Exploring Pondicherry-IV

On the next day we did not go anywhere outside the Pondicherry. We visited few noted places like ‘Vinayagar Temple’ of Lord Ganesha, ‘Immaculate Cathedral’ and Romain Rolland Library. Romain Rolland library located on Romain Rolland street (previously known as Bibliotheque Publique)  is one of the oldest library in India named after notable French scholar ‘Romain Rolland’. This library contains over 300,000 volumes in different languages.  We visited a sweet mart run by Ashrama in the city and enjoyed eating Bengali sweets, sometimes trying the fast food on the Chinese corner and also special Tamil meal on the banana leaf in traditional Tamil restaurant. Serving food on the banana leaf reminded me of my own Maharashtrian culture and felt like at home. Our next plan was to visit Pichavaram, largest mangrove forest in India, on the backwaters of Vellar and Colerron rivers and about eighty kilometers from Pondicherry. We enquired at the Bus stand about the bus availability and the frequency to Pichvaram. The buses were available at every 30 minutes. We decided to catch the bus at 11:00 AM next day, after completing our morning session and planned ‘to bunk the afternoon session’.

Swimming at Arikamedu

         Next day after having our breakfast and finishing our morning session we were standing on the bus stand waiting for the bus. Bus came on time ( I would like to note that the transportation service and the roads in South India, especially in Tamilnadu are much better than my state, Maharashtra), the fare was pretty cheap, for the distance of eighty Kilometers the fare was just rupees seventeen. Shortly the bus was with full of crowd talking to each other and creating noise. People were looking at us periodically with puzzled expressions, must be wondering what these strangers are doing here. Within few minutes’ bus started and the bus driver put on the radio set to listen his favorite Tamil songs, here people are just crazy about listening songs even in public transport. We were also enjoying these songs although we were unaware of its lyrics and meaning. The journey was little boring, we had a nap in the meantime and when we woke up our bus was about to reach Pichavaram. To our surprise, only two of us along with the bus conductor (and off course the driver) were in the bus, otherwise the bus was empty. We got down at the bus stand which was very small in size, with nobody around, having only cafeteria and one small government office in the corner. We wanted to enjoy the boating in the backwaters but the government official told us that the boat capacity is of 8 people, so either you pay for all seats or just wait till you get 6 more companions. We preferred to wait instead of paying for all seats as we had a plenty of time to spend but not money. Then we started to think about swimming in the backwaters but the boatman who was sitting nearby warned us that the water is salty and the mangrove plants in the water can cause itching of your body, so we dropped that idea. We spent next one hour just by chatting and looking at the water. After some time couple of tourist vehicles appeared, few groups got down and after having group photographs with mangrove backwater in the background, they just went ahead.  We decided to wait for next half an hour to try our luck. We went for a walk to see the nearby area but there was not much to see except the backwater and the greenery. Suddenly the boatman came to us with smiley face telling us that we have got company. Those were the group of five young Tamil boys nearly of our age. So we were now seven in number but the boatman agreed to take us for ride. We enjoyed the ride going through the mangrove forest and came back after an hour or two. 

On the way to Auroville

          In the Ashrama’s dining hall there is one section in which it was not allowed to speak at all. That evening, we decided to take a meal in that section. We took our dishes and sat on one bench. Almost everybody in that room was above sixty and they were staring at us when we entered the room. Rushikesh tried to mutter something in my ear and immediately one person pointed and told us by gestures to keep quiet. We felt very uncomfortable and when came out after finishing our dinner felt like a free bird. How difficult it was to keep quiet for just fifteen minutes. We decided not to go again in that room. We shared our experience with Aruna and she laughed and started teasing us, “Who told you to go there and behave like a monk”? Then she asked us whether we would like to see the whole dining hall and kitchen. We replied “yes, with pleasure”. We entered the big hall with giant machinery lying around. Aruna explained us where the food grains and vegetables are stored, how the meal is prepared with the giant machinery, how the vegetables are washed first and then put into tray and then passed to cut into small pieces or how the breads are baked. How the food is examined by few elders when it gets ready. Only after their approval it was permitted to serve. Truly, it was pretty long and strict process. We were really impressed by this efficient management of dining hall and kitchen. The concept of the dining room was said to be introduced by ‘The Mother’(original name ‘Mirra Alfassa’), who came to Pondicherry initially in 1914 and was impressed by the spiritual movement started by ‘Sri Aurobindo’. She stayed at Pondicherry for a year and went back to France, her native country. She joined ‘Sri Aurobindo’ again in 1920 and remained in Pondicherry forever. When Ashrama was formed in 1926, ‘Sri Aurobindo’ gave the charge of Ashrama to ‘The Mother’ as a spiritual head. 
      After spending some time in the town, we returned to our place. Charulata, a granny of age seventy who was in charge of our guest house was still in her cabin. She always used to inquire about our eye school sessions. She was kind hearted but a woman of discipline. She used to scold or taunt us in case we got up late in the morning or missed any of our eye school sessions. She was the one who suggested us to go to Auroville on bicycle next day.

