Auroville and beer
Yesterday's main attraction was Auroville, a small "international community" outside of Pondicherry, founded in 1968 by a French woman known as "The Mother," based on the philosophy of her deceased spiritual partner, Sri Aurbindo. Main attraction is a spherical space-age looking golden temple known as the Matrimandir. Outsiders are not allowed inside the Matrimandir, but we were able to take a stroll through the woods and observe it from a pastoral platform about 20 yards away.
Last night as we were about to find our way to the main road and take an auto-rickshaw to a nearby restaurant, we were intercepted by Tim and Shannon's upstairs neighbor, a loud-talking, middle-aged, Berkeley-educated Yale professor and native of Orissa who is hanging out in Injambakkam working on two books on a MacArthur grant. He invited us to eat and drink beer with him and his friends Sam, Bala, and Bala's wife Laxmi. It was a later night than I'd planned for, but entertaining.
Today we did laundry, had lunch at a TexMex joint (yes, really) with Shannon, and then went to the Dakshina Chitra cultural center where we learned about traditional crafts and traditional dwellings from around Southern India, and bought a bunch of tchotchkes to share with you all on our return :-)
Tomorrow morning bright and early we head to Agra via Delhi for the final leg of our trip.
I'm still enjoying myself, but also starting to be ready to get back to my regular routine, not to mention my regular diet -- not that I dislike Indian food; but my body is craving some brown rice veggie stir fry.
Last night as we were about to find our way to the main road and take an auto-rickshaw to a nearby restaurant, we were intercepted by Tim and Shannon's upstairs neighbor, a loud-talking, middle-aged, Berkeley-educated Yale professor and native of Orissa who is hanging out in Injambakkam working on two books on a MacArthur grant. He invited us to eat and drink beer with him and his friends Sam, Bala, and Bala's wife Laxmi. It was a later night than I'd planned for, but entertaining.
Today we did laundry, had lunch at a TexMex joint (yes, really) with Shannon, and then went to the Dakshina Chitra cultural center where we learned about traditional crafts and traditional dwellings from around Southern India, and bought a bunch of tchotchkes to share with you all on our return :-)
Tomorrow morning bright and early we head to Agra via Delhi for the final leg of our trip.
I'm still enjoying myself, but also starting to be ready to get back to my regular routine, not to mention my regular diet -- not that I dislike Indian food; but my body is craving some brown rice veggie stir fry.