Sadhana Forest, part 3
(Part 1; part 2.)
A passionflower growing outside the kitchen.April 9th.'Rode back to Sadhana Forest in a red truck on top of 350 coconuts, all the men in trucks and tractors staring down at my bare legs, and I just kept thinking 'I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts...'
Another view from my pillow, late afternoon.
Diva, Franzi, and Remy performing at open stage Wednesday night. (Diva is using her new aforementioned singing bowl.)
Jaspreet henna'ed Annika's hands. Gorgeous.
Chloe and Remy. Such an adorable couple, and so much fun to be around. April 28th.One of the dogs left a GIGANTIC rat right outside the kitchen last night. Steph told Sen (the appointed "rodent relocator" this week) to move it into the forest to let nature do its thing, and Sen reluctantly applied himself to the task with a rice sack.
Me (sympathetically): Thanks for doing that, Sen.
Sen: My pleasure!
Just the way he said it cracked me up.
Elisa, Christian, Annika, and Judith making dinner.Part of why I love Sadhana Forest is that you can feel like you're doing something useful every single day. I've tried volunteering plenty of times before, and each time I wound up frustrated, oftentimes because it seemed like resources (particularly of the human kind) were going to waste through inefficient (or downright ineffective) planning. For instance, I signed up for an afterschool mentoring program and got linked up with a sixth-grader just because my birthday is in November and his is in December. This was meant to be something we had in common, I kid you not. He gave me monosyllabic answers to open-ended questions and stopped coming after the third week. I've also tried volunteering for the elderly and housebound a couple different times, which is hard because when people are lonely they can expect a little too much of you; and in another instance I asked a volunteer coordinator repeatedly to hook me up with someone who wasn't already getting a few visitors a week, someone who might really need a visitor, and he never got back to me. It kinda feels like I'm saying 'I can't deal with people, I prefer seeds', but when it's just you and the earth and a packet of cosmic purple, or you and a vat of daal and a crew of hungry gardeners, swale waterers, and woodchoppers, there's none of the nonsense involved when somebody's dropping a ball or giving you a guilt trip because you've been visiting them for only two hours. Does that make sense?Anyway, suffice it to say I left Sadhana feeling changed in the best possible way, and I can definitely see myself going back there someday.Next post: a trek through the tea and spice plantations of Munnar!