Pondicherry and Auroville

I just realized it has been a month since I last posted something -- bad Summer!

I have a couple of videos of recent trips to post. The first, here, is last weekend's trip to Pondicherry and Auroville. Pondicherry (or Pondy) used to be a French colony, so it has a French flair to it as well as a population of French speaking Indians.

They certainly have the French cafe down right. I can only think of a couple of places in Chennai where you can get away from the hustle of the city and enjoy a nice meal or cup of tea. In Pondy it seemed like the entire weekend we were traveling between one quiet eatery to another (with some shopping in between...by some I mean a lot... (Shelley, I am hot on the trail of some fabulous salwar - they have several modern styles that I think would go over really well in Bellingham!). This weekend was not only the Indian independence day from the British, but it was also Pondy's independence from France (the 15th and 16th respectively). While we were in Wuroville during most of the ceremonies, we did see some preparations for the event in a marching group making its way through the quiet streets.

Auroville, for those of you who aren't aware, is an experimental community based on the vision of a woman they call "The Mother". It is a very creative place where experiments in sustainable living, arts, and architecture all collide. We were fortunate enough to be there for the birthday ceremony for The Mother where we silently observed the sunrise over bonfires at the Matrimandir, the place for meditation and a monument to The Mother. To learn more see: http://www.auroville.org/.

Hope you enjoy the video!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uZ_hZHx4U8