A Winter Term in India: an Obie connection abroad, Part 1

When I first came to Oberlin, I didn’t expect to find my new best friend from India, let alone visit him for my third-year winter term project there. During one of the weeks of procrastination, exams, and essays during this past fall semester, my friend and I were both brainstorming where to go and what to do for our winter terms, so when I found cheap tickets to fly and visit him, the decision was quick and settled. Come January 5th, a little over three weeks ago, I was on a plane flying over to Mumbai to meet him and start our trip in Pondicherry, the south of India. 

Day 1-4: Pondicherry

Pondicherry is a small city in the southern part of the country. Until 1954, the town was a French colony, greatly influenced by French architecture, cuisine, culture, and even language. To this day, although no longer a colony, a big part of the population still speaks French (according to one of my taxi drivers, about 40% of them). My friend, who I’d say fits the definition of a foodie, was quick to take me to try my first Indian dosa (a crispy, savory, and crepe-like food), idli (a savory rice cake that you dip in a chutney, i.e., sauce/spread) and papad (a thin, crispy snack). Talk of a great start to the trip! 

We both woke up bright and early on day two to get our first surfing lesson. I might have been scared the whole time, but it was fun to try something I hadn’t before, and it was even more fun to watch my friend fall in love with the sport. Post-surfing joy and blues led us to one of the French bakeries left from when the city was a colony. Happy with lemon tarts, chocolate twist pastries, and croissants, we spent the rest of the day wandering around the town, drinking chai, and eating even more food.

For our third day, we booked a two-hour car ride to visit the second-biggest mangrove forest in the world. I had learned a long time ago that birds chirp when they feel comfortable, so humans, by association, have started recognizing the sound of birds chirping as a sign of comfort. So, here we were, my friend and I, crossing the forest tunnels in a little boat as we heard the birds chirp and the water splash around us. I might have still been jet-lagged, but I immediately felt more at peace and rested here. We went to have a home-style cooked meal served on a banana leaf afterward, where I got a mini tutorial on how to eat with my hands – the prawn curry and the fried fish tasted better that way! 

We woke up on our final morning in Pondicherry to the sound of the roosters next to our apartment – they knew we had things to do that day. We first went to one of the temples in the city, where my friend told me of Hindu stories he’d grown up hearing. I learned a lot about Ramayana, an ancient text of India that, among others, contains the story of Diwali and how this biggest Hindu festival came to be. Our next stop was the Sri Aurobindo ashram in the city, a spiritual place of community that settled there a little over a century ago, seeking a politically neutral space for community. The ashram is strongly associated with Mirra Alfassa, also known as The Mother, who collaborated with the community and contributed profound ideas of education, health, and unity.

Her spiritual and communal work didn’t end at the ashram either; in 1968, after an inauguration ceremony attended by 124 nations, The Mother established Auroville - a township of human unity where the idea was that any person of any nationality, race, religion, or gender could coexist in peace and collaboration. Naturally, this township became our next stop. The township is famous for many reasons, but the two that stuck out to me were their sustainability practices and education system. All around the five villages, Aurovillian families had farms and grew their own food, with the goal of cultivating native plants, especially since they require less water, produce less carbon emissions, and grow in abundance. However, they extended their practices to use the plants they had maximally; the seeds and fruits were to be eaten, but the leaves and branches were to serve food on or used as tools. Their education system also promotes these values; they have ten different schools, nine of which have curriculums designed to give holistic and broad information relevant to Aurovillians' lives. The tenth, and the one that intrigued me the most, has no specific curriculum and instead allows students to use Auroville as their campus, find things that pique that interest, and build a lesson around each thing, whether that be a bug, a plant, or an architectural design. We couldn’t spend any more time there, but as an Education Studies concentration student myself, I knew I’d end up looking more into this later on.

Day 4: Bangalore

Our Pondicherry trip ended there, but we still had places to explore. Our next stop was Bangalore for a night, where we stayed with a fellow Obie and her family. I cannot lie and say that it didn’t feel strange and unusual being with my Obie best friend at another Obie student’s house, eating homemade dosas for breakfast made by our friend’s mom, and talking about our studies and homes. However, I also cannot say that I didn’t love how random life felt at that moment – the connections you get with college!

Day 5-7: Coorg

After the delicious dosas and chai, my friend and I were on the road again, this time to Coorg, one of India’s coffee regions and a space of luscious greenery and wildlife. Our time in Coorg lasted three days, and although we did a lot during that time, the highlight was, by far, the day of coffee and a jeep ride. I never knew much about coffee, especially since I’m not much of a coffee drinker myself, but the Obie friend I was visiting was doing a winter term on coffee. So, the second day into our time in Coorg, we were up in the early morning visiting a coffee plantation. That day, I got to try a few different coffees, see the difference in the roast level and how it reflects on the flavor, see how the harvesting process works, and what the other options were, and I tried the best coffee I have ever had. The caffeine rush I got after all the coffee from the day only made the jeep ride to the top of a mountain in the afternoon even more interesting. I was buzzing with joy looking at the layers of blue ridges of the mountains, the pink and purple paintings of the sky, and my friend, who, while bouncing around on the bumpy jeep ride, was listening to Spanish music from one of my favorite bands. I knew then that I had chosen an excellent winter term project, and it made me even more excited for the week in North India that was to come.