Ginga

Last night Ginga the dog we have tried to save finally died of a hemerag from the operation to remove his leg.

The dog was loved by so many hippies. May he rest in peace.

This is Ginga returning from his operation.

Sadhana Forest

Its 3pm , Boyd is  at a homeopathic appointment and the kids are ... Somewhere.

Its been 3 weeks since we arrived at Sadhana forest. Many times I reflect to myself that it takes 2 weeks for the kids tp settle into a new place and another for them to relax. But I suspect I am the same.  As I look around the  100 faces in the community I realise that most of them arrived after I did. So I take on the role of the welcomer, the this is how you scrub the showers and find the iodine, these are the best Restaurants in Auroville.....💜

On our arrival  3 weeks ago we were greeted with. 

"Hello my name is Ingval, Welcome to Sadhana forest , This is how to use the compost toilet. You  pick up the water like so, you collect your pee here, you poo in here and you wash yourself like this and you never ever touch anything but your butt with your left hand !!!!!"

At the time I thought "wow! What a way to say hello" but now I realise that with 100 people living so close together we have to be stringent about hygiene. And I appreciate that  only "Servers" with sterilised hands dish up our plate's and  only the healthy may work in the kitchen. But I can see that for the new arrivals it seems that there are sooooo mannnny rules!!!!

When I came to India I had high expectations. India for me was a place of spiritual inspiration  and an awakening to meditation, yoga , spiritual enlightenment. I had traveled through many tourist spots in the north and was blown away by the beauty of the shopping bazaars and the heedy business of the cities. I remember distinctly . walking out of my hotel in Delhi, stroling down the main street tailed by  what felt like 30 or 40 hawkers selling drums or incense or brandishing mutilated children. I walked maybe 40 metres and then ran home and spent the afternoon recovering.

This time, conscious of slowing things down for the kids we have purposely avoided Delhi, Chennai, actually any big city and have focussed on remaining off the tourist trail. But still I am surrounded by white faces and the only Indian folk I speak too are travellers too. We went to Pondicherry to check out " real" India and I lasted an hour before becoming hot and grumpy and ready for home.

So now I quietly enjoy relaxing in a beautiful forest, yoga, workshops on permaculture, eating  delishois plentiful organic, vegan food. And quietly quietly occasionally forray outside of Sadhana for a trip to get some chai, or to sail through the nearby village or to take a dog to the vet in the nearby teaching hospital.. An frustrating exercise in taxi negotiating and rude dismissive veterinary professors....