Climbing Arunachula

Okay, the story is that Shiva, Brahma, and Vishnu (the three main Hindu Gods) were having an argument over who was the greatest.  As a test, Shiva turned himself into a pillar of fire and told Vishnu and Brahma, whoever first reaches one of the ends of the pillar was certainly the greatest.  Vishnu turned into a boar and began digging into the Earth and Brahma turned into a swan and flew high into the sky.  Of course, neither found the end so Shiva was proclaimed the greatest of all Gods.

Arunachula Mountain is considered to be the very body of Shiva and, once a year, they commemorate this story by lighting a HUGE bonfire on the top.  It is also a pilgrimage to walk to the top.  We started at 6am and it took two hours to climb the 2,688 feet!.  We took our shoes off at the very top, which was a bit sketchy as it was covered in black goo from all the burned ghee butter.  Anyway, we all had a short puja with a swami and were actually served tea in a small, ramshackle hut. We weren't exactly sure where the milk came from (monkeys?), but didn't ask.

It was a very special hike that I will always remember.

Weekend in Tiruvannamalai

A few weekends ago our "cohort" had the opportunity to travel to Tiruvannamalai, a temple town and pilgrimage site about three hours northwest from Auroville.  We stopped for breakfast at Gingee and viewed Moghul hill forts, which date back to the Chola dynasty in 9th century AD.  During our 2 1/2 days there, we ...

• Walked 13km around the sacred Arunachula Mountain, considered to be the body of Shiva;
• Visited Sri Ramanamaharshi's Ashram & walked to a cave where he meditated for 23(!) years;
• We also had lunch at the ashram and talked with Michael, a monk originally from Texas;
• That afternoon, we visited Arunachaleeswarar Temple, the largest Shiva temple in India;
• The next morning, the students and I climbed for 2 hours to the summit of Arunachula;
• We also ate in some amazing restaurants and had time to relax and walk around.

All in all, it was an amazing weekend.  I hope you enjoy the video.

Simone's tour of Deepanam School

At long last, here is a video Simone showing off Deepanam, the school she is attending while in Auroville.  It was difficult condensing it as the original footage is almost 20 minutes long!  Enjoy!

Litter Free Auroville

Here's a video of "Litter Free Auroville", a full day event organized by a group of only 5-6 people.  Amazing.  Over 1,800 people participated, including children from schools in and around Auroville.  In total, about 10 load carriers worth of litter (~250 bags of trash and 2 broken porcelain toilets) were collected.  Ah, the power of community.  Living Routes students volunteered to help things moving along.  The "Trashion Show" in the evening was also fun.  Everything was made out of trash and it ranged from the beautiful to the bizarre.

Electric Rickshaw

A few years ago, Living Routes helped fund the development of two electric rickshaws in Auroville as part of our Carbon Mitigation Strategy and to support more ecological transport there.

For months before we came to Auroville, I dreamed of using one of these electric rickshaws as our family vehicle.  Here's a video of both the dream and reality of driving one.  In the end, we decided it was too difficult and uncomfortable, so now we have three vehicles: Monique drives a moped and I drive a motocycle (here known as a "bike") because each of these vehicles can hold one of us and both girls (I chose a bikr over a moped as it is more fuel efficient, but Monique feels it is too big for her).  We also have an electric "cycle" (bicycle), which can hold two people, that I typically ride when I'm going around with the students (who all have cycles).

Weekend in Mamallapuram

On the weekend of January 23, we went to Mamallapuram to pick up the 17 Living Routes' students.  Mamallapuram is a coastal town between Auroville and Chennai and is known for its stone carvings.  Stone carvers have been practicing their craft there for hundreds of years.  Here's a short video of some of the things we did there.