Auroville - the community....maaaan

I skipped through Maduria (met a crazy Kashmiri Muslim guy on the roof top of a shop who told me Indian was going down, or rather the women were - they wear tees and jeans - so loose, so immoral - ditched him quickly), then headed to Trichy (hot guide you know about), then Tanjour (where a lovely guy took time out of his day to negotiate the purchase of my Indian SIM card - aaah there are kind people!) then finally arrived in Pondicherry.

Pondicherry, or Pondy as the locals like to refer to it, used to be a French colonie so think India meets France. It's such a pretty town, right on the coast, tree lined streets, clean and dare I say a welcome change. Many of the Indians speak French so I was 'parla vous-ing' wherever possible as to be totally honest with you I needed a change. I've been in India for nearly 5 months and let me tell you it's constant and after a while it's pretty tiring, especially when you're travelling on your own. You need a sense of humour and well, after 5 months I'm starting to lose mine.

But I was in Pondy which amounted to heaven. After months of chili alogobi, apoms etc I found myself mainling soup du poisson, salad niçoise, red wine, fags (everyone in France smokes). Let me tell you it felt good. Really good.

While I was in Pondy (darling) I decided to check out Auroville - a township devoted to an experiment in human unity. Started by a lady referred to a 'The Mother', The purpose of Auroville is to realise human unity – in diversity. Today Auroville is recognised as the first and only internationally endorsed ongoing experiment in human unity and transformation of consciousness, also concerned with - and practically researching into - sustainable living and the future cultural, environmental, social and spiritual needs of mankind. Basically it's in the middle of now where, nothing like India at all (it's clean for starters) and you have the opportunity to further your development(maaaan). It was gorgeous. So peaceful, tons to do and I was in my element; yoga, meditation, the odd cultural dance (which I never understand so end up day dreaming or falling asleep) and because it's run my lots of rich lost souls from France and America (mainly Californians) the food is tasty but healthy and the coffee is great!

It's a community (man) and I have to be honest I can't help but smirk at these 'communities' or rather the types of people who tend to crop whenever you hear the words 'religion' or 'spirituality'. There are a lot of people there who, if they were chocolate, would eat themselves. So spiritual (man), way too enlightened to speak to anyone which in my opinion defeats the object - good job Buddha, Jesus and the like didn't take that attitude!

The turbans from the Prada catwalk of summer 07 were out in force. In fact I think Prada may have sponsored the key 'look' for the Aurovillians (as they like to call themselves - cue dry wretch). So there I was surrounded by people who were too spiritually enlightened to speak to me, wearing multi coloured turbans and all manner of flowing dresses, kaftans etc. I was scorned at for wearing a short sleeved tee - I'd just like to add that there are hardly any Indians in Auroville however some people (Westerners of course) have fully embraced the Indian culture (good on them) and now scorn at anyone who merely resembles their 'old world'. Like they are impostors!

Just when I thought I'd have to hot foot it out of there before I brought a turban and started chanting to myself as I walked around (seriously, I saw someone doing this) I found my saviours. Who rather handily turned out to be my partners in crime -Rebbecca and Eda.

Totally on my wave length and happy to indulge in the activities but have a fag a coffee afterwards I breathed a sigh or relief....'I is about to have me some fun!' I thought (and in that accent). So we spent four days bombing round on scooters, sunbathing, looking at the hot men, drinking in Pondy, embraced all the activities (okay, so admittedly we missed 4 classes and ducked out of one before it even began), drank coffee (proper!) and smoked spliffs (the thought of being escorted off the premises for breaking the rules did sort of appeal to the 'rebel without a cause' side of my - complex - personality).

I laughed constantly for 4 days and loved being part of the 'community'...maaaaan - well my version of it at least!

To pee or not to pee?

I was heading to Pondicherry via a series of Govt buses (check - travelling with locals, being stared and pointed at constantly and not minding) when I had my loo epiphany.

I'm not sure what brought it on - my experience of the public loos at the bus station in Kodolone was no more hideous than usual - well, to the untrained eye it would've been vile but now I'm a seasoned loo tolerator I find myself in new territory...loo situs just don't seem to bother me anymore.

It's like I've turned a corner. I feel like a different person. I don't recognise myself anymore. Back in the UK I would have a hissy fit if there was loo paper on the floor, I'd roll my eyes at the cavalier attitude of staff and their low standards of cleanliness and vow never to visit the loos of certain 'five star' establishments ever again.

My first 6 months of travelling and the various loo situs brought tears to my eyes. I actually wept in Tibet when faced with possibly the most poorest excuse for a public toilet - I wouldn't let an animal pee in there. My how things change.

I knew I was in for an interesting loo experience simply because of where I was travelling. Compared to Kerala, Tamil Nadu (south east of India) is rougher, poorer, dustier and generally dirtier. The people are lovely though which makes it all the more interesting. Just when I'm about to dry wretch someone smiles at me, says hello or asks me where I'm going - everyone wants to know where I'm going - which more than makes up for a few smells!

Back to the loo - warning bells stated ringing as I staggered (had my back pack weighing me down) to the loo and a million flies were buzzing around me as I got within 50 metres of the place in question. I'd just like to add at this point the loos are actually situated next to the veg/fruit stands in the bus station which makes apples and bananas all the more appetising don't you think?

I gingerly entered the loo - it was an open toilet in the sense there were no doors, just four walls, a floor and a pitiful attempt at a trough. There were a large number of 'presents' on the floor (runny ones at that) and a million flies buzzing around...the stench was out of control.

Did it bother me? Well no. There I was squatting on the floor among my other fellow squatters (check: beggars, fruit sellers etc), thinking that despite the the runny presents, flies and general stench it was actually quite nice that the public loo was actually open air. There was no roof. And I complimenting the designers for that simple fact.

You see I no longer wince at public (literally) loos, presents, flies and the like. Over the last seven months my loo barriers have totally disintegrated. I think I can safely say that nothing, and I mean nothing, shocks me when it comes to the status or rather cleanliness of the loos I come across. And that's when it dawned on me - the tied has turned, I've been worn down...peed out.