Musings on Utopia

For a while now, people have been telling me of the whereabouts of a utopia on the East coast of South India. Curious about this place Auroville I decided to check it out. Upon arrival, I wasn’t quite sure where to begin exploring such an ideal place. Driving along the eco-friendly red dirt roads, I decided to follow the sign posts telling me I was headed to Serenity, Peace, Love, Happiness, Hope, and all the other doldrums of my heart’s desires. You can imagine how disappointed I was when I arrived in Miracle and saw only a hot desert. Then later, while in Discipline, I saw more dry arid nothingness. Either this place was trying to tell me that miracles and discipline didn’t actually exist. Or, like all other ‘utopias’, they are simply products of perception.

Disillusioned by this arid dreamland I headed to the beach to gain a little perspective. Here, however, I was greeted with, well, India. Or, rather, an Indian man with his hand outstretched where nothing but bright blue underpants. Faced with the reality of India again, I again started to see the things outside my psyche: a lungi-clad man selling watermelon, piles of trash art, and the horizon of the Bay of Bengal staring me directly in the face. Despite all the hype of a perfectly mismatched multicultural and eco-friendly hosh posh this community was said to hold, at the end of the day, I saw all the same things I see everyday.

Whether ideal or blemished, perhaps we could all use a place where we can at least get the illusion of a little peace of mind. 

Carnival Day in Kombai

On the outskirts of Kodaikanal town sits a little school by the name of Kombai. This school provides education for kids from around the community who are locally known as ‘tribal peoples’. These children do not qualify for education from the Tamil Nadu government because they come from families who are outrunning the law as vagrants, thieves, murderers, and gypsies.

About a week ago, I had the opportunity to take a group of our sixth graders to this little school in the middle of nowhere to set up a carnival for the 160 students at the school. At one point I snuck into the 1st-3rd grade classroom of 60 kids. As a teacher myself, they immediately sat me at the front of the room so that each student could proudly show me his or her chalkboard with the English alphabet neatly printed on it. After I saw all their lettering they sang me a number of English songs. None of them spoke English, yet the lyrics of "black sheep black sheep..." seemed to roll off their tongues fluently. Then, later while the little kids happily won prizes of notebooks, pencils, and little toys from the various stations, I sat and clipped and painted each and every child’s fingernails. Seeing the smiles on their faces after receiving a pain-free rainbow-colored manicure, I couldn’t help smiling while telling them, “nee rumba na la irikya” (you are beautiful).