94. PONDY & AUROVILLE - MY 11th TRIP

Pondicherry is on the eastern seaboard of India. Excavations have revealed a Roman settlement existed 2000 years ago. This was the scene of many a battle fought between the British and the French. Pondy was the capital of French India before it attained independence in 1954. The French stayed 300 years.

It's a 2 and a 1/2hr drive south of Madras. (Chennai)










1 of their many fanciful Catholic churches

this is the way they package their cotton candy - is'nt it neat?

Pondicherry is best known for the ashram of Sri Aurobindo, a world teacher with a large following in Europe. His spiritual collaborator was known as The Mother, a woman of Turkish Egyptian ancestry. A yin-yang combination. 











 






Aurobindo's philosophy is pretty much like Theosophy. There are no rituals, no compulsory meditation, no practices. It revolves around 1 principle - to surrender to the divine principle and be open to the divine force.

Indian 'French' gendarme

Street scenes - leafy suburbs, wide boulevards - quiet for an Indian town... 

The area in and around the ashram is quiet almost closed to noisy traffic. For an Indian town, Pondy is actually quiet and there's almost an air of graciousness about it...

 

The Matrimandir in the commune Auroville, a township created as an experiment to celebrate unity in diversity. This golden globe is a place for quiet reflection and meditation and being late in the day, it was closed. I visited when it was under construction in year 2k (see. Post 36 - The New Colonialists)

The place was overrun by Caucasians either living or working there to build the place. It's now a large, lush and green commune but its inhabitants are tucked away among the greenery in their cottages. It would be interesting to see them and their homes because I sense those cottages are retirement homes to certain wealthy individuals. 

For such a small town with a small French population, France has a consulate office here which handle small immigration matters. Perhaps, slowly but surely and legally too, the French have quietly 'colonised' Pondy again - through Auroville. 











Only in a former French colony will you find such colorful expression, in most Indian cities, if not all, car owners pick their cars in black or white

Love this window grille. It's nice that the Indians stick to their very own style of everything instead of having new modern westernised versions. It helps that the population's huge so there's lots of talent and there's no need to import talent from outside the country. China's like that too and both countries are proud of what their sons and daughters' produce in the areas of art, dance, music, movies, fashion, design and science.....












 

This Frenchified little town has names like Romain Rolland Library and Rue de la Marine. Their cops are gendarmes and locals carry names like Francois and Armand. Needless to say, there's a large Catholic population here. 

The Aurobindo Ashram Publications has probably the largest selection of Aurobindo's books and tapes

 











Our hotel was rustic albeit a little rundown. The Bay of Bengal was right there and I was lulled to sleep by the crashing waves

Early morning yoga and a walk along the beach was the ritual, after dinner it was an exchange of topics over tea and coffee. Absolutely nobody in the group of 30 drank nor smoked! So spiritual to keep the body temples so clean! To top it all, all meals were vegetarian. All Goody Two Shoes till our return to S'pore! But most did well......



 

My days are just packed...

93. THE BOAT PEOPLE

Post 25 Mother - As above so below
Post 72 : Mother - Unconditional Love



 

The Tonle Sap Lake and her floodplains

The huge Tonle Sap lake is the largest inland freshwater lake in SEA. Tonle Sap is Khmer for 'large freshwater river'. There are 9 provinces that form part of the Tonle Sap UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. It is a combined lake and river system that is so special it can support at least 3 million people providing them an income and main food source.

What makes the ebb and flow of the Tonle Sap so spiritual is that for most of the year this lake is fairly small. During the monsoons, the Tonle Sap River flows into this lake connecting it with the Mekong, reversing its flow.

Water is pushed up from the Mekong into the lake increasing its area and depth, flooding nearby fields and forests. This floodplain provides a perfect breeding ground for fish, making this area one of the most productive inland fisheries in the world. At the end of the rainy season, the flow reverses and the fish are carried downriver. The reversal of the river's flow also acts as a safety valve to prevent flooding further downstream.
During the dry season, the Tonle Sap Lake provides around 50% of the flow to the Mekong Delta in Vietnam.

This unusual flow changes direction twice a year. The portion that forms the lake expands and shrinks with the seasons. During Cambodia's dry season - Nov-May, the Tonle Sap drains into the Mekong River in Phnom Penh. When the heavy rains begin in June, The Tonle Sap backs up to form an enormous lake.

Left to her own devices, Mother Nature provides. Everything hums along in perfect harmony and rhythm until Man interferes. The building of high dams in Southern China and Laos has threatened this reverse flow and fish catches are down. I expect more damage to lives, livelihoods and the environment.

This annual rhythm in Cambodia, Vietnam, even Thailand, shows how very interconnected we all are, that what happens in one country affects very much countries nearby, even the world. That what takes place naturally in this region is the work of an intelligent unseen Power that provides and loves unconditionally and that we, the inhabitants on Her body only need to respect and appreciate her work with a thankful heart
 

The floating village here is home to large numbers of ethnic Vietnamese and Cham communities...

The Vietnamese boat people are an amazing bunch of humans - resilient, flexible, highly adaptable, clearly with strong minds and bodies.
Generations have lived this way. The Vietnam War ended nearly 50 years ago - they have fought the Chinese, French, Americans and none could obliterate the Vietnamese Tribe. (see post 37: Good Morning Vietnam!)
 
They have formed communities in countries nearby, others have made good in the West and in Australia and many have now returned to their ancestral land to contribute. But still others seem to enjoy their lives living in such boat communities - it's home to them and they go about their daily business the way landlubbers go about theirs.














 

A crocodile farm on a boat is possible where there's a restaurant selling its meat and small goods made from its skin

 









Can they swim? Maybe. Do they or their parents care? Maybe

 













These young 'uns are on their way to school, note such communities are never obese

The Village School - on a boat of course....
By the side of their school on the river bank was their basketball court

  

Baguettes to go

With education and skills development, such people in the region will surpass Singaporeans. They are young, lean and hungry with great initiative and think out of the box all the time.

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 The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes - Marcel Proust, French novelist

......For the mind, once stretched, can never go back to its original dimensions - Oliver Wendell Holmes