A new beginning

With not a very pleasant beginning on my first week, were I spent most of my time on my own, not really connecting with other volunteers, I had to look for further life outside the Forest. So my second and last week had to change. And it did.

I took the reigns instead of leaving the place rule my way. I got my bicycle and went to explore what was called Auroville. So far I had just seen a hint of it while going to a wedding in a packed up bus with the rest of volunteers.

But one of my primary motivations was bread. And not to forget the filters for my cigarettes. But I couldn't buy any bread, I needed vegan bread, and the only place available was the Auroville Bakery. So I headed on that direction with the company of Kelsey, first stopping at the visitors center to acquire a very useful map of the area.

At Kula Palayam, in front of Richie Rich's, some random guy stopped us and asked us how to get to Sadhana Forest. He couldn't be more precise on who to ask. It was Eric. We gave him directions and he got there hours later than he should have. He would be key in the future events that surrounded my life. But more of him later on.

We got to Farm Fresh, what we thought was the bakery, and obviously, no vegan bread was available, they didn't even know what was that. And that turned out kind of frustrating. Fortunately, we discovered that the place called Farm Fresh, wasn't the Auroville Bakery, and so I was decided to try again. I had enjoyed it.

At night, I started cycling with David for parothas and chai at Koot Road, the nearest commercial village. Others came too, but with their mopeds. It didn't matter the weather conditions. We needed our daily non-vegan food. Once we rode back while raining. I always had to light David's path as his flashlight wasn't powerful enough, but we always enjoyed it.

Life started with a peddling.