Reflections on India 2024
We arrived for a one month’s stay in an apartment in Auroville, Tamil Nadu — just north of Pondicherry and about three hours south of the Chennai airport. We arranged for a wonderful Airbnb from June 18th until July 15th. We then spent the night of July 15th at the Trident Hotel near the airport in preparation for our morning departure to Singapore on July 16th.
This is our third visit to India. So much felt familiar and we felt an excitement because such a fast moving society was likely to have changed significantly since our last visit in 2020. It’s such a welcoming country. We love the food, the culture, the people — and the cows who were just as likely to be sauntering down the middle of the highway as they were to be grazing in the gorgeous green open space behind our apartment building. We didn’t even mind that walking to dinner our first night, in the dark along the main Auroville Rd., our village hometown this month, that Paul squarely squished a fresh cow pie (shit) under his left shoe. That’s India. Take it in stride. By the way, our US$8.50 dinner of veg paneer with gravy, masala chicken, jeera rice, phulka and sweet lassis that night was intoxicating. More please.
