Finally up

There are some jobs that take an effort to get done that seems to be out of all proportion to the simplicity of the job. Putting up the posters about rubbish seems to be one of them.

First we had to get the posters printed on plastic in Pondy as they don't do it anywhere in Auroville. That always takes a day or two and several phone calls. Then we decided to nail them up, but there were no nails and when Rajan went to the shop in Koot Road it was closed. So he had to find out when it was opening and make another journey there.

Finally, however, the posters are up. After all that effort I hope that all the volunteers read and act on the information about how to separate their rubbish. Given past experience I am not too hopeful but..... 

On the line

Today I came across all these mosquito nets piled up on the washing line.

I thought they were an interesting mix of colours, shapes and textures.

From the phone

Its been a very quiet day today when I have only spoken to very few people, two of them being Emma and Sam on Skype. This has given me the time to sort out how to transfer pictures from my new phone to my computer using bluetooth.

I am very pleased as this means that when I see something in Buddha Garden that would make a good picture I can take it on my phone. Rather than having to run back for my camera.

The picture is of neem blossom which I took with my phone when I first got it. Although it looks very beautiful, the blossom plays havoc with my sinuses and makes me sneeze. So I am pleased that it has almost finished now.

Surveying the land

Today the Government land surveyor came to try and sort out the boundary dispute with the next door neighbour to Buddha Garden. There were a large number of people involved including a big group from Auroville as well as various family members of the neighbour.

Unfortunately the surveying couldn't be done because the neighbour raised questions of access to his land that couldn't be resolved on the spot. He wants access through Auroville land but this has to go through proper channels and will take some time. The surveyor will only do the surveying when there is agreement between everyone involved.

After hanging around for a long time waiting for everyone to arrive and starting very late it was very frustrating that nothing could be resolved.

Watering

Today I managed to get to my computer early so that I could catch up on a lot of office type jobs that needed doing. One of them was to write a promised article for the land purchase website to help raise money for purchasing land in the green belt. I also sorted out a range of photos about tree planting and tree care and the above photo was one that I found.

I think it is a lovely picture of everyone giving the tree seedlings water. It looks like a sacred ritual which in many ways is what it is.

Organizing the rubbish

Since our rubbish hasn't been collected for some time it has pushed us to be a lot more organized about how we handle it. Today we re- labelled the bins and tomorrow I will talk to the volunteers about how they have to separate their rubbish. I have made some posters to remind them and Rajan is going to get them printed on Saturday when they will hopefully also get put up near the bins.

It feels very good to have done this.

Beautiful light

It seemed very appropriate that as today is Mother Earth day we did a lot of work in Jalabhoomi mulching and otherwise protecting trees. It wasn't something planned, but I'm glad it happened.

There was a beautiful light this morning and this is a picture I took in the nursery of some pumpkin seedlings. Unfortunately I haven't managed to capture the sparkling of the drops of water on their leaves. I love the feeling of new growth that the picture expresses, though, which seems to be appropriate for Buddha Garden right now.

Its all wrong for the time of year as in the heat things don't grow as well as usual. So maybe these seedlings are a symbol of other things starting to grow in the garden. 

Posters

I spent the afternoon creating several of the posters that I said I would do on Sunday. Unfortunately they were all rather boring like the one above which is all about toilet tissue and what to do with it. Boring but necessary.

I've got several more to do before I finish and then I have to tackle the posters in the garden...... Its like this poster job has led to another poster job which leads to..... well lets see.

Kitchen garden

Today, after taking a group of people around the garden this morning, I spent some time making posters. This is the poster I made to publicise sessions in the Kitchen Garden that Pierre is very keen to start.

I also intend to make posters about how to dispose of waste as well as posters for the community kitchen. They will point out that the community kitchen is for the community of Buddha Garden and is not a public kitchen open to all!

Jobs

Here are the finished curtains that we put up in the volunteer cabin today. They look very nice and a big improvement on the tatty bits of material that had been tied up over the windows.

I also went to Pondy and got myself a new phone as I think my five year old phone will die on me quite soon. Its getting harder and harder to make it charge up because the connector doesn't connect very well. I don't think its worth a picture though as my new phone looks a lot like my old phone – very basic. So it won't matter if I get soil all over it.

Buddha Garden lotus

Recently Pierre moved the small pond that was in the middle of Buddha Garden to the kitchen garden. He filled it with water and put a lotus plant in it. Just a few days later we have two of these lotus flowers.

Our very own Buddha Garden lotus – beautiful.  I think I will try to embroider this.

A little water

At last I made it down to the ponds today to see how they were doing after the rain showers. The small pond, which had dried out completely a week or so ago, had this little puddle in the middle of it. Which is better than being completely dry.

I like the shapes on this picture.

Clearing out

Early this morning at about 4.30am I was woken up by heavy rain. Annoyingly it was too late to go to sleep again so when I got up I felt quite tired. After a rest after lunch, however, I had enough energy to help Rajan clear out the rest of the store room.

This is a picture of the entrance store room where we have put the new set of shelves and organised the irrigation and painting stuff. I wish it would stay ordered, but going on past experience I doubt it. Already the place is getting filled up with bags of rubbish that Eco-service are unable to pick up at the moment.

