Hey everyone, your best friend Sara here! Welcome to my ‘Places with Sara‘ section
I can’t wait to pack my bags and head out. Until then lets read through these wonderful travel memories from kids. Let’s keep our wish lists ready!
Auroville is an experimental township in South India like no other. 15 year old Diya Barmecha, a Bookosmian from Mumbai tells us the fascinating aspects of living here and how it has impacted her way of thinking. Have you visited it too? Tell us!
Diya goes to Ascend International School and is a student of Word Munchers.
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Travel is a process of self-discovery. When we travel, there is mostly a destination. However, this travel I am reminiscing about is different because its destination was internal.
While my feet were rooted in the town of Auroville, in Southern India, my mind was exploring new depths of myself.
While I saw the beauty of the city of dawn, I learned so much more. Auroville is a place where everyone can live as an equal. The main goal of this city is to realize human unity.
There is no concept of having a servant. In my stay there, I was asked to wash my own dishes, harvest my own crops, and a plethora of other things that I had never imaged doing.
In my everyday life, there was always food on the plate and always a clean plate when I asked for it. But in my trip to Auroville, I learnt that behind one piece of bread there is a long process.
When we did workshops of building a mud house and learned about unschooling, my mind was pushed to the limit on understanding. My mind curious as ever grasped every bit of knowledge. My knowledge was not about the place itself but how I could implement the teachings of this place in my home.
The people living in Auroville are content with what they had and don’t think of what they don’t have. They don’t have cars or a normal toilet. They don’t have dryers or washing machines but they do have their human will.
My stay there was a travel within. I went with a dependent and curious mind and emerged as someone more independent.
I understood so much more and felt even more uncertain of what I knew. But I was positive of one thing, that was – travel showed me another dimension of this earth and this dimension has changed my life.