Sadhana Forest

Well, no internet for a week almost! I have been hanging out for this, but it's not as great as I thought it would be now that I'm here... (a sure sign of addiction).
So we are living in these bamboo huts that the locals build, very simple but very clever, keep things cool and open, but still dry enough. Sometimes frogs come and visit us :)
In the mornings we get woken up by singing at 5.15am, and have to be ready for morning circle by 5.45 (sound familiar, Steiner kids?). We have a song or play a game, give a morning hug and then get given our chores for the next two hours. Sometimes we dig holes for water collection, collect leaves for mulching, dig the compost, water the nursery, help cook breakfast, or clean things out. We eat a yummy vegan breakfast at 8, and head back to work till 12 when the gong goes telling us it's ready. The toilets are composting (you have to seperate your pee and your poo), and typical Indian toilet-paper free.... Soap and shampoo is from neem leaves which have antibacterial properties....
In the afternooons we relax or go for chai at the local village a short bike ride away. The evenings and free time is filled with music, dance, workshops (today I just did one on body investigation), talking and watching eco films. We sleep at about 9.30 or ten, usually exhausted but happy as larry with our new friends, the work done, and stories shared.
We will post some pictures when we have taken some!!! Been too busy, but will do!
XX
Miriam

Slowly a plan is forming...

We are still in Pondi and in the last few days we have made a few more plans.
On friday, after our short stint in the movie business, we headed to Sadhana forest after a friend told us about it.
Sadhana forest is a small community of volunteers (affiliated to Auroville but a short distance form the main center) involved in a reforestation project in an area which was (until the project began 7 years ago) largely desert. Today there is a thriving little community of traditional style huts (photos will come...) clustered around gardens, alternative kitchens, composting toilets and other sustainable projects.
We went to see this cool place on their eco -film night and were given a tour of the place and a yummy vegan dinner before watching the film "HOME" (very fitting for earth day).
We've decided now to sign up as volunteers starting tomorrow for two weeks so we can get involved in this cool project. It will be very simple communal living, there will be lots of work to help with and we will be eating purely vegan food. So a bit of a challenge but I'm sure we will enjoy it.

There is no internet cafe but there are plenty of people with laptops (power comes from solar panels and pedal power!) so I'm sure we will get a chance to send updates and photos while we are there...

-Jo

Lights, camera, ..........action?

SO we were just walking down the street minding our own business when this French woman named Helene asked us to be in a film. OK! sure, why not be an extra for a day or two in a luxury resort near Auroville, and get paid 2,000 Rupees for it, sounds like an experience!

Well..... Yes, an experience it was, but not much acting at all! Me and Jo got to walk down the steps of a hotel lobby discussing something enthusiastically ("with laughing and hand gestures", we were instructed) for 2 minutes, and that was it for the day. The other 12 hours we spent: playing cards, reading, sleeping, playing more cards, eating lunch, drinking chai, sleeping, talking, playing more cards, drinking more chai, listening to other people's stories, playing more cards!

The whole thing was kind of a joke. None of the extras had been given the same information. There were about 18 of us from France, Germany, Canada, the US, Spain, and New Zealand, of course. The only criteria was that we needed to have "white skin", as Helene stated. SOme of the women did "bikini scene" by the pool, and some fed "wine" to the star, who was this smart-looking Indian guy who needed to fix his inch-long hair every two minutes in the mirror (pretty funny to watch!). The movie was going to be a Tamil film, set in Dubai. The resort was definitely luxury enough, but I'm not quite sure how we fit into it all. Maybe we are supposed to be travellers visiting this resort? Most of the time we just did nothing, but we were reasonably happy because there were lots of interesting people to talk to, chai to drink, and cards to play (although after the 8th game of Donkey it does become a little tiring).

Friends made and experiences told; after waiting over an hour after the film crew and everyone had left for the bus driver to come back with our bus, we were driven home in the dark along those busy honking main roads (although thankfully we had aircon) back to Pondicherry where we grabbed some much-needed dinner and a beer.

Today: sunburnt and tired but happy.

Rabies vaccine #2

HI guys,

Well, I'll start with the second rabies shot I needed to get (you know you have to get three, spread out a week or two between them, so I've been making sure I am in a centre where I can get it on the right days, so this is the second one.... in Pondi...)

