My good friend Alex Leeor, ecobuilder & earth –ship father, told me that there is a sizable German community on steemit. He hinted that these German friends might like me to do an intro in German. That´s done. Hoffe es gefällt euch, ihr Germanen! Here we go into the English version:
I am working since 41 years here in Auroville and in spite of some very hard times (my share of tropical diseases, generally contacted by sheer stupidity like drinking unfiltered water…) I am still enjoying it here. You are invited to google "Auroville" – there you get pages and loads of info, pics and videos.
Encouraged by Alex I want to focus here more on my very personal life-journey. – Let me know, if you find it interesting. It´s certainly not the run-of-the-mill-type of life…. Of course I will be available to answer any type of queries you may have. I tried to turn it into a lively affair by throwing in some photos. Please bear with me here, when there are not many pics from the early days: 40 years ago there were no smart phones ((Steve Jobs hadn´t started yet..), no digital cameras , no laptops. The photos were analog, printed on paper and most of them are meanwhile yellowed and mellowed by age or were eaten by termites. Some pics we could save by digital re-mastering; - some are from friends or open source.
My first motorbike in Germany-acquired together with a friend-was the legendary Horex 400 Regina.I am to this day a motorbike aficionado .More about that later. My heart & soul passion however are horses….
Horex....
My very first car in Germany was the equally legendary Citroen 2 CV "Ente" (Duck) – with this 16 hp race car I drove to Berlin to start my studies at the F.U. (Free University). What did I study? You won´t believe it-so I´ll reply to this on request. – My last car In Germany – before I was taking to the wings to India - was this wonderful ship: A second hand wine-red Mercedes 280 SEL. –When the 6-cylinder engine was done, I changed to a 190 Diesel engine and was running it on heating oil! –Very cheap and – psst! – an offense regarding tax-rules. Of course my Merc was running without these ridiculous white-wall-tires. We had fun riding this cruiser all the way to Yugoslavia (that was before all those wars..)
Now comes this question-have heard it quite often before – but let´s go for it: What moves a young man to do this? He had no problems to find jobs (like Taxi-driving or being a salesman for famous Vorlo-fruit-juices) on the side of his studies at the F.U. –to climb up that ladder (of success-if you wanna call it that..). So he had a nice apartment in "Schöneberg" ( a fashionable quarter of Berlin), got a big Merc and regular holidays at the Mediterranean and so on ….So what (on earth) moves this guy to do this? To do what? – To get out of his Merc and jump onto this noble vehicle:A true Indian Hercules cycle. No gears.
...to then work hard actually in the hot South-Indian desert (that´s what it was, when we arrived..) and live in such a “keet-capsule” (a hut covered with woven palm-leaves)-with a candle and a book in the night.. Smart phones, laptops and such did not exist. Cinema, supermarket, icecream—no such thing anywhere near. Here a pic of such a hut, shot these days with my smartphone (yes). It´s the de-luxe-version of a hut with solar panels on the roof and nice LED-lights inside. Volunteers of the German“Weltwärts “ group-here for a year-are living in it with their Macs, I-phones, sound systems ..
I am a founding member of the farm „Discipline"(organic certified). Never mind the name. All the trees and shrubs you see planted by us: Cocopalms, fruit trees, chicos, guavas, pumellos and more. On the 30 acres we are looking after (about 13 Ha) we planted in the course of 40 years 55 000 trees-2 friends and me with volunteers and-depending on donations (our own money was blown fast..) with workers.
As a Christmas surprise 2011 super-cyclone „Thane" arrived and pulled about 20 % of our trees down in a matter of 2 hours.
Wikipedia: Early on December 26, the IMD reported that the depression had intensified into a Deep Depression, before later that day reporting that it had intensified into a cyclonic storm and named it Thane.[6][7] As it was named, Thane started to turn towards the west under the influence of a subtropical ridge of high pressure before its development slowed as strong outflow and marginally favourable sea surface temperatures fought with persistent easterly vertical wind shear.[8][9] Early on December 28, the JTWC reported that Thane had become equivalent to a category one hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale with 1-minute sustained windspeeds of 120 km/h (75 mph), while an eye feature had become visible on microwave
Of the 3 million trees planted in Auroville in the last 40 years, cyclone Thane uprooted about 30 % in 3 hours. To say that in those days life was not easy –is the absolute understatement! We learned to live with chainsaws to clear the mess…I have pics of that-but later.
