PONDICHERIE AND ADVENTURES IN THE NEW AGE

Well, Pondicherry is fascinating too...

Its a very strange place at first. As I said, its an old French colony town. Indeed, it used to be the capital of French India and so stayed independent of the Raj and even Indian Independence until 1954 when France peacefully ceded it to Delhi. But even though its an Indian city it still feels unmistakenly French and is clearly very proud of the fact. The old part of the town by the seafront where I am is split into two parts, rather horrendously still called 'White Town' (where the French used to live) and 'Black Town' (where they didn't). The town planning remains as it was since the 18th Century, a well-organised grid of wide, boulevard-like streets all of which make getting around very easy. The streets are leafy, clean and not very busy. Even the policemen look well-dressed and organised and wear French-style Kepis. Everyone moves around at the pace of a southern French coastal town. Its still India, with Saris and people suddenly lying down and falling asleep in the street, but it feels like a parallel universe. All the road signs are in French and a lot of the people speak French more than English. Its stylish and relaxed and there is clearly a lot of money here. No-one bothers you like they did in Madurai or Mumbai. You get the sense Pondicherrians know they are different from the rest of India and like to flaunt it! Its so Gallic and well-organised one wonders what the hell we were doing in the rest of India for all those years - clearly not giving the Indians a blue-print for how to run a city as the French did!

On my first night I went for a stroll along the beach front. It was breezy and nice. My hotel feels like a cheap southern French hotel by the sea, but has very Indian cockroaches and bugs in it (and no toilet roll). Never mind. I'm only here for a few days. It took me a little while to adjust to the otherworldly feel of the place, which is so worlds apart from anywhere else I have been in India.

Not only that but there is another interesting otherworldy quality to this place. It is a centre of New Age Mysticism and Healing. In the middle of the city is the Ashram of a major Indian guru, Sri Aurobindo Ghose, a contemporary of Gandhi who, as well as being a Mystic, was also an agitator for Indian Independence. He came to Pondicherry when things got to dangerous in British-controlled India for him. The French were happy to give him a safe haven. His chief helper and Disciple was a Parisian Mystic known as 'the Mother', who took over the Aurobindo Ashram after he died and was responsible for founding the New Age city of Auroville just north of Pondicherry, of which more later. Looking at their writings, they were clearly two highly impressive people, very serious in their intent and, as far as I can see, with a real mystical insight. Worth looking into if you are interested in ideas.

The Aurobindo Asrham now runs most of the city, with its own TV Channel which I could see in my hotel room on the TV. A lot of shops etc have names which start with the prefix Auro-, which is a little creepy as it gives the City a slightly Stepford Wives feel, as if the whole place isn't quite real. Around this central organisation are a host of Ayurvedic, Homeopathic and other Alternative Healing organisations. India is an inherently mystical country, with professional Astrologers offering their services on every street corner. Here, though, the whole thing feels a lot more efficient and organised.

As I had planned, I met up with the Colombian woman I had met on the train just before Madurai. Her name was Franzy and she was with another Colombian friend, Sandra. We went for a coffee in a Cafe nearby and discussed India and the different things we did. Franzy is a Pranic Healer and Sandra teaches Yoga in Auroville. I mentioned that I would like to visit Auroville and take a look. They said that they would be happy to show me around.

Sandra mentioned that they were in town to buy rail tickets and to visit an Energy Healer. They asked if I wanted to come along and, keen to try anything while in India, I said yes. The experience was extraordinary and not what I expected. I won't go into detail but in the space of five minutes he had given me a detailed description of my last few years, the struggles I had been through and how he could help. I didn't tell him anything. All he had to do was look at me. Nor did he charge for his services. He gave me the healing and asked me to come back. It was a staggering experience. I felt amazing after it and have been allowing myself to process it all since... Clearly this was a remarkable man. Only in India...!

I hadn't been feeling so well anyway so I took it easy for the rest of the day. The intensity of all my experiences and all the travelling was making me a little ill - nothing serious, just a cold and cough rather as I used to get in the UK when I was overworking. I zapped myself with a few hours of Reiki and felt a lot better (Reiki has come in very handy throughout my trip). A haircut was in order so I popped across the road to have it done, marvelling at how relaxed I felt about doing so in contrast to how nervous I had been before in India. Perhaps it was the breakthrough in Thanjavur, or maybe just the relaxed atmosphere of Pondicherry...