After having walked passed a couple of hospitals and seeing all the people milling around inside the corridors of the recommended hospital for rabies vaccinations, I decided to try another option this time. This town is not as big as Chennai, and so there aren't the same options for private hospitals here. I had seen this sign which was square and green with a cross on it and said 'medical vaccinations', so decided to go and see if they could give out rabies shots. A tall guy with a shaven head was standing behind the counter, he smiled shyly and spoke in quietly in English. He told us that rabies vaccination was "possible", but we needed to go to this doctor first, and then get the vaccination after. We didn't quite understand how it would work, maybe we needed a prescription in order to by the vaccine, and then he would administer it? Anyhow, we just did as he said, and followed his instructions to the doctor around the corner. By now it was night time, and the streets were lit up or dark if there were no shops around. This doctor was down a side street, a more residential area.

Approaching the open lite door, we could see women holding small children rocking them in comfort, and men waiting outside by the motorbikes, or with older children. There was hardly room in the waiting room as it was only a few square metres in size, and all the seats were filled to the brim with large sareed women. We leaned halfway in the door and half on the steps of the building, unsure about where we fitted in to the queue... if there was one. Soon we edged further in, and later someone offered us a seat. I panicked slightly when I realised that the more time passed, the more women with sick children turned up -were we ever going to get seen to?

I shouldn't have worried, because the doctor saw us and seeing my 'rabipur vaccine card' told us he would 'just get' the vaccine and cal us shortly. After about 20 minutes the sidekick of the guy from the vaccine shop came with a coolbag in his hand, smiling at me and wiggling his head from side to side.

In the doctor's room, he administered the shot into my arm before I knew what was happening, and continued to talk about Christchurch with us for the next ten minutes (I felt so bad for the women and babies waiting so patiently outside. It was getting late now too). Anyhow, all good and done, we squeezed back past the women to the street, relieved and happy. Same price as the doctors without the half-day wait and the shuffling around to different departments. Good.

Pondicherry and surrounds

Old woman begs for money from the bus driver

And nabs Jo as he poses in front of the blue guys

picturesque back streets of Pondi. This is the quiet part of town where most people stay away from, bar the tourists

more street scenes...

Graffitti serves important messages in Pondi on the walls of the old part of town

... very important!

me ecstatic after our out-of-town scooter ride!

Jo a little more composed...

The wall in our room reminds me of a map of the world... can you detect India in there?

Edward is with us! ..chilling and takng in the view from our rooftop guest house...

These flowers were really beautiful, we thought they looked a bit like orchids, but on a tree... This was at the botanical gardens

Cool red beetles scampering around while getting it on - talk about good multi-tasking skills!

Beautiful sounding chimes at the Auroville visitor's centre. We crashed here after a long day of absorbing all the ideas and things to see there. Ahhh peaceful and cool...

Puducherry (pondicherry)

Hello!
It's been a few days now since we wrote anything, after I got excited about being able to put up pictures and just posted them for a while!
So we have been in Ponducherry now for a few days (3 nights, so it must be four days then). We have visited most of the places in our guidebook that are features of the city, including the botanical gardens today (like a ghost town; old tracks from a now non-existent train that would have taken you round the gardens; forgotten glasshouses full of neglected foliage; looks like the French were the last to give a caring hand to some of those plants! and the homeless have understandably taken over some of the shelters there, too).
Because the place used to be a colony of the French, there are some streets in Ponducherry that look distinctly European with trees lining them and pretty balconied houses lining the roads. There is also a canal (not Suez, but sewage!) that looks nice but smells bad, and government buildings with beautifully kept grounds and gleaming white (! - as opposed to the usual grime-smeared ones) walls. There is also a promenade along the beach front with a large statue of Gandhi. Anyhow, you can find out these things from any guide book, I'm sure.
Yesterday we decided to hire a scooter and scoot out to Auroville, 10ks north (and still on the coast) of Ponducherry. It took about half an hour at 30-40ks per hour and dodging all the traffic, but was safe enough, and great to have our own wheels. Only 150 Rupees a day, and 200 Rupees to fill her up! (there are approx 3 NZ dollars in a hundred rupees, so you can figure out that it is super-cheap!)
Auroville is an ideal city planned and visioned by the Sri Aurobindo Society which is a spiritual group guided by the teachings and principles of Sri Aurobindo and 'The Mother' (for more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auroville and www.auroville.org) incorporating self-sufficient ecological living with research in spiritual and physical things in order to live with divine consciousness. (well, that is my version of what they said, but you can read more about it yourself, if you're interested). We spent the whole day there at the visitors centre, and it was quite interesting, though maybe quite idealistic. Anyhow, visitors aren't allowed actually into the 'city' (I think around 2,000 people live there; an international population of just over half of the total, with the rest Indian), so we don't know that much about it from visiting for just one day at the visitors centre, so we are going to ask them if we can stay and work with the community for a week or so. (Jo is emailing now...)
We were feeling a bit sick of just staying in guest houses and feeling like tourists too much, so if we could have this experience, it would be good. It would hopefully be not just an insight into this place, but also more involvement with our new surroundings/culture and hope to open up new doors. We'll hopefully get to know some people on a less superficial level!

