And back in Auroville again…

After having spent some 3 weeks in Auroville to research local best practices in rural development, we figured that such a time span would not do any justice to what’s going on here. The density of approaches we believe we can learn valuable lessons from, is extremely high as Auroville as a whole is an experiment, a laboratory, a community of over 200 communities – each specialising in some aspect of development in a narrow or wide sense of the definition.

Until now, I had checked out amongst others

Annapurna, the biggest farm with dairy and crop production ensuring Aurovilians have organic fresh produce;
Auroville Village Action Group (AVAG) who work directly with the villagers inside and around the bioregion of Auroville and cover everything from micro credits to sanitation and social work, currently setting up 9 different social enterprises for income generation;
Sadhana Forest – the most consequent experiment in reforestation and living in harmony with the nature across all dimensions – from cooking and generating/using energy via natural materials for washing dishes/clothes all the way to living the vegan life;
some of the oldest and newest construction materials like compressed bricks and ferro cement researched Earth Institute and Centre for Scientific Research (CSR) or
the ones used right now at the all-eco-friendly International House like the indestructible roofs made from Tetra Paks, a shower that looks like a Tipi and windows from old bottles;
Eco Femme, a project that aims to get over some really old and outdated traditions regarding women’s cycles, e.g by offering seminars and making re-usable sanitary pads available to them

There was more and I promise, I will talk about them in more detail as soon as I have a computer again (I drowned my beloved MacBook and am still mourning), rather than depending on the generosity of other people to lend me theirs and compatibility issues since we carry all “appled-devices”. But I’ve got tons of notes and videos and photos and they will be delivered sooner or later!!!

So, after just one week at ProtoVillage in Andhra Pradesh I left Kalyan again to work his super magic all by himself – I mean, check out what he’s been up to since we got off our cycles a couple of months ago: “Some of the things that kept me off facebook for sometime: Drinking water distribution – check, model toilet accessible to all three villages in the cluster – check, permit to build 220 toilets – check, maisons setting up a company – check, villagers agree to grow fodder in 120 acres – check, deal for 10 cows for dairy pilot – check, Fun – Check!!!”

I returned to Auroville and decided to dive in even deeper: not just with interviews but some hands on volunteering as well as looking into the community building site of things.

During my first visit, I had met B from International House (formerly American Pavilion), one of the few residents who live here for over 30 years. B is an amazing fountain of knowledge, experience and wisdom, always prepared to share a good story or two, never in a hurry. He invited me to stay at the campus of International House upon my return – et voila, here I am. I arrived after a sleepless overnight bus ride from Bangalore on Monday morning and immediately felt like back home. The sounds of nature after a hectic day in Bangalore – birds singing, the frogs croaking and… oh puppies barking. There is puppies… Hmm, I’m allergic but they’re so cute and the future watch dogs, so very necessary too!!!

Anyways, B (kindness in person), yummy fresh organic food and the sound of nature continued to be my companions for the day and everything flowed. By lunchtime, we had visited a Korean artist who makes the most gorgeous accessories from waste material like old audio tapes, I was registered with residential services, had a pass to Matrimandir (not an easy thing to get!!!!) and agreed with Manu which volunteering activities at International House I could participate in. I chose the gardening versus construction work on the roof and next morning we started.

Getting up at 6 am is surprisingly easy. It’s still nice and fresh outside, best time of the day really and Sunder, in charge of the garden here, had promised tea before we start. He showed me how to make it with our own fresh lemon grass, tulsi (holy basil), cinnamon and Hibiscus flowers. With a little dash of lemon – magically – the tea turned red, just like the color of the Hibiscus flowers. Yumm!!!

Herbal tea with ingredients fresh from the kitchen garden

After that, it was off to work. Real work. Sunder had already prepared new garden beds that needed compost to improve the soil. For a couple of days now, we covered the beds, created more plots, turned the soil and took out the weed.

Armed with mumpty and other tools, we turn the soil

It’s hard work but there is nothing better to quieten the mind and strengthen the body. When you see how there’s actually stuff growing that you can put in your mouth without having to worry where it comes from and what pesticides have been used on it – it just feels good. And knowing how much work everything is, how much sweat goes into each little tomato, each sprout of spinach, each stem of lemon grass – you suddenly don’t just consume it. You savor the food that’s been grown and looked after and harvested. You appreciate the time and effort gone into it and… you go slow :-)

Sunder watering the new garden plots

So, check out what you eat, enjoy it and if you don’t – maybe, it’s time for your own kitchen garden?? I definitely look forward to the time when we get around to the idea of creating kitchen gardens at ProtoVillage!