The next day the plan was to go to Auroville and this was what happened. I hopped on an autorickshaw and set off. Auroville is, as I said, a kind of New Age City founded by 'the Mother' in the 60s. The idea was to create a community in which people could live together freely and in unity, leaving old divisions of religion, class and nationality behind to pursue a Higher Consciousness (the goal of Aurobindo and 'the Mother', who both sought to enable humanity to move on to its next step of awareness). About 2000 people live there in what is a self-sustaining community. Its still growing and the hope is that it will one day have 50000 inhabitants.

Like a kibbutz, there is no money and the whole place has been founded out of what had once been a barren wasteland of water-less rock and stone. The food is organic and local grown and the energy they use is as sustainable as possible. I saw whole fields of solar panels as I walked around and at one point, saw a 'solar cooker', a device which enabled people to cook food with the heat of the sun.

It was fascinating to visit a modern attempt to create a spiritual community after seeing all the ancient Temples of the last few days. At the centre of the City was a huge meditation site known as the Matamandir, designed by 'the Mother' to be 'the Soul of the City'. Visitors have to ask for an appointment to go in and meditate but you are allowed to look at it from a distance from what is called the Matamandir Viewing Site, which involved a lovely 15 minute walk through gardens and trees. I really enjoyed the stroll. The atmosphere was calm and relaxed, very congenial, and one felt welcome and able to take one's time as one went.

The Matamandir is like an enormous gold or bronze golfball rising up on four pillars in a large area of green. It looks, just like Madurai's Temple, like a building from another planet. According to the introductory film at the Visitor's Centre, it has within it a huge white meditation room where Aurovillians can go when they want to. In the middle of this room is an enormous crystal ball standing on a foundation of golden Stars of David (a universal symbol seen a lot in India too). The ceiling is open and enables sunlight to strike the crystal ball with great precision.

I couldn't go in, but it was a wonderful experience looking at the Matamandir from a distance. It was undoubtedly majestic and impressive and I could well imagine that it represented the highest aspiration of 'the Mother' when she designed it. In the Visitor's Centre there is a model layout of the whole of Auroville, and the buildings and centres all radiate out from the Matamandir like a kind of vortex or swirling mandala. As with Madurai, the dome is aligned with the four directions - East, West, North and South - with each side named after a different Hindu Goddess.

The viewing point and lawn were immaculately maintained. I sat and took in the view for a little while and started walking again. There weren't many people around so the experience was very peaceful. Every now and then one saw a sign pointing toa different school or area where people lived. Their names included things like Certitude, Transformation etc.

Eventually I got to what is known as the Solar Kitchen, where the whole community eat. It was here that I got a chance to encounter the kind of people who live in Auroville. I wasn't sure what I made of them. Very New Agey, dressed as you would expect them to dress. They were absolutely international and the children mixed with each other regardless of nationality or culture etc. I'm not very good with communities of institutions, and I was in two minds about the people I saw. Some looked great, but there was also a slightly Varkalan yoga-on-the-beach quality to others. Dark glasses, cool clothes, a mix of Indian and Western togs, beautiful bodies, some narcissism. It felt odd to be in another bubble of a community of predominantly white people while India lay outside and I wasn't sure how much real spirituality was going on. Maybe it was just me being insecure and anyway, who am I to judge? I was only there briefly.

Having felt great in the morning I was suddenly not feeling terrific again. I made contact with Franzy and Sandra and made my way to the beach owned by Auroville where they said they would meet me. The beach, being privately owned by Auroville, was very exclusive and as I got there first it took some persuasion (and the intervention of my taxi driver) to get in. I waited at the area where the cafe was. It felt like a very high-class resort - beach huts, showers, hammocks, an eating area etc.

Franzy and Sandra arrived. Sandra had been teaching Yoga all morning and was exhausted so rested on a hammock. Franzy and I had some lunch and chatted a bit and then, seeing how I wasn't feeling so good, offered to give me some Pranic Healing. After the Energy Healer the day before who had opened up so many questions in me I was keen to give this a try, although sceptical it would work. I do Reiki, but my belief in its efficacy for everything can come and go, even though it has been invaluable while I have been out here.

Well, all I can say is that the session was another amazing one and I am still feeling the positive effects now. I lay down on a bench and closed my eyes. After about ten minutes, I suddenly felt my breathing slowing down and a warm feeling all over my body, like slipping into an enormous glove. My temperature went down, I stopped sniffling and coughing and started to feel wonderful. I could feel a kind of glow all over my body. It was like being put back together again.

