Rain and Mud

After two consecutive power-outages let's see if I can get through this post. First off, Sara, it sounds like everything you are doing is incredibly amazing - and you're making me feel a bit lazy! Bwah, thats ok. So I've been here for two weeks now - although it feels like both two months and two days at the same time - time passes so quickly. The days this past week have been filled with attempts to rebuild the clay oven at sadhana forest. Myself and Dave, from Britian, have been testing out mud to sand ratios to find the best mix to cover the top. But this was only after

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Whoa. There was another power outage! And I'm back (a day later). So to make a long story short about the mudoven - it rained again and we weren't able to put the cover on in time and so now we're set back two or three days. Oh well.

Now a little bit about the conservation work at Sadhana Forest. During the time of the British and the French (Pondicherry was a French Colony) they used this area as a resource for all of their wood needs. However, they did not replant in the process, and instead left behind a bunch of Australian bush trees which aren't indigineous and although nice trees, don't hold the land together so well. So in all the past monsoons the great dirt that was once there has slowly washed away and become a ground of clay and poor soil. Since Sadhana Forest's beginnings four years ago, over 3,700 trees have been planted. Every morning for "First Work" we head out to the forest to build bunds and dig ditches on a hill that overlooks the rest of the forest. This helps in a couple of ways. First, the ditches/holes are actually catchment ponds for water - which helps reduce the amount of water flowing away and taking trees with it. The bunds, packed down dirt which creates little mounds, act as a second barrier and will become stronger over time when grass is able to grow over them. Because of the recent rainfall, we witnessed the catchment ditches in action and actually retaining water! Quite an exciting feat considering how many years of abuse the forest took on. Also, the government every year takes water table surveys for Auroville - and every year they lose 3 meters of water. Last year, Sadhana Forest gained 6 meters of water. Their efforts towards repopulating the forest are quite exciting, and it feels good to be helping work towards that.

On the other hand (of course there is another side!!), it feels as if we are living in a bubble. I get a mini-jolt everytime I leave SF to go have a chai or go on the internet because it doesn't feel like India while we are on the inside. Everyone working there is not native to India, save the watchman/handyman. But they don't have employees and its fairly isolated. So there is this great community - but it's cut off from the rest of the world - which seems off - but at the same time its providing a key to how to restore the environment as well as create a sustainable community. It is quite amazing to see everyone working together, taking initiatives without being asked, and positive vibes throughout. More to come about some workshops I've done soon.