justified absence

What can i say?
With all this lovely rains pouring all over feeding them thousands of trees planted this year the greenbelt is just such good news.
  but as for the random chosing of Avlians to a dinner is not much happening as it is already hard to get to Lumière and then with the rains and puddles...hum...
  so shall wait patiently for the rains to abide :)

List of Newcomers

Hi

  we have finally the list of newcomers.  so if you interested in inviting a newcomer. contact us and we will gladly share the their contact info happily.

Amy and Nadav meet Mahalingam and his wife Mayavathy

You see ... Anandamayi already knew them.

We had soooo much fun getting this picture right! You should have seen the 'sculpture' Nadav created with a pot and a lot of books in order to set-up the camera. Too.Much.Fun!! (most of the books by Sri Aurobindo or about him; so of course, we had to include him in our picture)
(From left to right: Nadav, Amy, Mayavathy, Anandamayi, Mahalingam)

Human Food Unity ... rock on!
We chatted.
We ate.
We laughed.
We smiled ... and I was beaming long after everybody left.

Mahalingam and Maya were introduced to hummus and babaganoush (um .. yum), as well as tahini (special thanks to Nadav for cooking with so much love).

I'll unquestionably be exploring this adventure some more.
Thanks again to Martanda and everyone else who has the heart and spirit to open, open, open!!
~Amy

Newcomers on the invite list

Hi

  Shortly we will have a list of the newcomers and their contact person - so if you wish to invite a newcomer over let us know!

Rena over for a revolution

This what Rena, one of our random guests, replied on the AVNet:

My phone rang at almost 9pm just on the way to go up to my sleeping- room. A tender masculine voice announced to me that I am the winner of his lucky finger- teaspoon- phone-book- pointer. Yuppie I am invited to have a food with him and some of his friends. I was so happy that I will be part of this new exiting idea to bring all of us one more step near to each other – just with a call and a good will.
Thank you Martanda for this great idea thanks that your finger stopped on my name. I had an unforgettable evening with you and your friends.
Me too I pointed my finger in the AV-phonebook and I will enjoy to be with three of my brothers and sisters spending next Friday evening sharing food together.
What for a good idea and so simple to realize, I really love you “in my age I can say it to you - no risk for you and for me” dear Martanda.
Live is beautiful thanks Auroville and for all of you. I hope I will see you soon for dinner, tea or lunch? Love and tenderness for all of you Rena

Ashatit and Florence

  “Welcome to Lumière in the dark!” (time 7ish in the evening)

  A fine couple with ample amounts of interest and passion for Auroville and expert literates of Sri Aurobindo.

  Theme of the night, or lets say a moment of "really-it-is-already-happening" type of situation when we spoke of the economy.  Ashatit adamantly confirmed that a complimentary currency existed.  We all had to agree it was a right and big step ahead.  Well, these are all opinions..but is always a pleasure to speak of Auroville with passion and zest.

  Florence works at Anadana seed collection and distribution centre; we met a few weeks earlier to pick up seeds for our garden.

  Ashatit some days back i bumped into as i was curious and interested in the Prosperity project.  Subscribed i became there and then. And i re-became a member of the club new pour tous! :)

  Palani, who works at Omega accountings, was with us too.  He is staying with us.  He is taking a break from his regular routine life.  His last health check-up  was a reminder to his blood pressure scenario..out in the woods, he sleeps so well; he remarked the night after his first night over here at Lumière, "..been so long since i slept that way..aah..wow"

  They left with happy hearts and light moments.

Aurevan + Dinesh

  We randomly chose Jean and Joy from the telephone directory.

  "Hi.  Is Jean there?"

  "Sorry, he is out of station..this is Dinesh"

  "Who?!"

  "Aurevan's.."

  Nadav and co. at the table whispered out (as the conversation was on loudspeaker) "invite them, invite them!"

  "Oh...yeah. Would you care to come for dinner at Lumière next week?" Honestly i knew the name from somewhere and the face popped up..

  They were house sitting Jean and Joy's place.  Relucant at first to come but with Aurevan's encouragement Dinesh confirmed over the phone they would come with a bottle of  syrup.

  Happy i was to have a young couple over for dinner. i know them but i dont know them.

  Over dinner we got to know them a little more..just a little cause we laughed and giggled so much that we were distracted from serious interrogation of our lives ;)

  what did we eat? oh yeah, indian.  Outside on our newly built "cuddapah" table, we ate under the jackfruit tree.

  Aurevan, Jean-Yves daughter, is busy with installing the history of Tibet at the Tibetan Pavilion.

  Dinesh, a young athletic young chap with a good sense of humor with an incredible acute listening capacity. must have gone to the Sri Aurobindo Ashram (with due all respect) lol.

  For me it was such a  relief to laugh and chat our hearts out after a tense and stressing week!

  It is a pleasure to sit with fellow Aurovilians and chat simply.  Randomly they were our guests.  After our meal, around 20h30 (still okay to call up another fellow randomly from the telephone directory) i landed upon Ashatit and Florence.

  A little tip when you chose, chose with a stick or something sharp so that you avoid selecting 2..)

  Excited and happy to be our guest, we arranged a dinner the next week.