My friend Rushikesh

   Auroville is small village, at a distance of 14 kilometers from Pondicherry. What is so special about Auroville? There is definitely something special about this place.  It is a small village in which the people from just 50 countries are living together peacefully. Can you believe this? No? But you have to believe this. Auroville is a global village in a true sense, it is a unique example in the world to show how the people from different background, ethnicity, nationality, culture can live together, administrate together, sending message of brotherhood, peace and harmony to the world. Another special feature of Auroville is ‘Matri Mandir’ or Mother’s Temple dedicated to spirituality and Yoga, initiated by The Mother. Now we were desperate to visit Auroville.  We started our journey after taking our lunch in the afternoon, around at 1:30 PM.  The distance was relatively larger and scorching sun along with the humidity only increased our difficulties. Our movements were slow and we were feeling sleepy after having heavy lunch. We took our first halt just after covering 3 Kilometers and took a rest for a while, thinking that there will be no more halts after this and then we took many more such halts till we reach Auroville.  When we were just 3-4 kilometers away from the Auroville one sudden turn, parting from the main road took us to the new world. The village was just like any other Indian village in appearance (with few variations) but the population was in contrast to the village. We found people of diverse ethnic origin passing by us. There were small mud houses but there were also giant beautiful villas, we could see the people who were riding the bicycle but we also saw people riding the expensive motorbikes like Harley Davidson, the local Indian people and other people of foreign origin were intermixed together in their daily routines, to appear as if they are family members. It was around 4:00 o’clock when we reached Auroville. Streets were nearly empty; we parked our bicycles at one place and moved further to see the village. We saw one community hall where people were gathered and some discussion was going on. We went ahead and sat on steps around the hall. It was the meeting to discuss the problems, to share the thoughts and to spend some time with the village community. People were expressing their concerns and asking questions to the group of men sitting at the center. After some time we got bored and left that place to see Matri Mandir.
    Matri Mandir or Mother’s Temple is the main attraction of Auroville. It is a sphere shaped grand monument covered with golden plates. The concept of the Matri Mandir was initiated by The Mother, in order to make it as center of Yoga and spirituality. The construction of the building was started back in 1971 on the occasion of The Mother’s birthday and it was completed in the year 2008. When we visited it in the year 2000, only few of the golden plates were placed at the bottom and the construction of the dome was in progress. Some people call it a ‘House for the third Millennium’. The dome is supported by the 4 pillars and represents the four directions. The main inner chamber is situated at the center of the dome. It was prohibited to talk in the premises of the MatriMandir, when we went inside we were offered meditation pass and pair of socks to wear. Meditation pass was also an entry pass for our future visits. Finally, we entered meditation hall. There were few chairs too in the hall for those who are not comfortable sitting on the mat, I was surprised as I could not grasp the concept of meditation by sitting on the chair.  We sat, obviously on the mat for meditation by closing our eyes and forgetting everything we had in our mind at that moment. It was a memorable experience in divine atmosphere; we lost our tensions, sorrow, problems in those 10 minutes.  We found ourselves steady, calm and quiet after coming out of the chamber as if we were now enlightened by some divine force. We came out of the premises of MatriMandir, went in cafeteria and relaxed for a while. We ordered some snacks and then we realized that we were mute at least for half an hour. How was that possible? May be it was the effect of Matri Mandir which kept us mute for ‘such a long time’. After coming back to the Pondicherry, we were still calm, quiet and lost in some thoughts. After all it was a first silent but divine experience for us at Matri Mandir which we hadn’t has before. 

(in continuation)