Back to the topic: What made me change from a noble Mercedes to a noble-yet very simple Indian Hercules cycle? What prompted me to make this leap (not an everyday move I dare say..)?
Friends who had been here in Auroville and returned to Berlin with (analog) photos and fascinating tales to share. For one thing. And more so it was a book, which somehow came into my hands ( I did not buy it):
Author´s name simply "Satprem".
Title of the book:"Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness"
First of all: "Adventure" was and still is – a keyword in my life. The story inside was fascinating,-no religion, no sect, no guru, - beyond all that.
So: From Merc onto a cycle – and not only that: Onto an oxcart! We got ourselves some young, beautiful Cindee-bulls (mind you: Not castrated-they still had their balls!) To learn that, how to handle and drive with these friendly and very powerful bulls-that was really fun! Please try to imagine: That was the time before the arrival of tractors and such in South India! –Today folks usually can´t believe it: We actually learned the basics of life, which means: Ploughing, sowing, cleaning, harvesting, threshing, de-husking, hand-stone-grinding, cooking (on charcoal!) – all this makes you really appreciate your first home-grown meal of red rice.
were looking like this.
and the work something like this...
Yep-to learn to plant your own Rosella ( remember that song of Frank Zappa), your Tapioka, sweet potato, lemon, bananas, Chicos, Guavas, Pumellos, -and the Papayas. Not only planting, but learn to climb up the young Cocopalms and up the Papaya! –This is one of the few authentic analog photos digitally re-mastered and a bit colored from that era. You see, in those day anything was possible:We were wearing loin cloth, which-as we did our laundry ourselves (no electricity, no washing machine..) it kept that work minimal…And yes, it was hot!
Here on top of my first humble, self-designed and built (with 2 friendly masons and 2 carpenters) house-it was the first house in Auroville with a solar panel on top! Brought in my suitcase from Germany, as it was not yet available in India.
One more truly historical pic: We were building the Matrimandir (please google), with 1 cement mixer and 1 crane-that was it. Here you can see me with that long arm (we had learned shape-shifting naturally) reaching out for the wheelbarrow with concrete, next to later famous author Savitra. I came riding on horseback to the work-those were the golden, free days.. Working at Matrimandir for years, until the inner chamber was ready. It took some 40 years-depending on the flow of donations.
The Inner Chamber
Well-what else: As afore mentioned, I love horses passionately. As the farm was growing, we had land, water and greenfodder (for the cows). Water: We had to learn to dig wells. The large open well was done by me with a Dutch friend, Ivar Jenten and up to 25 workers. 18 m deep, and only one diesel engine in there pumping water day and night..no other machines like cranes, - everything by hand. Pulleys, ropes, baskets, “mumpties”...
Surprisingly – in the course of time – 9 horses came to me (I never bought a horse) – all as patients: Lame, swollen ankles and knees, sometimes traumatized. Gelding "Strider"was given to me from friends of the German consulate in Madras/Chennai, when they were posted back to headquarters in Berlin for instance. It took 9 months of good care with Bentonite healing clay mixed with vinegar and Symphytum mother tincture and veterinary medicals flown in from Germany to help him to heal. He staged a glorious comeback and was able to win in our private races in the Forecomers canyon! So it came to be that for some time I was riding on horseback to work at Matrimandir, Strider grazing in the gardens there.
Later I learned from fantastic teacher Anna S. about hippotherapy, the work with handicapped children on horse in cooperation with the wonderful Deepam-Institute professionals like Angelika, Selvi and Palani, who do an incredible good work at Deepam.
Next time more about these and other adventures.
Remember the keyword: Adventure – of consciousness,
with horses and other magnificent beings. Live your dream!
Remember the keyword: Adventure – of consciousness,
with horses and other magnificent beings. Live your dream!