…..sadhana……a spiritual path
…so here we are, sadhana forest, arriving yesterday was a bit weird as you can imagen, a differnet contury, different people, a different life. despite our flights been slightly mixed up and slightly delayed due to air india staff going on strike we arrived in chennai only an hour late and thankfully our taxi driver- arranged from auroville transport was still waiting, our name boaard in hand outside the terminal.
we opted fro a taxi due to the fact we were arriving at 3am and we were happy we did, finding a hostel at that time would of been hell im guessing. So we drove through chennai and down tamil nadu towards pondicherry, crazy roads, cows, plastic and colourful posters. I fell asleep befoore we reach the forest so kate woke me just as we were entering the forest. we were welcomed warmly and had a walk round before being showed our hut and joining the rest for breakfast, we didnt have to work that day due to our traveling tiredness ect. we lept through lunch but then joined again for dinner, after which there was an open stage evening, we’d been introduced to people in passing and had a few coversations so the preformances were small incited intoo their personalities and the ways in which they function within the group here. The real ‘getting to know’ people coversations happened during the shifts of work today however.
it helped that we were less tired and well rested after a pleasant nights sleep under our mossie nets, i actually slept better then i would at home…though thats not difficult!
we started work at 7am, making bunds in the forest- mounds of dirt in a lng path that would trap water on the higher ground for the trees to absorb. About 15 people are here for 3yrs on the project, making sure things run smoothly and having daily meetings about the running of the place. The hunts themselves seem bigger then our house back home.wooden slats covered with woven or straw mats on the floor, open sides with the high roofs slanting sharply down to almost meet, almost tease the floor. after the work in the forest and breakfast i helped prepare lunch- a vegan affiar ofcourse for 60odd people- consiting of dahl, lentils, marrow, aburgine, cabbage steam and mixed with mustard seed and finally rice. the food here is good and plentiful no one goes hungry and so far me and kate have struggled to finish our plates….thursday night is going out night here so we plan to follow the crowd to auroville or somewhere near by.
Its humid and sticky despite the small shower of rain this morning which made finishing the work in the forest all the more invigourating. Working hard but now ultimatley relaxed…the best way to be in his heat….
Tags: india, Sadhana Forest, Travel
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