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One house, many pujas
Although we have already done a large groundbreaking puja for this house, another simple puja with just the workers is done before the brick masons begin. Om Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu three times, prasad for everyone, and the walls start to rise. – Scotti
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The sound of water
When you live near water, hearing its sound becomes part of your life. A fisherman living in a coastal village will hear the tides of the ocean like his own breath. Someone living along the banks of the Ganga will hear its never-ending flow like their own heartbeat. These sounds are usually a constant and steady presence in their life. But sometimes, like a sudden heart attack that hits with no warning, the constant and soothing sound of the water’s flow becomes the sound of rage and pain, chaos and violence. The coast of Tamil Nadu and the Himalayan valleys…
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Hole in the road
Lest we forget how fragile the transportation is in the flood areas of Uttarakhand, this hole has opened in the main highway just 100 yards from our ashram. Within the past 24 hours, with no rainfall, the last foot of pavement has fallen away. The road is so narrow that the rear wheels of every bus and heavy truck will come within 6 inches of this drop to the river. With no support, it is only a matter of time or the next rain before this place collapses more. Yet traffic flows as normal with no alarm. Today is a…
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Preparing for the Japanese students
Preparing for the Japanese students, we are all doing extra tasks. I got to do my first full day of real construction work. Even though I made many mistakes, it felt so good to be actually building someones home. This is called the market site as it is just behind the main business area of Chandrapuri. We will build four houses here. The field is full of 40 feet long steel rods in various thicknesses. Our job is to cut the rod to the proper lengths so our students can assemble the reinforcement for 33 concrete columns and then pour…
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Lone Survivor
Every year the Japanese students come, it is always essential that we find them accommodation close to the building site. Usually when an area is affected by a natural disaster, options can be limited. This year, there was only one option. Last summer as you left Chandrapuri you would only have to drive a few kilometers further down the road before you would find a thriving tourist village boasting no less than 20 hotels stretched along the banks of the Mandakini River with stunning views of the majestic Himalayas. One lone hotel sadly was left off from the prime real…
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A moving ashram of 700
As we started doing registrations for the present 2-week tour, we expected the number of registrants to be similar to the recent tours. But with the crowd of westerners in Amritapuri not having reduced much since the New Year (coming down just from 1600 to 1200), we suspected that we could be facing a new situation… Still we never expected the numbers to get close to 400 registrants… When we finalized the buses and departure time came, 420 westerners had joined the tour!! All past records were clearly broken. With an additional 300 Indian ashramites, the tour’s vehicle-caravan consisted of…
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Preparing the path where there is no road….
After major flash flooding devastated many of the himalayan valleys in Uttarakhand, Amma pledged to rebuild 500 homes in the area. The first phase of that work is going on in and around the village of Chandrapuri in the district of Rudraprayag, on the way up to Kedarnath. A week from now 73 Japanese university students will spend their semester break helping construct houses and to rebuild the lives of people who were struck by this tragedy last summer. Since volunteers have been teaming up with Embracing the World and coming to India to help build homes for those in need.…
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The Japanese students are coming
The word Japan was heard in all the shops of Chandrapuri after our banner went up this morning over the main highway. 76 Japanese students from International Volunteer University Students Association will arrive next week to help with construction. IVUSA groups have helped with Amma’s housing projects annually for more than 15 years so we know the skill and enthusiasm they will bring with them. All of our efforts are now focused on preparing the various work sites to take full advantage of their energy. Considering I have not seen another foreign face in this valley in over 6 weeks,…
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Climbing up
As the full moon approaches, the air is crisp and clear. We had frost last night, then a bright, sunny day. I decided to climb the steep trail behind our building sites for a new view of the mountains. In the valley picture, our village of Batwadi rims the green fields in the foreground. All of the grey area along the river was once fertile farmland and houses. There was a bridge connecting the village area to the right. It seems no matter how high you climb, there are villages, schools, and temples. Immediately after the flood, it was only…
