Rural India

The day that I arrived in Auroville a new friend I made, Kannan, took me on his motorbike down the the Bay of Bengal, a 15 minute ride from the center of Auroville.  

I was able to see a lot of what rural Indian life is like when I passed through the surrounding villages – there are lots of people selling food or other goods in the streets or they have shops in the front of their houses. There are also lots of stray dogs and cows that are randomly walking the streets, and trash everywhere.

The Bay of Bengal was so pretty, even the condition of the beach was really nice! There were fisherman's huts, boats, and fishing nets littering the beach that added color to the sandy beach ... but there was also a dead dog :( 

On the way back I passed through a rural village that is having a festival celebrating the return of their village Hindu god.  This festival has been going on for 6 days, 3 of which I’ve been here for.   They have bands come and perform on stage and also have fireworks going off in random intervals throughout the day. 

I can hear the festivities pretty clearly from my guest house thanks to their use of loudspeakers. Everyday the music starts at around 6 or 7 in the morning, sometimes as early as 5, and then ends around midnight but has continued somedays until 2am with the addition of firework shows.

I can’t imagine how sleep-deprived the people in the village are! 

 

Its hard to see in the picture but on the left side you can see the lit-up stage where different Indian bands come to play, and on the right is a Hindu-temple that is decorated in flashing lights.