more of Mahabalipuram ... and us!

very cute johannes on the beach with rock carvings that are being worn away by the weather ... this festival that they were having... we realised that it was the new year on the 14th

the shore temple through the bushes....

us alive and well on the shore of the Bay of Bengal. nice to be near the sea and the sea breeze!

Jo on yet another rock! You'd think he likes climbing or something...

Miriam's Mahabalipuram photos finally! *whoop whoop!

Mahabalipuram photos

Miriam casually chilling out on our guesthouse veranda, it doesn't look like it but it's a comfy 35 degrees...
The shore temple (we got there too late in the day so didn't see it from inside the gates) which is one of the most important temples for indian pilgrims in this town.
The little side street which led to the beach next to this temple sold all kinds of plastic toys, knick knacks and food snacks, and on the beach the scene resembled a fair ground with horse rides and air rifle shooting "galleries" with water filled balloons.


One of the many impressive cave temples carved from a single rock outcrop. This one depicts an ancient version of shiva and other deities.


A lion lying on what looks like a sacrificial altar but probably more like a fancy reclining bench. Miriam was going to model on it but burned her bum when she tried to sit on it ;)

Mamallapuram (aka Mahabalipuram!)

Well dear Annie, thank you for pummeling this name into my head, as I would have never remembered the name otherwise!!! We have been here now two nights, and I think will stay another night, perhaps. It is a small village with only a few streets just south (60ks) of Chennai.

We had quite an ordeal getting here, as we decided not to catch a tourist bus, but go by local. We had just left the Apollo hospital with the sensation of the jabs still in our arms and the heat sinking in once more after the cool interiors of the emergency room, when this smiling man greeted us and asked if he could help us. He was Muslim, with a round hat on and the long tunic and from Bangladesh. After chatting about work, family and promising to visit him if we were ever in his country (and also becoming his friend on facebook!), he bargained down a rickshaw driver to 60 rupees to take us to Marina beach, where we had heard we could get the 19pp bus to Mahabalipuran. The driver didn't really agree to the price, as he would normally charge at least Rs 100 for foreigners, but Mr Bangladesh was adamant that his 'friends' would get a good price, and we jumped in. (and ended up giving him Rs 70 for good measure, to which he cheekily chuckled)

Thankfully lots of nice people told us which buses to get on to as the bus system is very confusing for us, enhanced by the fact that they only stop for a few seconds and everyone rushes off or on super fast, so if you are not quick enough you miss your bus. We managed to stop a bus or two long enough to talk to someone (Johannes bravely did this!) and got told that the 19pp doesn't go to Mahabalipuran by the driver, but then got on a 19ppX to Kovalam, and then another train (didn't see the number, as we had a friend by then, who stopped and bought us a strange-tasting 'mix juice' from a stand. it tasted moldy to me, but I would feel rude not finishing it, so gulped it down!) for the rest of the trip to our destination.

So by the sea, this little town, so touristy with one VERY clean and VERY quiet street for tourists, where shop owners just sit and wait for a sale. A few streets over is the usual noise, life and grime of the locals. It is quite disconcerting, I have to say. We realise that once faced with what we want (the quiet resorts, the beautiful clothes and gifts, the western cuisine), we no longer want it. We would rather be in the noisiness of local life and find our own way through the chaos. It is strange.