Rinsed

Last night we had a lovely penetrating rain. When I got up I felt the earth under my feet filled with moisture and the sky and greenery rinsed clean and bright.

This is what I tried to express in the picture although I fear not very well. It is Tamil new year and a day off so a beautiful way to start a new cycle. It is also I think the tenth anniversary of when I had my first hip operation which made such a change to my life.

Conversation

Today I had a very lively conversation with Pierre about a volunteer. As the picture shows I think we were both saying different things to what we were thinking.

It struck me that we are both imposing our own views on what the problem is and how it should be resolved. I wonder if she has provoked similar conversations between her parents.........

Curtains

Today was a busy day catching up on jobs and cleaning. One of the jobs I did was to cut up the material we bought yesterday to make curtains.

My daughters are surprised that people actually want curtains in India. But the alternative I see are bits of material (some of it very raggedy) which volunteers tie up at the windows instead of curtains. They look really horrible.

Keet work finished

The work on the keet roof was finished today. The picture shows the finished roof which I think makes the house look as if it needs a hair cut.

Now it is on to the next job which is to sort out the store rooms. Rajan and I went into Ponday and bought a set of shelves which with an old filing cabinet will provide storage for paint and irrigation materials. We also bought some material to make into curtains for the new volunteer cabin.

Shapes and colours

We are having the keet (thatched) roof refurbished on top of the office. This is a picture of what it looked like when all the old keet had been removed.

I love the shapes and colours in this picture.

A sea of plastic

This morning we went and picked up plastic around the temple at the front of the Buddha Garden gate. We then started to tackle a nearby area which looked like a sea of plastic. We picked up a lot, but if we had continued there was so much of it that I think we would have had problems dealing with it. Especially as our Eco-service is not working at the moment.

I also worry that by clearing it all up it we will encourage people to dump even more there.

Still life in the kitchen garden

I had a good day catching up with various jobs but I was devoid of information when it came to thinking of a picture. Then Pierre started his first kitchen garden session in the afternoon and I went to take some pictures for the poster.

This is my favourite one – a still life that I think shows the sort of work that might happen during a session.

Light

Two unusual things happened today. In a meeting this morning I got extremely angry with someone who I shouted at. Usually this stirs me up and I feel stirred up for a long time afterwards. This morning though, after my anger had discharged, I very quickly got back to feeling how I was before I got angry. So while I usually worry about feeling stirred up for a long time afterwards, now I am worried in case I am repressing something!

This afternoon I went to a community meeting which I haven't been to for years. While it was handled much better than I remember I felt the energy was very constricting. It wasn't a place of new ideas or solutions or even a feeling of being together. So not very inspiring.

The picture shows the new light as it looked when I came back home this evening after the second meeting.

Don't want to do much

I laughed when I saw this picture on Facebook as it describes exactly how I feel – too tired to stand up on my own two feet! Feeling like I don't want to do anything very much as I don't have the energy.

I am sleeping a lot better (maybe because of the yoga) but its more to do with a lack of enthusiasm than feeling tired.

Partly because of the heat, but partly I think because I need a break.

Squiggles

After a very productive day doing various jobs like grass cutting and watering I am completely bereft of inspiration for a picture. I tried several times to create a picture based on squiggles – but nothing would come.

So I am just left with the squiggles.

Gleaming

Spent part of the morning cleaning up my place with Sumathi. The number of cobwebs pulled down from the ceiling was phenomenal. When we finished everything was gleaming and I lit a candle and burnt some incense for Alexei. The incense coming from a packet to him that was returned to me because it couldn't be delivered in Russia. We also cleaned the water filter on the tank which meant scrubbing hundreds of thin rubber rings.

Given that this is the Easter weekend it seems that the rhythm of 'spring cleaning' is still inside me even when the outer climate is different!

Mixed feelings

Today we got a street light to put up near our entrance. While in some ways it will be very useful – I think the light near our gate will provide extra security – I still have mixed feelings. What about all the little nocturnal animals? Won't they find this a disturbance?

We have had a switch fitted so that at least it doesn't have to stay on all night like the other street lights in Auroville.

Secret flowers

I happened to be walking near the kitchen and just by chance happened to see these flowers on the amla tree. They are so small and not on all the branches so I could easily have missed them. Its as if the tree was trying to keep them a secret.

I think they could make a nice red and gold embroidery, especially if it was done with very fine cotton.

Corner cabin secured

This is a picture of the newest volunteer cabin which has just been made more secure by the metal mesh around the top. Before  it was put up it was quite easy for thieves to climb over the wall, but now they can't.

All it needs now are some nice curtains.....

We have a long term volunteer living there and he is going to beautify the outside.

No yoga classes for a while....

Had my last yoga class for a while today as Angela is going away for courses etc for the next four months. She will come back in August I think just before I go to the UK.

I'm really sorry that she had to go especially as she often does a special course during May for those die-hard Aurovilians who are still around in the hot season. I will have to practice on my own, but think I may have found a way of doing it. Instead of doing one long session during the day I will have three sessions of ten minutes each. There will be standing asanas in the morning, back and forward bends in the afternoon and slowing down asanas just before I go to bed.

Lets see if I can make it work.