  Aurevan and her chum (oops quebecois expression) were out of station so they postponed their invitation to a random person...as they needed also permission from other family members living in same space :)

Monday 28 September

Nadav was so happy. He is a caring, sensitive host.
I arrived early to help him get things ready.
Then Christoph came in like a swaying tree ... rippling leaves in a gentle wind.
And then Anny, smiling, radiating warmth.
Finally Olivier called. Nadav and I met him under the solar street light at Transition/Future School corner.
Olivier is a Frenchman living in Auroville for 20 years. He is a 'gentleman' (this compliment given by another Aurovilian 'gentleman'). He took the spontaneous invitation in stride (it helped that Martanda had made the call on behalf of Nadav).

The food was excellent: thank you Nadav.
The conversation was interesting and fun. Easy. Natural. Open.

What can I say?
I had to call.

New dinner plans for next Tuesday :0)

Calling on someone new to me

Joyful.
Curious.
Inspired.
Spontaneous.
Full of gratitude.

Reaching out.

Calling:
Brrrring....brrrrring....brrrrriiiinnnnnggggg.....
"Hello?"
"Hello. My name is Amy and I'd like to invite you over for dinner."

The adventure ....
.....continues .....

next Tuesday 6 October
with Mahalingham and his wife Mayavathy.

PS....that is ... Tuesday 13 October (had to postpone) ... ahhh ... a little waiting is alright :0)

Nadav right-on

  Monday the 29th Septemer at 19h I was invited to dinner to Nadav's; Amy spoke on the phone..how did she get there? Nadav had randomly chosen Olivier (Revelation)..Christoph too was there. Who is that? I declined the offer as I had a craving for pizza and it sounded like there were plenty to tango.
Next day, I bump in to Olivier in the village , a big smile on his face he confirms it was super! On rode off..something like that.
Riding to CSR, we happened to pass Nadav on his cycle smiling! Olivier just rode past us and big smiles were exchanged! Ah, what a smile can do? From the conventional head-jerk-to-the-side (picture it?) greetings we give each other on the road. LOL
We stop all excited to hear Nadav share his story. Attentively listening as he wanted us to post it on the blog and to hear the marvels of the HFU (Human Food Unity)
He described who Olivier, the man – the walker, was being in Auroville. I will let you randomly select him for dinner and find out for yourselves this amazing person.
He started describing each ones story..we were glued to the screen. Smiles bigger then they could get. As he mentioned Christoph, the film maker, new him from the film festival – you see Nadav was the hero of the Auroville Film Festival (that clip got 2nd place – right?) correct me if I go off track Nadav! So we giggled and a bike halts besides us and a man with a hat exclaims to Nadav “wow, you were super in the clip..i watched it..very nice! Nadav giggles and the man on the bike drives off making a jest that Nadav made in the clip. What was it? You raised your shirt up...something..something.
So that is how Christoph and Nadav got to know each other! Over a meal!
I will let Amy tell her story.
Dare you to invite someone randomly over for dinner next week!

Human Food RE-Unity

We’ve been talking about Human Food Unity to anyone who will listen. People from all parts of Auroville have offered great advice, but tonight we received the most beautiful feedback to date.

At the Aurogreen potluck, a little boy told us we had named the project incorrectly. “It should be called Human Food RE-Unity,” he explained, “because people used to get together over food, and somehow only recently we’ve lost that.”

Here’s another attempt to regain what was once already found…

Week 1: Nadav

It’s the first attempt of the invite-random-Aurovilians-Human-Food-Unity-scheme, and we’re already cheating. We were too busy to cook, so we had the amma do the dirty work for us. In my mind, the food served is a reflection of the tastes and personalities of the chef—a way for the guest to discover a little more about their random dinner host. But, time is of the essence, and we enjoyed a myriad of delicious South Indian specialties.

Our guest at Lumière, Nadav, went above the call of duty and made an incredible pasta salad as well. Through this gesture, we learned our first surprise factoid: Nadev used to be a popular chef in Israel before coming to Auroville! Here, he works at EVFuture and is currently house-sitting as he pursues that tedious newcomer adventure of finding a permanent place to stay.

To make everyone as comfortable as possible, we invited several others (less randomly): Akash and Monica, who know us as well as Nadav, and a couple of guests passing through Auroville that share our love of nature. It turns out that Nadev also loves Greenbelt-type work and had lived in Sadhana Forest.

We laughed a lot. We spoke of many things: the MMS craze, capsule life, articles from the most recent News & Notes.

When we shared the details of the Human Food Unity plan, Nadav was so excited he too wanted to participate as a host—he was just a bit hesitant to call and invite a random Aurovilian… With relative grace and ease, Martanda did the job for him, and next Monday Nadav will host his first random Aurovilian for dinner.

We too arranged our next guest… Check back next week to hear how our adventures go!

An Idea Is Born...

Where did this idea come from? good question..
i think it was at the top of the hat.

  In a nutshell:

  Invite once a week for dinner a person or family you randomly choose from the telephone directory/AVNet/master list :)
  If each one did this we would get to know one another little by little. Imagine the chain reaction it would create!
  We have begun this effort at Lumière,Auroville, India. This week we will randomly dine with Nadav..
  Try it at your place :) Next Monday we encourage you to do the same! You can share the news or let us know; we can gather the stories in a weekly News & Notes column, and we invite you to participate or follow this Human Food Unity blog..
  Lets get this going! I dare you right now to open up the directory, close your eyes, and spontaneously pick the name of your next dinner guest..