There are also tourists who swim and lie around in bikinis, which must be shocking for the locals, who mostly would believe in modesty, yet somehow here it is accepted as tourist behaviour. I suppose it feels much more segregated here between tourist and local, and taxi drivers or sellers are constantly trying to make a sale.

In saying that, there are amazing temple-structures and carves ruins from stone, a lovely beech (just don't relax completely as there is a dump or two in the golden sand!), and it is much calmer than where we were previously, in the heart of the Chennai suburbs.

How was it when you were here, Terry? And what time of year?



(sorry no pictures today as these computers can't read our files)

Rooftop views....

One awesome thing here is the rooftop views from the guesthouses. Here are some images from the last place we stayed in Triplicane, Chennai.

You can see people working or constructing things, or watch the streetlife, and gain a new perspective (literally) on the business that envelops you down at ground level.

The other day we watched and listened as people went to the local mosque at prayer time...

People relax or hang out their washing o the rooves, and often other travellers are up there reading, or pondering, or just watching what's happeneing around

There are crows everywhere.... they all gathred in this tree...

Heat of the day and Jo is a bit sick... so that's all for now! a brief one!

A busy day...

Getting vaccinations in India is worth the wait. At least financially, with nerves I'm not so sure :)

We headed out this morning after a hearty breakfast of pongal, dosai,sambar (also Kesari for a sweet snack) and a good stroong, sweet south indian coffee. Our goal was the Thousand lights district and we decided to walk. It was still relatively cool, (~30 degrees) and we enjoyed seeing the bustle of daily life along the way.


I had the address of a vacciantion boosters clinic so we headed there first. The nice doctor lady there told us she didn't have the required jabs in stock and directed us to the Apollo hospital. I had heard of this place before and looked it up on the internet. Voted the best hospital in India apparently, so we were in for a treat.
This time we went for the rickshaw drive, sometimes it's nice to speed things up and have a little luxury :)

Apollo hospital was a beehive of activity. I thought a private hospital would be a little bit more subdued than the public one but I was very much proved wrong, haha! After half an hour of being passed from one department to another I decided I never want to arrive here for an emergency procedure ;)
Once we reached the invasive diseases dept. and had a seat in the queue I thought we would be there all day.
Only after I went to see the ladies at the reception a second time and payed 500 rupees to see the doctor upfront did things get underway. After that we were passed to an assistant of the doctor's who recommended some further vaccinations. When he was finished we waited again.

A curious little incident then happened which showed us how things really worked around here. Suddenly from the end of the busy entry hall came a growing hush of voices and the hospital staff seemed to all move at once into the center of the hall, ushering patients and waiting families aside. A few moments later an elderly man in a flash suit pulled off a moses, (except we weren't near water) being ushered by staff all the way along the corridor. After he left, the crowd moved
back to take it's place and all was as before. Some famous guy, or perhaps holy man? I don't know but I reckon holy men don't wear flash suits.

We were next in line and went to see the doc. He was a nice man who apparently had a friend in Auckland (don't we all ;) and wrote us prescriptions for our vaccines which we took to the pharmacy.
We grabbed our vaccines from the pharmacy (another small epic) and headed for the emergency(!) dept. to get the nurse to jab us.
I am now protected against Typhoid, Hep A, Meninngococcal and the Flu all for about NZ$60!


Before we said goodbye to Chennai we had one last massive lunch of rice and sambhar at the smallest little eatery we'd been to so far. The electricity was a little sketchy so we spent some time bathing in sweat and other times basking in the luxuries of a fan (no air con here mate! )

Triplicane, Chennai

Well, this morning we woke up at 6am after a good night's sleep on our clean (ish) sheets with the fan going above us all night and the windows wide open... our washing drying around us and finally all the interesting sounds had stopped by midnight. No more horns honking on the road, no more TV blaring in the lounge outside somewhere (this guest house or the one next to us..?), no more talking in Tamil, no more doors banging, no more gaudy music....

...was woken once by the Islam prayer music that broadcast at 4am... this beautiful unaccompanied voice floating through the air coming from somewhere outside... and another voice joining to create lilting harmonies...