When the session was over after about an hour, I opened my eyes. Franzy had not even come near me or so much as touched me. Like Reiki, she just stood nearby and sent it. I felt really good, grounded and completely lacking in tension. My head wasn't sore, my throat felt great, I wasn't coughing etc. It was a terrific sensation of feeling strong and whole again.

I told Franzy how I felt and we chatted a bit. I asked her how she had learnt Pranic Healing and she revealed that she had come from a completely sceptical scientific background but had given that all up as her Teacher showed her how the process worked. He too had been a scientist so he was able to guide her without any New Age fudge going on. Now she is pretty much a full time Pranic Healer and has been doing treatments for free in Auroville.

After the session I drank a refreshing green tea and we all chatted. I knew I needed to head home to rest and thanked my lucky stars I had planned two more days of Pondicherry chilling before moving on. Franzy suggested a walk in the sea for cleansing purposes and that is what I did. Everywhere around me where sunbathing Aurovillians enjoying the last few minutes before Twilight. All around them were their slightly scary-looking Indigo-child like children. Was everyone beautiful and well-adjusted and happy in Auroville? It looked like it. Well, maybe just beautiful and well-adjusted. Well maybe just beautiful. I remembered that as a child I had gone to an 'Alternative' school for a little while and was struck by how the feeling of Auroville reminded me of that. Everyone looked like a kind of Ubermenschlich model for whom life was about being effortlessly young, beautiful and relaxed. It was very strange watching groups of resplendent youths drive off into the sunset on motorbikes together while around them the luxury of Auroville gave way to the toughness of Indian living, with shacks and people working on the streets. I wasn't sure where the spirituality was in that...

Auroville was an undeniably fascinating place and I would like to see more of it. Alas I didn't have the time to get a real sense of it. Experiments in living are always interesting, especially one with the high aspirations it had behind it. I would love to come back and get to grips with it a little more. Many of the projects in environmental living and philosophical and spiritual exploration sounded fascinating. I can say that the founders - Ghose and 'the Mother' - were genuinely impressive people but I have no way of judging what Auroville is now or whether it is what they would have wanted it to be. Nor would I like to judge it either negatively or positively. It was a fascinating place to visit and experience the energy of. What I do have to do, though, is vote 100% in favour of Sandra and Francie, their friendship, generosity and warmth, as well as the efficacy of Francie's Pranic Healing. It worked for me. I am won over. Its real. Maybe one day we WILL all be able to heal each other again...

So India continues to weave its magic web of fantasy and reality. A New Age Utopia in a Franco-Indian town in a parallel universe where nothing is as it seems. Once more India shows that only the imagination need be the boundary of how things can be. There is something wondrously mysterious about this corner of Tamil Nadu, where Mystics can attempt to create the City of the Future, Energy Healers are on every corner and Croissants can be served right next to Chicken Biriani.

Tomorrow is resting time. On Monday I will return to the Energy Healer to see what happens. Harriet and Sylvia are coming to town and as we are overlapping we will meet before I leave for the next destination on Tuesday. I should see Franzy and Sandra again on Monday before I go to Arunachala and the Ramana Maharshi Ashram for (I hope!) some calm and contemplation in the midst of all this amazing intensity!

This is an amazing country. As I reflect back on these last two months (ONLY TWO MONTHS!) I am staggered by what I have seen and what has happened. I am changed, being changed, changing. Its wonderful. I know I will be thinking about this country for months to come and, no doubt, will still be being changed by it long into the future.

On a lighter note, spelling out here gets better and better. I have seen LIVE BRODBOND being advertised and a LADY'S DRESS MAKKER. Most charming of all was an item on a menu in Varkala called SPAGEHETTY BOLOGINICE.

But best of all has to be the sign outside the Chola Exhibition in Thanjavur. Its worth quoting in full. Enjoy!:

"These icons which have, behind them, historical values spiritual lore and cultural mores of this part of Indian heritage, are memorably mute with wordless expressiveness they influence, however, the viewing personages like you to come out with instinctive processions of emotive articulations in their own way style. You are welcome to record your feelings."

Now who could say fairer than that?

Blessings to Pondicherry, blessings to Auroville, blessings to Incredible India!