Last night after getting home from a good day of working at ATREE followed by a friends birthday celebration I found a wave of stress and anxiousness hit me that I haven’t felt in months.   Thinking about how I am going to be leaving this amazing life that I have built for myself here in southern India.  I have never felt this way about a country outside of my own before.   When I got here 5 and some odd months ago, I had no idea what to expect, it was all very new and foreign, we lived in villages where there was no one our age to really connect with and life was good, in a different way.  It helped me to get my brain out of the habit of always having to be distracted by something.  Whether it be music, movies, internet, whatever it was, I was constantly busying myself with something and never just sitting and enjoying the scenery around me.   Although this was a hard habit to break, I sure broke it and even enjoyed it.  It feels good to not have the anxiousness associated with those habits lurking around me anymore, and being happy just being quiet and aware.  As our work, research and travels took us outside of Sirsi my life in India began to expand drastically.   I met Kanmani, one of my favorite people here.  She helped me to feel comfortable in the city which has now become, what feels my home away from home.  She has helped me meet so many great new people and see so many things around India and not to mention has showed me a thing or two about Indian cooking.  It was this connection that began to make me feel more like myself and to find the right place for me during my time here.  It is a friendship much like many I have back home and it added a layer of comfort and familiarity that was much needed.   My time in Pebble Garden taught me so much about the importance of personal connection and mentorship, especially for this current time in my life.  I am exploring such a new field of study and to be surrounded by supportive people that not only take interest in getting to know me, but want to help me grow and learn  by sharing with me their lives and studies is so important.   Deepika and Bernard made me feel like I have a base station in India to work from.   The things they are doing there are things I want to continue working with and they have created an atmosphere where I feel comfortable reaching out.   It was an eye opening experience my 6 weeks there into where and what I want my life to be right now, and who I do and dont want to be part of it.

India has just been such a wild ride, the diversity of this country from the people to the food to the landscape is incredible.  For someone to say the simply dont like India means they haven’t truly explored it.   I really dont know if I have ever felt such an emotional attachment to a place.  It will be truly hard to leave here on Saturday, but I know I have lots to look forward to when I get home.

What I great last weekend in India I just had!  Kanmani and I headed to Cochin for a long weekend to check out the sites and visit some old family friends of hers.   We took the night bus from Bangalore on Thursday and arrived in beautiful Cochin on Friday morning to a house full of warm greetings and food!   Friday was a day of catchup, because no one sleeps well on an over night bus.  We headed down to do a bit of shopping in the afternoon, I got a my much desired mortar and pestle, some bollywood movies and the best Chiku milkshake I have ever had. 

Saturday we got up early to go see some elephants get their baths in a nearby river, what a cool experience!  So crazy to see elephants so domesticated though, we headed back early after noon to pickup Nandini and head to Fort Cochin.   The portuguese influence is big in Fort Cochin as you can tell from the difference in architecture and the presence of many many christian churches.   We went to a cafe, enjoyed some cold coffee and some much needed sweets and then headed to Jew Town, yes that is the name of the neighborhood, to look for some Indian coffee for me to take home.  We stumbled upon a small roasters where he was freshly finishing up a batch of Plantation Coffee.  Nandini and I both grabbed a good amount, later we enjoyed a cup and felt good about our find.  We took the ferry back to town from Fort Cochin with was a whopping 10 rupees for three of us.  (thats about 20 cents)   Then we headed home to get ready for a violin fusion concert that left more to be desired.  The women on violin and the man on the tabla were great, unfortunately the sound techs were not and the volumes were much too low on both of them.   The extra volume was unfortunately given to the annoying electric guitar player who clearly thought he need to fuse a bit of slayer and metallica esque music into the mix.  Let me tell you…..this didnt work.  After a few of his jam sessions we were ready to move on with our lives.  The show ended though with a nice piece featuring the violin and tabla and little to no electric guitar.

Sunday we spent the day on an all day tour of the backwaters, including lunch and a boat switch were we went further into the interiors and got to see some of the villages built around these waterways.  It was indescribably beautiful and relaxing.

Monday we headed back on a day bus, bad choice.  It was the longest bus ride ever, or so it seemed.  We did catch some good views as we climbed through the western ghats.  However, the windy roads of the bus drivers choice route caused about half of the bus to get ill.  At one point there was a line in the front of the bus for plastic bags to throw up in.   Kanmani say ” Vose there is a line of people getting sick bags” was our queue to put our ipods and and turn them up LOUD.   Luckily things calmed down a bit after we got out of the mountains, but man what a surreal experience.

Now we are back in Bangalore, I am wrapping up my auroville report and trying to think of what last minute items I want to get before leaving.  I cant believe I only have four days left…….

Well this weekend I successfully wrapped up my last big task as an intern with Vanastree, working the annual Malnad Mela.  What a fun weekend!  Lots of vendors from around Bangalore, a fun crowd of people to mingle with and a musical performance with instruments from recycled items!   It was a great ending to the 5 months I have spent working with Sunita and the rest of the women of Vanastree and it was nice to see the amount of support they have from the greater community outside of Sirsi.  I spent most of my time at the booth selling our “anti stress summer kit”.   Which included some new hair and massage oils the cooperative is making and some balms and salves made from Kokum butter.  Kokum is such a big product of the Malnad and I will be sad to not have access to Kokum necter anymore, more new favorite.  It reminds me a bit of cranberry, with a dry tartness, but is really flavorful and unique.  It is a non timber forest product that Vanastree does a lot with.   The rind can also be used as a souring agent in South Indian cooking!

Did my last bit of shopping at the Mela as well, picking up more food items to bring home to share with friends including chutney powders, pickles, kashaya (a mix of spices that you put in to hot milk or water to make a great winter time beverage or for when you are sick) and of course Kokum.   Biggest score though was the ground peanut masala that I got.  Cant wait to put it on EVERYTHING!

We also checked out another micro brewery in Bangalore named Toit, where there slogan was “Drink your Liver Out”…….they could have come up with a better one I think.  Beer was good though, and we had a nice time visiting my friend Luis in a different part of the city

Now less then two weeks to go, wrapping up research and heading to Kerala to round out my time here.   See you soon U.S!

Today, Kelly and I packed up and left Huthina Betta, which has been our permanent home in India for the last 5 months.   It is weird that we are beginning out string of goodbyes already but I only have just barely over 3 weeks left until I touch foot back in the states.   My last day on the farm was spent preparing some garden beds for tomatoes to be planted and accompanying Kelly on one last interview at Manoramakka’s house as the Dalit women husked araca nut.   These women have been a huge part of Kelly’s film work as well as our time here at Vanastree.  They are a low caste group of over 40, who have lots of gardening knowledge to bring.   During the interview the women expressed their excitement to be part of a group of women, absent from men, standing on their own where they can share their knowledge and lives with others.   It was a nice last interview to have in Sirsi.

We are heading out for four days in Gokarna, to the Namaste Yoga Farm.   We will have our own cottage close to the beach and will be a great way for us to wind down from the crazy 5 months we have been here.  Looking forward to some Yoga, Beach and Beers.   We will then come back, spend one last night with Manoramakka and then we will be in Bangalore.  The Malnad Mela will be out last event with Vanastree which should be a fun one.  It will be nice to have one last big event to share will all of the people who have spent so much time with.

Kelly will then head back to the states and I will stay on, heading to the central Himalayas to visit my friend Raj, who is doing some work with and organization called Avani and working on a project with Pine Needle Gasification.  This should be really interesting to learn about.  Then I am back to Bangalore for a few days and then home!  Hard to believe my time is coming to an end.  What a 6 months it will have been by the time I am home!