NY Times Article About Pondicherry

tacita

thought i'd pass on this piece about pondicherry. great photos, too.

unlike the Times' last big spread on India, there's no mention of IndiaMike--hmph!

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capt_mahajan

Was there about six months ago, last.

Agree.

Wish I didn't have to feel the searing heat, though.. in October.

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jyotirmoy

In 1971 I spent a long time in Pondy (Auroville) in a commune called Serenity. We were all young people from all over the world. We all wanted to work at the jam factory as we could hog on the fruits while chopping them. Unfortunately I worked designing cyclone warning systems and could not eat lamps !!!!

tacita

a friend of mine read the same article this morning and, referring to that quote, said he wasn't especially interested in visiting P'cherry for that very reason. by contrast, i find the idea of a destination with "a lot to feel" a highly compelling reason to visit!

(well, maybe not the searing heat!)

Indizen

I liked Pondicherry because it has a different feel to it.

capt_mahajan

Yes, it does.

Parts of it, anyway.

all-one-heart

I was there in 1975, and 25 yrs old. We were making clothes for Auroshika. (Cotton cloth not so great to eat either!)
However we really got into the vegetable kurma, the great masala dosas, and the cold coffees when ever we could!

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Nick-H

I just like Pondicherry!

I didn't like it that much, on the first recent visit, preferred it on the second, now find myself thinking, Mmmm... Visit Pondicherry one day soon

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rebeccam

Tacita, thank you for posting this. I was just about to post it here , as I also get NYT via email. You beat me to it (-:
Pondi sounds and looks intriguing, with its French influence. Interesting combination! Alas, it'll have to be on the "one day" list.

atala

Small error in the article: Aurobindo is nobody's guru in Auroville. Auroville is trying to do with the advice "No new religion" which makes it a bit awkward there because everyone has a desire to express their gratitude if it makes itself felt, but even offering a flower to a picture of Aurobindo or "the Mother" is not a thing to do there.

What I like about Pondy is that it gives me really some relief from "British India". Until recently it was not connected to the Indian normal gauge railway system, so on one side it was and still is not that easy to reach except by bus, but on the other hand it was sort of special with its many French living there. The white town really has more of a European touch. So in Pondy you can be in India, in the middle of Tamil Nadu, and yet experience something quite a bit different at the same time.

all-one-heart

Wow! Glad you said this, it's got me thinking... I personally love giving flowers and waving lights to people who have shown the way or championned the search for the Self.
Why is Auroville worried about the "new religion" thing?

atala

Auroville was founded to become "a laboratory of evolution", a place where the new supra-mundane consciousness would find a place to manifest in. Religion is a means of the past, and therefor inadequate to express that new consciousness. Introducing a new religion would therefore be a redundance of past ways of expression. This is in short the underlying ideological claim. The reality, however, is that life creates and asks for its own ways of expression. Ritualization is one of them. What you describe how you like to express your gratitude is repeating a ritual which in a larger context could become part of or is already part of another form of religion. Such expressions are not encouraged in Auroville in public, but individual people living there find their own private ways to do just that. While others repress that need in a sort of "protestant" reaction, trying to uphold the dogmas (the teachings) rather than an outward expression of their faith.

In terms of Sociology of Religion, this attitude forces the religious drive into further isolation, atomizing and individualizing religion even more: there is no collective anymore in which any rituals could be shared. The only collective rituals that you find in Auroville is the attendance of some anonymous bonfire happening on "the Mother's" and Aurobindo's birthdays. Or the public reading of some of their texts at architectural sites erected in their name.

For readers with a faint familiarity it should be clarified that Auroville is different and separated from the Aurobindo Ashram in Pondy, even though the two are based on the same kind of teaching. In Pondy some sort of ritualized veneration is practized at the Samadhi, the burial places of the two leading personalities. But even there it is kept to the minimum that cannot be denied to Indians in general. Veneration is also expressed there at Darshan days when tens of thousands of Indians queue up to see for a brief moment the rooms where the two used to stay.

brishti

atala:
what about the sizeable non-indian population in auroville that have built homes and business' and are here to stay?
where do they fit in?
and what is the philosophy behind their kinda commune-like [for want of a better word] lifestyle?

i have never been there - and keep wondering about this.
have met folks from there - but not long enough to question them.
and they're folks from just all over the EU.
am i correct?

amazing handicrafts in auroville.



:brishti

Scandojazzbuff

Nostalgia, Nick. The memory of European culture, comfort, cuisine. Yes, if you stay in a Heritage hotel, eat in an upscale restaurant, and, walk the small French enclave for a glimpse of colonial culture, you can feel there is some connection here.

OTOH, if you compare a town like Pondi with Mammalapuram, which is very close to your house, I say there is no comparison at all. Mamalla has everything an ex-pat or Indian National would want. Great temple sites, good food/restaurants/hotels, and, right on the sea. Plus, you can meet Coconut Raja, the keeper of Tiger Cave monument, whose life was saved during Tsunami by climbing up the diagonal chunk of granite erected during Pallava times as a lookout spot.

Maybe Mamalla is too close to the hearth to appreciate?

Nick-H

Mamallapuram makes for an easy afternoon out for us*; I took some visitors there only two days ago. But, I have no need to see its 'sites' more than once in a while, and I find the tourist atmosphere a bit overwhelming.

Pondy, for me, is not nostalgia, no: French influence, to this Brit, is a very foreign thing! A certain elegance, though, is nice --- and I can enjoy a comfortable hotel anywhere .

Closest to the hearth is best! I can go for days without travelling further than the garden.



*Pondy is not exactly far; less than three hours drive, and it is a pleasant drive.