The heat, the salute and the meditation

The days have been hot here this year – about 5-6 degrees warmer than when we were in the Pondicherry area last year. There has also been almost no rain to quell the impact of the heat. Last night, after a hot, humid day, the rain did come for about 20 minutes. It was a hard rain but nothing like a monsoon. It did not bring relief. Instead, given the already high humidity with high heat, the air turned into the moist, melting air that we in places like Calgary associate only with a sauna.

The ground gets covered in water but melts away almost as fast as it comes. Plants seem to quickly soak up what is available. Our night watchman, a man who insists on saluting me whenever he sees me, knows that the plants need much more. He still did his rounds of watering.

Later in the evening, the real rain arrived and broke the back on the heat. It rained most of the night leaving the ground wet and the air fresh. This morning, there is a gentle breeze offering a freshness that has not been seen since we arrived. It is quite beautiful. The morning is also full of birds singing and the cock at the farm next door engaged in multiple rounds of announcing the morning. Magical stuff really.

The saluting thing is not breakable. His English is not so good so I have not been able to ascertain if he was in the army. But, when he sees me drive up, he arises from his seat, stands at attention and offers a full salute. My wife does not typically get such treatment, although she did once (why only once, one wonders?). Such is India.

He tried one night to tell us to go to Pondicherry, some 10 km away, to get a new roll of toilet paper. We now make sure the day staff does not leave us without a supply. However, over time, I have built up something of a relationship with him. He now allows me to go the bottled water supply for whatever amounts I seem to need.  I have managed plates, glasses and cutlery during such runs. But alas, there is no sign of the toilet paper.

With the heat, and dirt roads that we travel, one finishes the day so dusty and sweaty, that it is almost impossible to be in your own skin. The notion of washing up in a bucket might seem, in other circumstances, less than desirable. In this case, it has been akin to stepping into heaven. The water has a silken luxury to it. Combined with soap, it washes away what feels like 5 pounds of grime. I wonder if I can package that as a new weight loss technique?

Suffering from a touch of academia, I have found myself doing some advising to two graduate students. One lives in Pondicherry and is doing a PhD in social work. He is a rather brave fellow who seeks to be the only one of his 37 classmates to do qualitative research. He might be the star of the class although he is struggling to find a soul mate in the world of qualitative within his university.

I was a bit dismayed, however, when I learned that some of the social work principles that we hold so dear (such as Person in Environment) seemed rather foreign concepts – well I guess they are foreign as from the West.

The other is an American who is studying in what might be the most delicious city in the world – Paris. She is doing a masters degree that involves looking at a social community project. I would offer ongoing advising if it meant that I could get trips to Paris. Alas, that is not in the fortunes.

Each morning April and I have the joy of meditating in the Matrimandir. This has apparently become one of the top tourist spots in India. Fortunately, we are able to go into the meditation area each morning. It is a place of such mystical spirit that it makes the journey to here so amazing. It is for that alone that I feel the training and consultation I do here grants me such returns.

The Matrimandir

As I write this, I find it astounding to believe that we are half way through our trip. We will leave here a couple of days earlier and go to Chennai. I have been invited to give a lecture there. Apparently I am to be introduced by a High Court judge. I feel honoured but sort of humbled by the chance to do this. It will be fascinating to see how things go.

Tonight we have power. But, yesterday, there was none for the entire daylight hours. This means that things like bank machines did not work. For restaurants and the like, they are used to power outages so they have generators. You can tell if the power is on easily – just listen for the hum of the generators.

I did go to the bank machine today. I wasn’t sure of the daily limit so I was a bit slow. The watchman came to assist me and advise of the daily limit as well as the way around it. For this, he felt a tip was in order. Ah well, it seemed worth the knowledge.

Each trip to India is a journey of sights, smells, people and inner searching. This trip is no exception.