Going to Sadhana Forest

Sadhana Forest main hut

After volunteering in Blue Light ( the de-facto IT department) for a few days, I felt that the human connection, supposedly abundant in Auroville, was missing. I decided to try out other options. Sadhana Forest have always intrigued me; its a reforestation project with the goal of reviving tropical dry evergreen forest of Tamil Nadu. Besides working on the forest, they also have a living community people practicing vegan life style. They offer tours and show environmentally conscious movies on Fridays. I decided to try it out.

So, on the first Friday of January, I went to Sadhana forest. The tour gave ample exposure to the project, their ideals and practices. Discussing with long term volunteers at the project and the founder, Aviram, helped more. By the end of the dinner, I was convinced that this project offers a nice blend of spirituality, connections, learning and collaborative work environment.

I joined Sadhana Forest on the next Monday, 7th January.

Blue Light at Auroville

Blue Light is Auroville's de-facto IT department. Installing and maintaining software for automating the offices in Auroville is their job. For doing so, they focus on open source software. Open source, being a community driven software development paradigm, fits just right in Auroville. Besides providing software support, they engage in design and implementation electronic systems once in a while.

I volunteered in Blue Light for a week, right after arriving at Auroville. We worked on automating a water pumping system. By the end of the week, we had the devices assembled and working. It doesn't take long when people want to get something done. Doing the same thing in a corporate or academic setting would have taken a lot of time and effort.

Ganesh Bakery

Ganesh bakery from south

Ganesh bakery is a small sit and eat place in Auroville. It also serves as an important landmark for that area. Quite a few Auroville establishments e.g.: saracon campus, svaram, windarra farm, bamboo research inst., and satchidananda (the vegan raw food restaurant) etc. are located around or near it.

Cash is accepted here, so having an aurocard is not necessary.

Although a bakery, the south indian food (dosa, idly etc.) served here is better than their baked goods.

Mitra

Mitra youth hostel in Auroville

I stayed for about a week in Mitra Youth Hostel, Auroville. The place is right next to Auroville town hall; very close to the Matrimandir. It's a clean good looking piece of architecture. Usha, the lady running the place, was also found to be friendly and helpful. Besides that, the hostel provides breakfast in weekdays. One can also enjoy a good view of the Matrimandir from the roof top. Only upsetting aspect of my experience in Mitra is frequent and long power cuts.

Wheels in Auroville

The Auroville settlements are spread out within a 60 square kilometers area. Better get some wheels to navigate in Auroville. Wheels come in three versions there: bicycle, motorbikes and mopeds.

Bicycles can be rented from one of the few bicycle kiosks. There is one behind the public washroom at the Visitors' Centre. Rent for a bicycle is 50.00Rs per day. Another kiosk is located near the Solar Kitchen. This one provides free pumping and maintenance.

Another alternative is hiring a Moped, a common mean of transportation in Auroville. Its basically a low power motorcycles. Originally designed with bicycle like pedals to allow pedaling once fuel runs out. But pedals were missing on the ones found in Auroville. Hiring a moped is simple, call or meet the guy who rents them to people and book it for your desired length of time. They usually ask for some advance payment or a security money and the rest is to be paid when you give the moped back. There is shop on the main road going to Auroville from East Coast road. He charged 60.00 Rupees per day for a week. The fuel is also on you. They use a mixture of petrol and some other kind of oil. Most of the grocery shops sell it. A liter of that fuel costs 100.00 Rupees.

I did not look into hiring a motorbike, but the procedure should be similar except that it costs more. Have fun getting in and around Auroville.