Forests

The last two days have been thrilling! On Tuesday we learned about the research going on at the Ecole Francaise de Etreme Oriente and in the evening we had talks from Joss Brooks, the director of the Pitchandikulam Forest which is part of Auroville--a sustainably envisioned community--and from Dr. N. Loganthan who is a Medicinal Healer/Botanist and 11th generation healer.

Days 2-3--Pondichery

This city's trees have been half blown-down by a cyclone, but still it stands, albeit em decadência, as Brazilians might say.

There's lots to remind one of the nordeste, Salvador & São Luis.

 The wet and sweet putrescence of the streets especially reminds me of days & nights in Maranhão.

 There's too much to put it all in one blog post.

 Here we are in a French colonial library (very like some old Portuguese structure that might overlook the South Atlantic, this one is steps from the Bay of Bengal, where I went to watch the sun yesterday morning), which is the heart of the École Françase d'Extrême Orient where we listened about the work of various humanities scholars here in what was once the most important redoubt of the little bits of the subcontinent still called French India up through the middle of last century.

Pondicherry: Day 2 Musings

Walking along the beach early this morning, I couldn't help think that it is the same sea that took away my friend Jalal Alamgir exactly one month ago. Waves crashed against the rocks but beyond that a sense of calm prevailed, as far as the eyes could see. How deceptive the sea can be!

Pondicherry: Day One

I don't know why I thought Pondicherry would be idyllic, scenic, and pastoral. When I woke up in the bus in the midst of traffic and neon lights, I thought we were in a traffic jam, with miles to go before we reached our destination. But, no, we had arrived. And this place resembles Gulisthan in Dhaka, Bangladesh, if you know what I mean.

Image via SajjadF

Our two blocks to a South Indian restaurant for dosa ended up being more like ten blocks as we lost our way; it was nice because it gave us the opportunity to feel the pulse of this small city teeming with
baby-taxis or tuktuks, motor bikes, rickshaws, cars, vans, vendors, and an occasional cow.

We maneuvered our way through narrow and not-so-narrow alleys and people tried not to stare at this very large group of strangers courageously marching on. As Carolyn said, this was like a video game where the game was to follow Padma, and in doing so we had to overcome obstacles and remain alive. If you get hit, game over.

This may be the last day we have these 'touristy' posts, so I hope you have been enjoying our musings. We should move on to more 'intellectual' material tomorrow with our visit to EFEO. Let's see.