delay

Sorry about the delay, we have had out or mash your face into the keyboard slow internet, the last few days. So, a quick recap of sorts.
Saturday, my first day in Auroville ended with some nice conversation qmong myself and some new friends that were staying at Sadhana for my first week. They were a group taking a course called Living Roots which is a course on living sustainably done through UMass Amherst. We sat around a table at the Auroville visitors center and while they finished their dinner I had some delightful vegan gingerbread date cake. The evenings entertainment was provided by a Indian dancer in a bright blue sari costume performing with music in a theatrical dance. The performance was done in a small ampitheater behind the visitors center, the restaurant even closed so that employees could watch, different and very thoughtful.

Sunday was a workshop on vegan cooking and how it can improve health. In addition to the talk provided by Doctor Nandita, we were treated to a fill day of absoloutly delicous vegan food. The seminar was heald at Quiet retreat center on the Bay on Bengal where you could hear the ocean waves and lay in a hammock feeling the salt air flow over you. I could see spending a few days there.

The rest of the week has been kind of a blur, Monday was alot of work on the earthbag house as all of the week has been. We are almose finished with it, I will post more photos soon. Tuesday was a treat as the Dalai Lama came to the Tibetan pavilion in Auroville to dedicate the site and give a talk on human relations and responsibility. The talk centered on "being the change that we seek", but in addition the Lama spoke at length about how influenced he was by many south Indian philosophers during his tutelage as a youth. There were about 1500 people gathered to hear him speak, but the highlight for me was the chanting of the 8 monks that were at his side, such low rumbling voices one could scarcely make the tones out as human. I relate them more to a digeriedoo than to human vocal chords.

Today, Thursday, a film crew from France has been interviewing Aviram and taking some footage from around the grounds to make a film for promotion of Sadhana. The hope is that it will be shown in Eco-Film festivals around the world to spread awareness of the project and make fundraising easier for future needs of the forest.

On Sunday I am going to head into Pondicherry with my friends Jonathan and Christine. Christine has the spot for traditional Indian clothes and from what I understand, the town has an interesting french flavor from when the French occupied it. Thanks for reading.