The main purpose of my trip back to India was for an internship in Auroville with Auroville Consulting, a sustainable living consulting firm based in the township. My two months I spent there were nothing short of incredible. Due to being a cultural melting pot, and a unique and appealing location for people all around the world, I made life-long friends with people from all over the world. Staying at Mitra Youth hostel made all the difference because of how easy it was to meet new people and live in close proximity to all my new friends. There were people from India, America, Belgium, Austria, France, Germany, and I even met two other half-Japanese people like me!
One factor that made this trip so enjoyable was having access to scooter and motorcycle rentals. It made it so easy to go exploring around town, or meet up with everyone to go to the beach, or for lunch or ice cream in Auroville, or dinner and shopping in Pondicherry. Often times we would travel in groups of 10 or more scooters and motorcycles, like a straight up foreigner and Indian gang, and ride around town like we owned the place. The freedom of being able to go wherever in such a short amount of time felt amazing. A portion of us did suffer from accidents however, like burning the inside of your calf on the exhaust pipe, or straight up crashing and falling off on the side of the road. I kept waiting for it to be my turn to get hurt, but luckily it never happened! Below is my trusty orange Scooty!
Driving on the scooter to Pondicherry was a terrifying idea at first because of the insane Indian traffic, so I went a couple times riding on the back of people's bikes. Closer to the end of my Auroville adventure however, I had managed to build up the courage to drive there on my own. Driving was actually insanely fun and exhilarating, like I was in a real like Mario-Kart game, weaving in and out of others on scooters and bikes, busses, cars, vans, and dodging stray dogs and cows that would wander on occasion into the roads as well. By the last week when I was learning how to ride a motorcycle, I even made it halfway there on a motorcycle!
We would frequent Pondicherry two or three times a week just for a change in scenery. There is lots to do there, including walking along the promenade, going to the markets (especially on Sunday), getting Paneer sandwiches at KFC, shopping at FabIndia, buying alcohol for the weekend, and eating at the many fine but cheap restaurant establishments around the city.
At the promenade after a great Indian feast:
About two hours from Auroville on our motorcycles is the Gingee Fort, where many ruins stand high above on the top of Tamilian hills. The view was so beautiful and the location so peaceful, that we had an impromptu yoga session and photo shoot at the top!
One factor that made this trip so enjoyable was having access to scooter and motorcycle rentals. It made it so easy to go exploring around town, or meet up with everyone to go to the beach, or for lunch or ice cream in Auroville, or dinner and shopping in Pondicherry. Often times we would travel in groups of 10 or more scooters and motorcycles, like a straight up foreigner and Indian gang, and ride around town like we owned the place. The freedom of being able to go wherever in such a short amount of time felt amazing. A portion of us did suffer from accidents however, like burning the inside of your calf on the exhaust pipe, or straight up crashing and falling off on the side of the road. I kept waiting for it to be my turn to get hurt, but luckily it never happened! Below is my trusty orange Scooty!
Driving on the scooter to Pondicherry was a terrifying idea at first because of the insane Indian traffic, so I went a couple times riding on the back of people's bikes. Closer to the end of my Auroville adventure however, I had managed to build up the courage to drive there on my own. Driving was actually insanely fun and exhilarating, like I was in a real like Mario-Kart game, weaving in and out of others on scooters and bikes, busses, cars, vans, and dodging stray dogs and cows that would wander on occasion into the roads as well. By the last week when I was learning how to ride a motorcycle, I even made it halfway there on a motorcycle!
We would frequent Pondicherry two or three times a week just for a change in scenery. There is lots to do there, including walking along the promenade, going to the markets (especially on Sunday), getting Paneer sandwiches at KFC, shopping at FabIndia, buying alcohol for the weekend, and eating at the many fine but cheap restaurant establishments around the city.
At the promenade after a great Indian feast:
Near the center of the city in Pondicherry is a temple dedicated to Ganesha, the elephant god of wisdom and prosperity, where this beautiful creature, Lakshmi, lives. She spends all day at the front of the temple, taking coins from people's hands and then bopping them gently on the head to bless them. Of course there's a sadness in her eyes but since she is worshiped like a deity, life could be worse for an elephant in India.
About two hours from Auroville on our motorcycles is the Gingee Fort, where many ruins stand high above on the top of Tamilian hills. The view was so beautiful and the location so peaceful, that we had an impromptu yoga session and photo shoot at the top!
Because I couldn't bear to part with some friends from Dayton, Ohio who were also in Auroville with me and who I eventually moved in with, I traveled once again to the marvel that is the Taj Mahal, and partook in the same tour around Dehli, Agra, and Jaipur that I did the year before. I saw some old sites and some new, and had the most amazing experience all over again traveling through and getting to see so much of India and its historical structure and temples.
Every time I return to India my only regret is that I wasn't able to stay longer and see more of the country. I've spent five months over the last two years in India, and I know I've only scratched the surface of everything that this beautiful country has to offer. I have yet to see the former Portuguese colony and party capital of Goa, the Bollywood hub of Mumbai, Jammu and Kashmir and the Indian Himalayas in the North, more mountains and Calcutta in the West, the list goes on and on. Now I can call Auroville and India one of my many homes around the world, and will definitely return one day in the future!
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