Should I Stay or Should I Go Now

If I stay there will be trouble... - The Clash

Blessings do pop up in the midst of shady ground. The blessing is Yuki from Japan, another volunteer at Sadhana Forest. Thank Goddess, another person of color - and she's way cool. And we have a lot in common. And it's fun to talk with her.

Sadhana Forest is tricky. Volunteers get free accomodation for a minimum volunteer exchange time of two weeks. The cost for food is 80 rupees a day, which must be prepaid for the two weeks up front irregardless of whether volunteers choose to eat their meals at the forest or not. If a volunteer chooses to leave before two weeks, then the money is forfeited.

The scales are bobbing up and down trying to balance. What would make it worth it for me to stay? 1120 rupees can go far in India. Where can I find compassion and find value in the rest of my experience here? Do I want to find value in the rest of my experience here? It's always a good thing to have choices.

So far my trip to India has been sprinkled with blessings. Something positively unexpected keeps popping up for me. This time it's Yuki, a new friend. Today we bicycled to the Visitor Center in Auroville. Sadhana Forest is actually quite far from the center of Auroville, 10 kilometers. I had a wonderful time talking with her during our bike ride and it feels like having a kindred spirit in the forest. She values nature and existing in it from one's own indigenous ancestral knowledge. She worked in Hokkaido and got to know the Ainu, one of the indigenous peoples of Japan.

It's wonderful to know someone who has this perspective because as much as I love the premise that Auroville was founded upon and it's vision and mission (www.auroville.org) it also has it's issues. First of all, as an experiment in social unity on Indian land, there aren't many Indians who own land or who have founded residential communities within Auroville. In fact, a recent article in Auroville's paper talks about the gentrification of Auroville. So, it is an establishment in India that is populated by a majority of westerners and the workers are a majority Indian. I would think the opposite to be more appropriate. Yuki and I talked about this during our bikeride. Auroville is a brilliant creation and does many wonderful things. It also provides an example of the pitfuls of a brilliant vision and purpose that serves a global community, but established without a race, class, and gender analysis.