I was moved by the silence and the simplicity

Our next place was that all important place that lies on "Rue De La Marine" just the next parallel street from Manakula Vinayagar Temple the "Aurobindo Ashram", one place I have no age and the vision to describe….if you want please visit http://www.sriaurobindosociety.org.in, to know what Aurobindo and Mother really thought and meant years back.

I was moved by the silence and the simplicity of how they both lived. People, especially Indians, believe me you have many more things in live than a US H1-B Visa, Renault or Ferrari, Apri Bike, and Promenade stay. No preaching………We spent around 1 hour hovering around the photographs, the small exhibition which is there with all the stuff that Mother used and an old library where they used to read...

We at last found a small road with a very small signboard showing "Auroville." Ramya you really let us down…….you should have told us that there will be no board you idiots ASK when you don't know anything, but at that moment we were like French the city was ours….The road from the main ECR towards Auroville is a treat to travel, amongst the dense forests and some really beautiful houses; it is just the kind of way a bike traveler will enjoy with some uphill stuff set amongst small streamy roads….You can find some 2-3 villages dotting the path.

Auroville founded by "Mirra Alfassa" (Mother as they fondly call her). Again, you can visit http://www.auroville.org to get a glimpse of what these fellas do………….Please do not visit Auroville on Sundays, as many of their activities are limited and even entry to the Mandir is restricted.We entered Auroville, spent a session at the "Auroville Visitors' Centre" which houses the thoughts and vision of Sri Aurobindo and there is a 5 minute video presentation on Auroville, which will definitely throw light on what this Universal City is about. 5 minutes is just not enough to describe this almost 5 decade long journey.

Having done with it, we settled down at "The Right Path Café" which serves French delicacies inside Auroville (to be honest this was also suggested by Rums….). We ordered a variety of Pizzas, Natural syrups, Chic with salads, Kulfis, and Vanilla-Mango dip, and above all Kolar ordered the dish of the trip "Ragi Galleti with Cheese and Salad." I bet we did not know what will arrive on our table until it (Galleti) landed, it was nothing but Ragi Dosa filled with cottage cheese...

We tried to get a glimpse of the Mandir, but we could not do it. We roamed sometime inside Auroville and we started our last leg of our journey towards the much-hyped "Sunday market," which is only open on Sundays. Here in this market you can just buy anything from safety pin that too made in Japan to Poison Perfumes for just Rs.40. posted by Jaaman Nair @ 1:29 PM July 1, 2006 to July 2, 2006