Christmas in Auroville

  We had a very special Christmas in Auroville.  Birch and Allegra decided to decorate our room to give it a Christmas feel.  They found a large palm leaf that fanned out in all directions and Birch made a base by duct-taping three pieces of bamboo together to form a tripod, then inserted the palm leaf in the centre, Ta Da, we had a Christmas Tree! Then they decorated it by making snowflakes out of paper, stringing a banana leaf chain around the tree and hanging our headlamps (four in all) covered in multi-coloured plastic bags.  When the headlamps were turned on, our tree was lit up in shades of pink, blue and green.  We wrapped our presents in banana leaves and placed them under the tree.  It was wonderful! Birch and Allegra were very proud of their Indian Christmas tree and we all excitedly went to bed.
     Early the next morning . . .
More pictures to come -- we presently have a slow connection

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Here I am holding one of my banana leaf wrapped gifts from Allegra

The excellent meal that Carolyn and I helped prepare at a neighbouring village, served on a banana leaf

Birch opening one of his gifts that Carolyn gave him

A close up of the Christmas tree that Birch and Allegra made for our room

Birch and Allegra got us up almost pre-dawn (like every Christmas!) and we turned on the headlamps to light up our tree.  We spent the morning opening the tiny gifts - it felt like Little House on the Prairie - Indian style!.  The remainder of the day was low key:  Birch had "Delhi belly" and so the kids stayed at the Guesthouse, reading and making journal entries.  Carolyn and I bicycled out to an Indian cooking course in a nearby village curries and rice over an open fire, papadums in boiling oil.  Later in the evening, we had a Christmas dinner at the guest house dining hall that was also decorated with a live tree and each table had a beautiful handmade paper candle lamp shining brightly where we ate our dinner.  Before bed Allegra, Birch and Carolyn each read some poems they wrote for each other and me. This will be a Christmas that we will not forget: being in a foreign land with the hot weather, our palm leaf Christmas tree and how we each contributed in our own way to make it memorable.
I am grateful
John