Once upon a time in India
The alliteration might be getting to be too much on this Substack so I’m hesitant to call this a Travel Tuesday. But I will anyway, for today. When I posted about new beginnings a couple of weeks ago I spent a little time reflecting on where I’ve spent the holidays and new years over the past 10-20 years. In December 2008 and January 2009, I was in Southern India having the time of my life. This is about that time. There could be potentially a part two. If you make it to the end and would like to read part two, feel free to hit the like button.
Arriving in India was like a dream. We took a small bus for the three-hour ride from the airport in Chennai to Auroville. It was the middle of the night. Almost completely dark but all of my senses felt alive, and I could smell the fresh dewy fields we drove past.
The next six weeks were like that, India was a sensual experience - in a literal way. The colors, the beautiful people, the kolams, the milk tea, the food, the landscapes.
I kept thinking how four months prior, I’d never left North America. Now I lived in Paris and was visiting India for six weeks.
A few of us had been sitting in the graduate student lounge at the American University in Paris when our program director shuffled into the room. The graduate student lounge is a fancier name for the room than it actually was back then. But it was nice to have a dedicated space.
Anyway, our director comes in and says something like “Would you like to go to India for the winter break?” The winter break was soon. We all said yes.
It was the first year of the program - an experiential learning course called the Sustainable Development Practicum.
Preparations were made, visas were acquired, and vaccine shots were taken. The next thing I knew I was on that rickety bus.
I shared a hostel room with five other women in the program. Most of them still speak to me despite an intervention that eventually took place regarding my habit of snoozing the alarm (a lot).
It was warm and sunny. We were busy. We got to scoot around on motorbikes. We were paired up, one scooter per two people. I don’t know why I was the designated driver I wasn’t very good at it. Especially driving on the other side of the road from what we’re used to in the U.S. But it was ridiculously fun.
In the mornings we sat in on lectures on one of two overarching topics. Sustainability and media. We were there to study sustainability - via lectures and via work with local organizations. We were tasked with producing a media project for an organization. A video, a brochure, a presentation deck - something that would be useful.
Some of my classmates worked with a sustainable fashion company. Some worked with a sustainable food company. Some worked with an orphanage that houses children with HIV.
There were five areas of sustainability that we were studying: economic, environmental, health, educational, and cultural.
I ended up working with two organizations, WELLpaper (Women’s Empowerment through Local Livelihood) and the Mohanam Cultural Center.
The WELLpaper project was smaller - I updated an existing brochure they had created previously for an international audience (donors and other stakeholders).
The project with Mohanam Cultural Center was one of the best experiences of my life. While writing this I dug out my journal from that time and it literally reads “today was one of the best days of my life.”
I got to ride around, again on a scooter. This time the driver was the center’s director Balasundharam, Balu for short. The mission was to collect stories from villages surrounding Auroville, stories that were often shared orally but not documented anywhere.
We visited villages with no more than 250 residents. Many lived in woven huts and worked in agriculture. The quality of life for people seemed high in that they were happy, and celebratory in their beliefs. I found myself wanting to learn, and try to find at least a piece of the happiness I was observing.
We interviewed people, Balu did a lot of translating, and I put the collection together in a guidebook. I’m positive I got more out of the experience than I gave.
Looking back it’s not surprising this experience was so meaningful. Seeing a new country, experiencing a different culture, learning, and expanding my perspective. But more than that - I was surrounded by truly warm, beautiful people doing inspiring things. All of this happened in the amazing setting that is the Auroville bioregion, the sun shining down on us.
It was impossible not to feel alive.