vanekum/bonjour/hello india!

i arrived in india sunday night after an almost nine hour flight from germany. what an experience it was being on a plane with multiple floors, sections (smoking section), and personalities! i sat behind a little Indian girl that we will call shiva, "the destroyer" (of my sleep). after sleep deprivation and melatonin pills lulled me into a fitful sleep, shiva would start to whine and then would erupt into a full-blown, high pitched scream. to my left sat a svelte, older Belgian man who told me about the company he was starting up in chennai, india. when there were lulls in our conversation, he would crack his knuckles all the time and fall asleep to blaring techno music. everything about the flight (even down to the food- spiced yogurt and pickled mangos) was interesting to me.

when i stepped out of chennai's airport the air smelled faintly like asparagus, there were cars honking and almost running me over, Indian men were sleeping on the sidewalk outside the exit, and i knew that i was not in fuckin' kansas anymore.

on our way to auroville, about 11 of us crammed into a bus straight out of the 70s and peered out at the foreign scenes flashing by our windows with wide eyes. we stopped at india's answer to the 7-11 at around 2 a.m. for some INCREDIBLE chai tea. seriously. .we got freshly prepared chai tea at 2 a.m. on the side of the highway. the building was an open-air structure, with no bathroom, and bananas and foreign looking packages hanging from the ceiling and walls.

when we drove into auroville the tree stands were so thick that the bus could barely fit down the road to the "college guest house". my room at the college guest house has solid walls, a roof made of palm leaves woven together, a loft made of wood and strong fibers to latch everything together, and large mosquito nets to guard you from the salamanders, cockroaches, mosquitos, and other lovely creatures that come out at night. so far i haven't woken up to anything crawling up my leg, but i'm sure that'll happen at some point.

the showers have no roofs either! you can shower under the blue sky/stars with the salamanders and fireflies and it is always a gorgeous experience despite the ice cold water (which has refreshing in the humid 90 degree weather...). and the toilets are.... quite rustic. welcome to the land of holes in the ground and no toilet paper. just water and your left hand, my friend. oh boy.

people here are so open and charismatic! in brief, there is:
1. bindu: the fiesty, smiley native indian who stays with us in our little community
2. jake: the chill, american tai chi instructor
3. martine: the smiley austrian instructor
4. ross: the wild australian who told us stories about doing drugs with the prime minister's daughter and likes to play games all day, everyday
and so many more wonderful people that i will try to describe better as the semester goes on.....

within seconds of arriving, i could feel india's boldness and brilliance. i don't think love at first sight applies to my situation now, but it certainly feels like love at first intuition?