... this is the view from our room's windows. This place with the blue and white and the courtyard you can glimpse is the neighbouring guesthouse called 'Broadlands' that we wanted to stay at, but the cricket is happening at the moment, so they were too full, and we are staying at a bigger less interesting-looking place (but with very friendly staff, and very clean) called 'Paradise Guesthouse'.

We then got up and wandered the streets looking for some breakfast. We had some kind of porridge splodge that is called 'pongal', and I had 'vadai', a savoury doughnut with yummy chutneys (tomato, spinach and coconut-chilli), and always, 'sambar' (the runny dahl-soup with chunks of vegetable, that they serve in a little bowl with almost all the meals we've ordered. I'm not quite sure if you are supposed to drink it directly from the bowl, pour it over your rice/main dish, or spoon it up straight into the mouth with the provided teaspoon...). It is all super-delicious! Even stuff that looks like it will be bland, is utterly yummy. In fact, it is making me hungry thinking about it now!

After eating, we walked around looking at things and people and cows lying around and a ritual/small festival (?) about to happen (we decided, maybe because it is a Sunday?); food being cooked, served or eaten by men in shirts tucked into dress pants; a group of women draped over a glass box wailing (it took me a moment to notice that there was a white sheet wrapped around a body inside); shrines, and these designs drawn in chalk on the pavement outside doors of dwellings, the women who live on the corner of our street and their little children (today the old woman smiled at me); and of course all modes of transport zooming everywhere around us, as we walked.

The internet cafes didn't look open then (9am still), so we headed back to read the papers for an hour and relax in the growing heat under the fan. (We have bought 3 newspapers in English to try and determine which is the best. They have an interesting mix of local politics, bollywood/fashion/movie star news, advertisements for gated communities from 150- 2,900 Rupees per square foot of land), and international news in brief.

Later, we ventured into this internet cafe on our street which is surprisingly air-conditioned. (This is our first taste of air-con here, as we have avoided any posh-looking places, and taken local transport or walked as much as possible). I took this photo about ten minutes ago while we were waiting to be guided to a computer...



An auto-rickshaw. We went on one yesterday to get to 'Pondy Bazar', which is a shopping area- or market area, which was packed with people and sellers. We got followed by this very friendly drum-seller who chatted with us and tried to persuade us that we needed a camel-skin drum. It sounded very good when he played it, but I'm sure we wouldn't have the skill to get those kinds of sounds out of it!!! He gave up eventually when we told him that if we needed him for buying a drum, we would hear his beautiful music and follow the sound!

Arrr... so many stories to tell.... more later !

XX M and J

We're here!!!

The air is made up of different smells that are all uncommon in New Zealand. Incense, delicious food smells that make you want to eat even if you're not hungry, animal stench, urine and human feces, jasmine garlands, diesel fumes, and more unidentifible delights for the nose!

After about 36 hours of zombie travel at airports and in planes we have finally arrived in Chennai!

We took a local train (yes Supriya we did it :) ) into town and chose a hotel near the train station in the suburb of Egmore.
The train was packed (and had no doors!, kind of like a cargo carriage for goods and animals) with commuters and at each stop more people got on than got off. We stayed safely near the door for an easy exit and observed the burbs outside. One backyard had a woman with about six cows, which were big and brown or white. And I realised that she must be taking care of them as they are sacred in Hindu families.

Prices were a little inflated from what the lonely planet had told us but we chose an acceptable room for RS.420.
Between bursts of powernapping during the hottest parts of the day we ventured into the streets and had some delicious masala dosai at one of the corner cafes. Yum!!
Eating with our fingers is a bit of a challenge and only the right hand makes it even more difficult especially when the plate starts to get a mind of its own ;)

We managed to get enough sleep (although the mosquitos had a feast on my back and all over Miriam too) and are now on Chennai time...

Here is a typical little kiosk. We have bought three newspapers written in english and two maps from these kinds of shops. Also tried some bananas and grapes from a fruit seller. No Delhi belly yet!, but Miriam did have to run to the toilet at one point....but luckily it didn't last.

Right now we're sitting in a cramped little internet cafe (Miriam is half in and half out and I'm typing for both of us) and walking to another suburb of Chennai (Triplicane) to find another place to stay for the night.