The home stretch is here!

Pondicherry was a nice little getaway although it did provide some important travel lessons. For one, don't let your autorickshaw driver show you "the cheap guest houses"- they will be anything but cheap and very poor quality! Also, beware the "pristine" Bay of Bengal beaches, unless to you "pristine" means "full of smelly fish drying on the sand." Finally, stay in ashram-owned guest houses; after our first night in the driver-recommended pig sty we pulled out our wallets for a marginally more expensive but ashram-owned guest house. The owner treated us like her grandchildren and the room was spectacular. We bought some fine French cheese (available in Pondicherry) and spent the night relaxing. It was the perfect break from my busy research schedule!

Aside from booze and cheese (Pondicherry is a Union Territory so alcohol is not illegal) Ponidicherry is famous for it's socialist community, Auroville. It was started by a popular guru, The Mother, upon inspiration from her guru, Sri Aurobindo. It is an exemplary new-age community based on the ideals of sharing, spirituality, and peace. It feels like a movie to walk through the place; a huge golden dome marks the community center and contains sand from every country. Auroville limits tourist access to a small area so as not to bother it's inhabitants, who number now in the thousands. The community was started in the 1970's and is still undergoing construction; it is slated to hold 51,000 by the time it's finished! It's an inspirational experiment in harmonious living between people and nature, and I recommend anyone interested check it out. One of our SITA students swears he will return to live there post-graduation, and I actually believe him!

For Halloween the SITA students hosted a big party at the SITA Center. The main attraction was our very own Haunted House. I don't want to toot my own horn but, in the words of my host family, I was the "main star." My character was a blood-soaked doctor. The smell of ketchup (blood) and the food I used as guts (Ramen, pumpkin innards, and boiled okra) combined to make me nauseous for the entire 2 hours, but it was all worth it to hear the terrified shrieks of so many poor Indian children! ;) Honestly, "scary houses" in India are nothing compared to those in the U.S. and I think us students may have gone a bit overboard with cutting/killing/zombie crawling. When my host sister came through I had to take off my mask and say, "Suruthi, it's OK, it's just me!" However, the free cake and candy made it all better!

I will post at least once more before I return to the States. Pakalam for now!

Emily