Long Handle Brooms

What's so special about long handle brooms ? Apart from being easy to use and less damaging to the user's back muscles, they are not commonly seen in South Asia. Most of the brooms I've seen in India and Bangladesh have short handle. The problem with this kind of broom is that, the sweeper has to crouch or bend down low to sweep. The long handle version on the other hand allows one to sweep the floor without bending down. Being able to use both hands allows one to leverage more force and a wider range of motions as well. In Sri Lanka however, the long handle brooms were common. It could be the topic of an interesting sociological research to find out what influenced the adaptation or retention of short/long handle brooms in certain countries in the area while neighbors were shifting towards a different sweeping technology.

Long handle brooms being sold in Negombo

Idly and Dosa

Idly or Dosa served with coconut chutney, sambhar (or sambol), vaadai etc. is a typical Tamil breakfast. Can be found in both Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu, India.

Dosa, (also spelled as Dosai, Thosa, or Thosai) is a pancake made of fermented rice flour mixed with coconut milk and spices according to taste. Idly (also spelled Ittly) is a steamed rice flour muffin of round shape. A similar muffin called Vapa is cooked in Bangladesh for winter breakfast. Vapa usually has a sweet core of coconut and jaggery which is missing in Idly.

Local restaurants in both Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu, India and serves these in breakfast. The chutney and sambar varies from one region to another, and from one restaurant to another. Curry dishes of vegetable, chiken, fish and mixed were found but not all at the same place.

In most places, Idly or Dosa breakfast was found to be quite cheap and filling. A filling Dosa breakfast can be no more than 150.00 LKR in Sri Lanka. This would also include a cup of fine Ceylon tea. Sri lankan grocery stores often sell break fast packs of Dosa. It contains three to four Dosa and a small serving of spicy sambol. A pack costs 40.00 LKR.

Language Barrier in Tamil Nadu

An unofficial flag of Tamil Nadu, in use since the early days of India when the dispute over official language started

Language barrier is a common challenge for traveling in many Asian countries and India is no different. But Tamil Nadu poses a greater challenge. The official state language and mostly spoken language is Tamil. It is one of the classical languages of India, belonging to the Dravidian family of languages. Which means its very different from the national language, Hindi which belongs to the Indo-Aryan family.

There is often a decent level of mutual intelligibility between Indo-Aryan langauges, for example between Hindi and Bihari and Bangla. But nothing like that between Tamil and the Indo-Aryan langauges.

On top of that a long standing notorious socio-political divide between north and south of India adds a political dimension to the communcation challenge. In the early days of India, the central government's attempt to promote Hindi as the official language was not received well by the Tamil speaking population. Incidents of violent uprising and revolts eventually lead to Tamil being given the official status and higher priority. As of today, many Tamils prefer English to Hindi as a lingua franca. But in the country side, English does not work with common people. Learning Tamil is therefore recommended for traveling in rural Tamil Nadu. At least a few basic words and phrases. Bellow is a list of useful words which I used in combination with sign language and English to communicate with local during my stay in Tamil Nadu.

Greetings : Vanakkam
Food : Sappadu
Watter : Tanni
Yes : Ya
No : Illa
Thank you : Nandri
I am not Tamil : Naan tamil illa

Somehow very basic phrases comprising of English and Tamil words made sense on a number of occasions. For example, to say that I don't have a scooter, "Scooter illa" works.

Eat at Auroville

Auroville has a number of places to eat. Some accept cash and all of them accept the aurocard.

Solar Kitchen
offers good lunch and dinner. Mostly vegetarian South Indian cuisine with a few side dishes from other parts of the world. Can easily be turned into a vegan meal too. Accepts aurocard only.

La Terrace
A nice restaurant on top of solar kitchen. Good coffee, ice cream and pastries. Can hang out in the shade of large trees. WiFi hot spot. Accepts auro card only.

Tanto
Italian pizzeria in Kuilapalayam. Very good food cozy atmosphere. Mosquitos can ruin the experience, so remember to put on bug repellents.

Satchidananda
Vegan raw food restaurant near Ganesh Bakery. The carrot pie is delicious. Green smoothie is no less awesome. Accepts cash.

Farm Fresh
small neat restaurant near Auroville Bakery. Sells good keffir. Also pastires, cookies, pickels, nuts etc. WiFi hotspot. Accepts cash.

Auoville Bakery
Makes really good bread and pastires. Nice to have freshly baked bread. Accepts cash.

Ganesh bakery
not very good food. But accepts cash.

Dinesh bakery
On the way from Solar Kitchen to Kuilapalayam. Not very good food, but cheap. Accepts cash.

Transport from Auroville to Puducherry

Interior of the bus to Puducherry

Easiest way to reach Puducherry ( Pondicherry ) from Auoville is by bus. Bus from ECR near Auroville to the station at Puducherry costs 5.00 Rs. The last stop of this bus is the bus station at Puducherry.

On the way back from Puducherry to Auroville, one can get on a bus from the station. However, there are two different routes going towards Chennai and both pass through Auroville. One drops you off at the Kuilapalayam (intersection of EC Road) and the other one drops off at Morattandi. Make sure to ride the right bus. Be aware of the rush hour crowd in the bus. The Indian crowd can be very intense.

Next in order of convenience would be autorikshaws. They usually charge around 200.00 Rs from the Auroville to Puducherry or the other way round. Sometimes there is room for bargaining.

Another viable option is to ride a moped or motorbike. But driving a vehicle without a licence is not advisable. The police in Puducherry sometimes flags down tourists driving a moped or motor bike to check their licence. Tamil Nadu police is a bit relaxed in that regard.

