There are many good places to eat near my hostel. I went to the bakery/restaurant this morning for breakfast. It was half-way between my hostel and a paper factory, my next destination.
The paper factory was fascinating. I got a guided tour.
The factory uses recycled material, such as paper and cotton. Green waste, fallen leaves, banana trees are also used. I saw the cotton being turned into paper.
The cotton is shredded in a machine. It’s then soaked in water. If the product is coloured paper, they add natural colouring. If it’s black paper, they require black cotton! Eventually, soaked cotton becomes mushy and can be combined. Another machine compresses the cotton and removes the excess water. The cotton I saw was then decorated with leaves. I placed some leaves on the mats. Table mats were being made. These sheets mats are then compressed and hung to dry. Once dry, the leaves are removed, leaving an imprint on the table mats.
The tour guide also showed me various works of art produced from the paper. Some of it was beautiful.
After the tour, I asked the guide about Auroville.
Auroville was set up to be an ideal community of people living together. To become an Aurovillian, you must go through a process. Auroville doesn’t promise you anything although you might get something from Auroville. Therefore the emphasis is on you. You have to give a convincing explanation of why you want to be an Aurovillian.
If you’re accepted into the community, you have a period, say a year, to decide whether it’s for you.
You get a maintenace allowance for working in Auroville. There was discontent recently when it was proposed that the allowance be reduced to 3000 Rs. That’s just over a dollar a day! This change has not been implemented, possibly because people were unhappy.
There is a government appointed board. When I went to the talk on power and humility the other day, people raised concerns about this board. According to some people, the board is acting differently. In the past, it was much more consultative. Now the board makes decisions without consulting the community.
When I was leaving, the guide asked me how I was getting back. When I told him I was walking, he said he’d give me a lift on his motorbike. He was going in that direction. It was quite a bumpy ride. The roads are not good around here!
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