10.15.11 - "Well, that was weird."

The Auroville Orb

          We finally saw our first victim of India's wild and crazy roads. A man was sitting dangerously close to the shoulder of the road that went from the Dune to Pondicherry. I thought he was a crazy beggar at first, but then I saw the wrecked moped on the opposite side of the road, the large gash on his leg, and the blood gushing out of the wound. I'm  honestly surprised that I haven't seen this sort of tragic incident more often. Stephen wasn't able to set a wake-up alarm and complained about missing out on breakfast. He was able to laugh at the ridiculous nature of his 1st world problem when he saw the terrible plight of the wrecked and wounded biker on the side of the road.
          We spent the day in Auroville, an experimental community established in 1968 by a French woman known by community members as "The Mother." This cult-like community exists as a social experiment that emphasizes cooperation, discourages competition, and promotes spirituality. A civil engineer with an uncanny resemblance to Bilbo Baggins gave us a personal tour of the property. This Frenchman showed us the "Master Plan" - a planned community expanding concentrically from a central point. In this case, the central point is a giant, gold plated ball that looks like the offspring of EPCOT and the Death Star. I was extremely irritated thinking about all of the money that was wasted on this huge, garish monument that could have been used to construct schools, purchase food, or improve water quality. By the end of this strange day, I was referring to the residents of this weird community as "Aurovillains."