Brown bread and meditation

I've had some good days lately. On Friday I went to have a look for this Norwegian girl (Hege), who I met when I was doing the Auroville introduction tour. She is doing her field work in anthropology in a small village which lies within the area of Auroville.

She had explained how to find her, so luckily she was there. It was great having someone Norwegian to speak with for a change. We decided to have a little walk, but then Hege told me that she had stepped on a nail the day before and she was wondering if she should see a doctor. (She didn't really feel like having a shot though, so at first she thought it wasn't necessary, but after having talked to another Tamil girl as well, she decided it might be best to go and have a Tetanus shot.

So we went to the Auroville Health Centre. It was very simple to get an appointment. While we were waiting there, we met Fabian, a German guy. He was also waiting to see the doctor for an infection. When they where both done, Fabian came with us to where Hege lives in the village and we had some tea.

The next morning I moved out from Auroville again, back to a guesthouse closer to the beach (Muthu Guesthouse). Fabian was already staying there, so I met him again when I got there.

In the afternoon he was making a salad and invited me to join. So I got the task to hunt for brown bread. something which isn't very available in India, but in Auroville Bakery they have it. However it was quite far to the Bakery and I no longer had my moped, so I went down to this restaurant where I remember seeing brown bread on the menu. I was hoping I could by some slices, but of course he didn;t have any left. However the guy, Riaz, who owns the place told me I could borrow his moped to go to the Auroville Bakery. I was very happy, until I got to the bakery and realized it was closed. Lunchbreak. I ended up having to buy this incredibly dry white Indian bread. The salad was nice anyway though:) Espescially after all the activity to find bread.


Riaz working in his kitchen

Later in the day we decided to go and visit the Matrimandir (soul of Auroville). It is a huge building shaped like a golden ball, inside there is a meditation chamber.
Between 4-5.30 pm tourists can access it on a short tour. We started walking from the village about about 3 pm, but it was quite far and we were barely halfway when it was almost 4 pm. But we had luckbecause a woman stopped and offered us a lift (we didn't even try to hitchhike?!) So we made it there in time.

We did the tour, then after you have done the tour you get a meditation pass, which allows you to enter from 5-7 pm every evening. So we went back and sat in the meditation room for about an hour. It was quite special. The room is round and completely white, in the middle there is a crystal ball which light comes from outside and reflects in the ball. It is completely silent. Quite a few people were there meditating.


The Matrimandir

Yesterday met up with Hege again. We went to Pondicherry where we did some shopping and had lunch. It was good to get out of the village for a day. In the evening I was just going to have tea in Riaz's restaurant, when I met Igor, a Russian guy living almost next to Riaz place. He actually lives in one of Riaz huts, so he came with me and we had tea and played chess. I lost though, but had a good time.

Today I dont have any big plans. I will just relax and read I guess. Im planning to leave on Wednesday or Thursday!