Auroville

At my school there is a thing that happens.  We call it interim.  It is when everyone leaves and takes a great trip run by the school to thousands of places.  As I do with everything, I had tons of thoughts running through my head when I came back...

            

Interim was similar to what I expected but at the same time, it was something totally new and exciting.  The smells of South India consist basically of human waste, cattle, garbage, and thick priest incenses burning from the thousands of temples.  Auroville was an oasis in a desert landscape of the mind and body.  Ironically, that was all Auroville was about forty years ago.  Everything changed when the person they call the ‘Mother’ had a dream.  She dreamt that there was a place on Earth where color, creed, language, or religion did not matter.  All that mattered was human existence, all together in one body and mind.  Peace and hope thrives and life flourishes to aid the Earth, not destroy it through pollution.  She dreamed that the world would unite itself around this small area and become one consciousness.  With the support of fellow believers, she built the ‘country’ of Auroville.  They claim to be their own nation but are a part of Southern India.  There, many people reside, all hoping to live up to the Mother’s idealism.  She passed away about twenty years ago but not before she saw her nation’s dream completed.

Auroville was the golden prize at the end of a long and dirt road from the cheap hotel in Trichy.  After about five hours of a cramped bus ride, everyone was just happy to be going somewhere.  Mr Bisset, the lead teacher, also my World History teacher, kept telling us that there was only a half hour left in the bus.  Well, that was at around the one-hour point.

Five long hours later, we arrive in Auroville.  The crowded bus ride felt like a prison and we were caged birds, waiting to fly free once hitting dry land.  Although, this land was red clay in the form of condensed dust, the trees were caked in its thick and heavy layers, coating them in a red paste.  Your nose seemed to stiffen at the sight of it, alerting your senses to stay away in fear of getting caught up in it too.  We trudged to our sleeping areas through the darkness of night.  Only when morning came when i realized how alien things appear when shrouded in darkness.  What looked like a thick, jungle infested campsite, were actually tolerable huts with a main dining area in the middle.  How my heart jumped for joy upon waking to the smells of joopy rice and thick sauce for breakfast, while my stomach flopped disappointedly.

Besides from the breakfast, the tea was liquid silver as it ran down my throat.  It washed away all the bland taste of the gloopy rice and the thunderous spices in the sauce.  It was something in a desert of spice and dehydrating, bland, pale paste over the rice.  I drank about four to seven cups per morning, as much as I could.  The place we stayed only served it around breakfast time so I made the most of it.  It was a type of milk tea, which had no sugar.  It was healthy and strong, waking you right up from sleep’s tantalizing comforts.

 Overall, Interim in Auroville was something I hope to never forget.  The new friends I have made and the great times I shared with them are truly great treasures.  Thank you Auroville and SAS for giving us another great trip!