram but connected, is the nearby 'other world' town of Auroville.
Auroville (www.auroville.net) is a fascinating spot, an experiment created in 1967 from visions of
the Mother and built by a dedicated group of pioneers. Its vision is to belong to no one - an international community - where "the needs of the spirit and the concern for progress would take precedence over the satisfaction of desires and passion, the search for pleasure and material enjoyment..."
We visited twice and, given that the Inn Pondiville Forest Retreat (www.innpondiville.com) where we were staying was so close, Jim walked the trails of Auroville every morning. The 36x24 meter central structure, the 'Matrimandir', is a golden globe for spiritual concentration surrounded by lush, green manicured park land - due to over 50 years of tree-planting and gardening efforts. It is a utopian site amidst the parched, dry land of the surrounding area.
And what an experience going for a morning tour and meditation! The best was when our group of 30 left the lotus fountain area of the Matrimandir after a meditation and we walked single file in silence, circling up into the top of the globe. We followed the gradual incline that hugged the circumference up, up, up into the inner chamber at the top. There, illuminated by a large oval crystal that
was built in Germany, with rays of sunlight fed directly into it through the use of mirrors and such from the top of the globe, we sat in a large circle around the pure white room and meditated again.
Will we be moving to Auroville? I doubt it. It certainly piqued our interest in returning and volunteering, though.
Food was central in our time here: Inn Pondiville's quiet garden, pool and rural setting and their cooking offered delicious local flavours. Each day melted into the next until we realized we had stayed at this oasis for 9 nights - and gained a few pounds. Oops!Visiting the city, one evening we ate a sumptuous, elegant French meal in a fairy-lit courtyard of the Savoy Hotel; very unlike us but oh so good. The meal reminded me that ambiance and the experience surrounding the meal contribute as much to the enjoyment of it as the food itself. The French know this well.I did an Indian cooking class with Shama. In her tiny kitchen in her apartment, we prepared a spread of 12 dishes, enough for a large party but only her husband, daughter, Jim, Shama and myself savoured the
delicious food. Everything was prepared from scratch, much of the preparatory work done before I arrived. Look out dinner club in Halifax - we might try a couple of the dishes.
A quote from a bag of chips I bought: "Our taste has been tingling on the tongues of many and they have time and again relished and have quenched for more". Ahhhh, India. After 9 weeks, we leave you for a month. We will return in March after we explore Myanmar followed by a quick stop in Thailand for a beach bum week.
To see more of Jim's photos and in higher resolution, visit his Flickr site.
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Angie Harwood
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Donna, what a wonderful description of a place I can barely imagine. Thank you for transporting me there and allowing me to share some small part of this amazing experience!