Pedaling your way to Puducherry is also possible. It's only 5 kilometers from Auroville after all. This is also a healthy and environmentally friendly option.

Auroville Beaches

Quiet beach in Auroville

A few auroville communities are located on the sea and have their own beaches. I've been to two of those, the Repos beach and the Quiet beach. Repos beach was found crowded throughout the week specially during the weekends. The quiet beach on the other hand was much less crowded. Both beaches were found to be used by local fishermen. Quiet was found to be cleaner than Repos. The only shortcoming of Quiet is that it was about a kilometer to the south from Repos beach sitting only 100 meters from the Quilapalayam intersection on EC Road. The quiet beach is preferred after considering all these factors.

Finding accommodation near the beach can be a bit challenging during the high season i.e. December - February. Most of the hotels are cheap or mid range. Downside of it is that the rooms will often have poor ventilation and lighting. A good alternative is a beach hut. But they usually cost more than the rooms and are in high demand.

Tamil floor decorations

Kolam, the floor decoration of the Tamils

Tamil women draw beautiful ornamental drawing on the floor in front of the entrance every morning. These are called kolam. It is believed that kolam drawings have the power to do something positive for the household. Rice powder is the commonly used material. Sometimes crushed stones and colorful substances are also used.

Fruit Mixture in Pondicherry

Fruit mixture

Menu

I could read Tamil with considerable effort by the time I made it to Puducherry(Pondicherry) for the first time. A man was selling refreshing beverages in his shop near the bus station. The menu was painted on the wall. All I could read and decode with confidence was the second item, fruit mixture.

So I had a glass of that. It was good. Not sweetened beyond normal limit with added sugar or diluted with water to maximize profit. Recommended.

Sadhana Banana

Sadhana Forest provides in theory unlimited supply of bananas for volunteers. On most days this is true in practice as well. After working for a few days I realized the virtue of bananas. Sadhana volunteers powered by bananas work in their first seva. The work includes but not limited to :

• Carrying water buckets
• Planting trees
• Collecting leaves for mulching
• Collecting top soil
• Scooping up compost
• Mixing top soil and compost
• Have fun

Bananas pack lot more energy than I previously thought.

Bees & Termites (2)

Working in the bees & termites team involves climbing

Preventing unwelcome advances from the termites is mostly ground work. But dealing with the carpenter bees is a different paradigm altogether. It involves plenty of climbing - sometimes quite high and in challenging corners - on the huts' main structure. This calls for physical and fitness and decent level of dexterity.

Two parts of the epoxy compound

Epoxy is being mixed

Epoxy mix is ready to be used

A hole in hardwood pole

The hole after patching with epoxy

The instructions are simple. Find a bee hole, climb to reach it, then seal it with an epoxy sealant which you or a fellow volunteer mixed for you a few minutes ago. Oh, and be careful not to lose your grip.

The sealant is obtained from the local market as a two part epoxy compound. Its soft and pliable like putty during and soon after mixing. Becomes stiff like plastic in about 10 minutes. Very convenient. But also expensive and probably not very good for the environment. I saw room for improvement here. Experimenting with alternative materials - environmentally friendly and cheap ones, of course - seemed to be an effort worth undertaking.

Bees & Termites (1)

Jacob, a sadhana forest volunteer in bees & termites team

Protecting the huts from ever active termites and carpenter bees is a daily challenge in Sadhana Forest. Bees & Termites team bravely accepts this challenge as a regular maintenance job in Sadhana.

Carpenter bees like to drill hole to make nests in the hardwood poles of the huts' main structure. If not prevented, the bees can hollow out an entire pole to bring the hut down. While bees attack from air, termites have a ground up approach towards the huts. But the end results are pretty much the same.

Local knowledge says that termites don't like walking on granite surface. So granite columns are used as base for the huts. Vegetation around the huts are also cleared regularly to prevent alternative path for termites to reach any part of a hut from ground.

Aurocard

An aurocard issued from Mitra guest house

Auroville, in my understandings, is supposed to be a city where money does not dominate life. Reducing  monetary exchange within the community is seen as a steps towards this. A scheme similar to using debit cards is implemented in support. This card is called Aurocard.

The Aurocard is connected to one's Auroville account. This account can be opened at the town hall. Every aurovillian has one, guests staying in Auroville can also have one. Money can be deposited in this account and spent later at various restaurants and other commercial units of Auroville.

I am not sure how this debit card like scheme facilitates the realization of money-less society. Being able to use an aurocard in Auroville persists a practice which most of today's materialistic world is familiar with already.

Living Quarters in Sadhana Forest

Dorm for Sadhana Forest volunteers

Indigenous Tamil style huts are the ubiquitous accommodations of Sadhana Forest. Some huts have second floor or small attics too. Most volunteers in Sadhana Forest gets to sleep in dormitories. The dorms are basically large huts. There are three dorms at the time of writing this, two of them are two stories. Long term volunteers get special treatment, they live in their own huts.

The sturdy huts made of hardwood, and coconut leaves and ropes are quite impressive. A big opening in the front serves as door. Usually the huts come with multiple opening on the side, all triangular, serving as windows. This allows plenty of wind to pass through in all directions.

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.

Didi

Ladies of Nepal are your "Didi" (elder sister). That's the ubiquitous polite way of addressing a Nepali lady. You'll see them running grocery stores, tea stalls, restaurants, working in fields, carrying big loads across mountainous Nepali landscape and may be managing the hotel you're staying at.

Ongma Didi, busy maintaining business correspondence on a snowy morning in Manang. Ongma manages a hotel in Manang with her husband, Tashi.