I am waiting at the highway toll
gate for a community member from the Sadhana Forest, Auroville to come pick me
up. I look out into the distance. A man and a little girl ride towards me on a
bike. They notice that I have a backpack and drive towards me. Their bike stops
in front of me. The man introduces himself. Then the little girl introduces
herself. I tell them my name. I sit on
the bike and we are off. I wish that was how most introductions went. All you
need from another person is their name. I wish people did not ask you about
your work, background, family life, and then would judge you based on how you
answered these questions
A few kilometers down the highway, the bike
then moves onto the dirt road. Bump - boom - bump -boom, goes our bike. I just
hope I don't fall off the bike and embarrass myself. Slowly the trees, become
less and the desert like shrubs start appearing. The dirt road seems endless,
and then the houses also start disappearing. Five minutes later, we are at the
entrance of Sadhan Forest. A broken down door, with a, 'Welcome to Sadhana
Forest' sign is observed at the entrance. I was finally here.
R takes me to the community
lounge area or community common space hut and then leaves. I just sit and wait.
It is quite comfortable. There are cushions around the room and the structure
is made of bamboo and wood. Pictures of volunteers adorn the walls. I see a
Sadhana Forest rule book put on a stand on the wall. I pick it up and try and
understand how the community works. People keep walking into the hut and
walking out of it. I see more huts in the distance. I think they are were the
cots are places as mentioned in the rule book. I spend the afternoon, just
walking around the main hut and smiling at fellow volunteers.
It was friday at Sadhana. The was a
public event held here every Friday. At 2 pm, me, a lady from France, a student
from Canada, a man from Hungary and another man from Turkey gather together in
one room of the main hut. We have come together for our volunteer briefing. A
veteran member of the community would collect our meal payments, allot us cots,
give us a tour of the Forest, and answer any unanswered questions we had.
L, was from France. She was in
India for a while. She told us about her love for travel. She was just back
from a two month trip around New Zealand with her boyfriend. G left Mumbai
at the age of 20. His family decided to shift to Toronto, Canada. He studied
computer science and programming for 6 years at university and was now here in
Sadhana on a sabbatical he had decided to take. Twas from Hungary. He
worked in a corporation back home. He spent four years in Mumbai growing up. He
was nostalgic about his time there. He was here in Sadhana because he had a few
months off from work and wanted to take up some volunteering opportunities.
H was from Germany. He told me he spent a few years in the army and he also
worked as a journalist for a while. So these were my first friends in Sadhana.
We spent most of the first day together. I sat in on multiple volunteer
briefings.
In the evening, I also sat in on
the Guest Briefing event and then attended the film screening. I got to know more about my new friends in
this time. People don't have to always be defined by one characteristic. I wish
I could spend hours with each one of them, to understand them better. Just
because a student, like playing football, it does not mean that football is the
only thing he thinks about all day. There is so much more than can define an
individual beyond their work, family and passion projects.
Maybe I needed to
listen more. I didn't talk much on that first day. I just listened. There were
over a 100 volunteers at the Sadhana Forest and each one had their own unique
story. Just listen Abhishek. Shut up and stop talking so much all the time.
Just listen. Every Friday, a free organic vegan dinner was offered to the
guests that came in for the film screening. I wondered why, would anyone give
anyone else anything for free. They didn't even know who I was or where I came
from? Why did they accept me without judging me? The people here made me part
of their life. All they knew about me was my name and that seemed to be enough.
This was a little confusing to understand and assimilate. This is not right. This is not how the world
works. But it felt nice. I slept well that night, the cot was quite comfortable.
It felt nice.
Sat-chit-ananda
@AbhishekShetty
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