There are many images of India thtat stick with me. We were near the Bay of Bengal. Seeing the fisherman out in the Bay in their boats was an image readily available each time I was near the water. Towards the end, at one of the nearby beaches, I caught the whiff of drying fish - pungent to say the least. In asking, I was told that fish was being dried on the beach in order to sell to chicken producers for feed in some fashion. Drying one protein in order to feed to another protein fails me from a logic perspective particularly when the chickens being grown commercially here are no better off than the large commercial operations in the west.
Each morning April and I would wander through the trails in Auroville. We were met with beautiful views on the sun breaking through the trees and the heavy dew that was present with the humidity. We also had a dog come with us each morning. He was nobody's pet in particular that we could tell but he enjoyed wandering each day along the trails with us. Only once was he chased away when he timidly stepped into another dog's territory.
The walks were almost always met with wonderful images of people, animals and scenes. In this one above, this man was walking down the road with his cows and grass that he had collected to feed them. He stopped so that I could get the picture and we shared a vanakam (pronounced wanna - come) which is a hello. I met various others on this road which I passed on as a pedestrin, cyclist or scooter rider.
Animals are everywhere. Perhaps, other than the cows and goats, the most common find on our morning walks were the peacocks. Living where we were, one has a special relationship with them. They are at once gorgoeus and annoying. The annoyance comes with their clockwork precise morning territorial ritual calls at 0430. The beauty is with just who they are. Observing them, one does come to recognize that they are not an overly bright bird. One day, walking between rooms where we were staying, I was met with three on them in front of me. Rather than take the obvious exits through the gardens on either side, the scurried down the very path I was walking, stopping to check on whether I was still coming that way and when it was clear I was, panickly walking forward only to repeat the exercise - three times.
Other animals abounded. One of the hardest to get a picture of is the elusive mongoose. This animal catches snakes and has a fairly high immunity to their venom. Usually you just get glimpses of them running across the road.
It being spring time, it was also time for birthing. Herds of goats wander about some wild and many with shephards tending them. At this time of year, you would see lots of little babies. This guy was just learning to walk on his first day of life.
The goats of course scavanage for food everywhere. A concern is that streetside garbage often includes plastics that they and the cows eat. For the cows, that can lead to a painful death.
Other animals that we met were lots of birds, bats, a few snakes, monkees and scorpions along with the too often present mosquito. I am now pretty fast at killing them - one down - 10 million to go!
There is no doubt that the people of India are the rael memories. I found most friendly. The children are delights and often want their pictures taken. On occasion, they had been well indoctrinated into the culture of begging and would ask for money. This was particularly true where westerners were more prominent. Like most tourist areas, when there, you also have to watch your possessions carefully, although we had no incidnets of note throughout our trip. There were so many children. and to select even a few pictures fails to give a sense of how wonderful they were.
Poverty is evident as an ever present piece of the story of India. We saw many hard working people attemtping to find ways to manage against some pretty big struggles. We also met some middle class Indians who are doing quite well. While these discrepencies exist all over the world, they are more blatant in India. You need just sit and watch. The left overs of the caste system are there and can be felt when a higher Indian chastises a lower one. This was a scene too easily scene. As a westerner I found it very uncomfortable but admit that my understanding is weak.
The dowry is also still a major part of the Indian culture which is bankrupting poor families as they try to meet the obligations associated with marriage. I hear of attempts to change it but reading the paper there makes it quite obvious it is still occuring along with honour killings.
Where we stayed, we had the opportunity to meet the amas who cared for us. They are a wonderful, quirky group who displayed caring and humour despite the language problems. I had a lot of fun with them and some gentle teasing back and forth grew over the time we were there. When I tried to learn a new Tamil word, they would chatter and laugh between themelves at my pathetic attempts. Here are a few of them:
Mohana, Parmasurie, Manjoua and Kastorea (all likley spelled wrong). 
Rajakumari
Rajakumari
Overall, you see a hardworking people in India. I was particularly impressed with the women who appeared to be doing a lot of manual labour in the rural areas. Such labour is backbreaking and would be done in the west by machines. Much of the work could be done more productively that way no doubt. There is soemthing of an industrialized revolution on the horizon. How that will play out in the rural areas is worrisome. Family life will be changed and the employment base will also be altered as it has in many parts of the world. These are not new challenges worldwide but it is not obvious how government will handle it here. The power grid is uncertain with outages occuring daily.
There is a small family tea shop in Kuliapalam, the town near where we stayed. We would go there for our daily fix of masala chai. There would be days when they could not be open as there was no power - days for which there would be no income as a result. Businesses of any size have back up generators to at least allow them to function. A lady from Bangalore told me that her company had powerful backups as outages are daily and the business cannot afford that. She said that was typical of what business did.
I also heard stories of farmers being lured into buying new farming equipment that they ultimately could not pay for as the prices for their goods could not cover the loans. The papers had frequent stories about farmer suicides.
Planting corn by hand
I am obviously a poorly informed Westerner in respect of the challenges of India.Thus, my observations are from that platform but I see and hear in the Indian media and those I talk with of a country undergoing a major structural change - but it is also a country with a poverty base that does not, from outward appearances, seem to be the real beneficiaries of the change.
There are many positive changes for sure. Business is growing and the economy is expanding. Education is gaining in importance. The taxi drivers who have limited education are determined that their children will go on with their education. I met one man whose father had died when he was young leaving he and his siblings with having to leave school and go to work. Yet, he had struggled through very hard times to have now built a career. He is committed that his children will have more than that - they will have a career that is built upon a good education.
The people that we met also included a number of others visiting from various parts of the world including France, Switzerland, Holland, Finland, USA, Japan, Korea, Germany and, hard to believe Canada. The meeting of people is the best part of the trip. Where we stayed had communal suppers which opened up the meeting and exchanges of experiences as well as information about what was going on.
I have become addicted to masala chai as well as soda with fresh lime juice and salt. On a warm day, nothing is better.
Until the next time!
