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DENTAL CAMPA month in the Himalayas- with Dentists

HOMEIs it only Auroville or also India?

SINGHAMLiving life to the fullest

STUDENT STORIESAhilya & Edo

T H E F U T U R E S C H O O L N E W S L E T T E RSeptember 2015

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Bob-the-Aged-SageTurns on the light of his wisdom to your questions

Dear Bob, Is every deed a selfish deed?Now that, is a good question. I’ve pondered over this with several individuals in the past.

To begin, let’s define selfish. Google says that selfish is an adjective which describes either a person, action or motive lacking consideration for other people. A selfish person would be someone who’s concerned chiefly with their own personal profit or pleasure. Some actions easily fall into this category. Taking candy from a baby, for example, is usually something someone would only do for their own pleasure, regardless of the baby’s feelings about it. Making an old woman trip and fall for a good laugh, would also be considered selfish because most old ladies don’t appreciate kissing the pavement.

Then there are the deeds that people would refer to as selfless. Some examples include helping an old lady across the street, lending a neighbour some eggs to bake a cake, volunteering in an international city where you devote all of your energy to human unity and et cetera. But are these deeds selfless?

When you help the old lady cross the street, are you doing it because you sincerely want to help, or because you’re hoping she’ll give you some of the standard Old-Lady-Mints you know she keeps at the bottom of her purse?

When you lend your neighbour some eggs, are you doing it because you sincerely want to help, or because that means they’ll have to give you a slice of cake later?

When you volunteer, are you doing it because you sincerely want to help develop human unity, or because it just gives you the illusion and enforces the image of you being a “good person” ?

I personally like to think that all spontaneous acts of kindness are selfless, but one could still argue that you subconsciously work out your profits beforehand, rendering the action selfish.

As kid (a long time ago in a galaxy far, far way) I would often visit this elderly lady who had a dog. One day I offered to walk the dog. When I got back, she had made me pancakes. Naturally, I offered to walk the dog again, and (almost) every time I did, she gave me the equivalent of 10 Indian Rupees, which felt like a lot as a kid. I know that the first time I offered to walk the dog, I wasn’t expecting anything in return, but every time after that, I always hoped for it, but I would have been fine without it. Does that mean walking the dog was a selfless or a selfish deed?

In the end, I’m sorry to say that there is no definite answer.

Love,Bob

To get the help of Bob’s sagacity to sort your life’s tricky tangles, drop your questions in the ‘Future Scribbles’ drop-box located in the school office.

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Student StoriesAhilya Music has always been a very sacred part of my daily routine. Whether I’m doing the dishes (which rarely happens) or doing my homework (again very rare) I find that some good music makes these mundane activities not as tiring and 99.9% of the time...the work gets done faster.

My love for music never really “began” so to say; I just got caught in the middle of it and never looked back. My favorite part about it is how it’s so universal and subjective; how “good” music differs from one person to the other and how one can tell a lot about a person from just looking at their playlist. Singing is another thing that I love, which can get annoying for some of my friends (you know who you are) but eventually they understand that belting out Abba is just who I am.

In addition to that, I occasionally play some guitar, most of which I’ve learned from YouTube and I have a passion for drama, theatre mostly, but I’m guilty of the other kind as well. All in all, I’d say that music is certainly one thing that I will never stop loving, the songs and the genres might change, but music is forever.

Edo I have always had a passion for football, ever since I picked up the ball at the age of three and fell in love with the game. I really like how the game is very active and keeps you on your feet, along with improving your stamina and making you fit.

Football is a sort of escape for me, it distracts me from other problems and while I’m playing, my one goal is to give my best as a player. Learning new skills and tricks with the ball is one of my favorite ways of

spending time. Although I love most every aspect of the game, the fights between teammates and opponents I definitely don’t enjoy.

I’m genuinely proud of how much I’ve improved as a player within the past few months and hope to become even better. My favorite position as a player is left wing, because I get to score goals. I want to make football a career for myself. Of course it will take a lot of effort but I’m willing to work for it.

Very often players get injured on the field. I once broke my ankle and had a deep cut all across my shin; but many others get even more severe injuries,

so that’s a risk every player has to be prepared to take. Another thing which is sometimes difficult to do is to give opportunities to your teammates and not play as a single person. Football requires teamwork and that’s crucial to winning a game. Don’t try to be better than others, try to be better than what you were yesterday.

By Ahilya Bamroo

Photo credit: Marissa Martens


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A Month in the Himalayas - with Dentists

On the first of May, at five-thirty in the morning, four really sleepy people stood with their luggage in the Chennai Central train station looking at the announcement board. Suriyagandhi (a hygienist and health worker), Aachal (a dentist from Mumbai), Banu (my mom) and I were looking at the announcement board because we needed to know at which platform the train that we were taking was going to stop on. We were all eagerly waiting in the really crowded and stinky train station, waiting for the train to arrive that would take us one step closer to our destination: Ramgarh, in foothills of the Himalayas. I was going to spend a month in a place where I didn´t know anyone, nor speak the local language (Kumaoni), staring at countless children’s teeth. At 10:30 am on the second of May, four very dirty people, who were wearing the same clothes as the previous day, stood in Nizzamudin (the Old Delhi train station). They were bargaining with a kooli (a porter) who was asked to carry their luggage. Well, technically Aachal was bargaining, Suryagandhi and my mother were already trying to carry some of the luggage up the stairs, because they thought that the kooli was trying to rip us off, and I was just standing there watching people running, some catching their trains and others missing their trains. At around 10:00 am on the third of May, I was finally unpacking my luggage, trying to get used to what would be my home for the next month, and then simply lazing around - because work started the next day.

I have to admit that working wasn´t as fun or as easy it had sounded. Every day I got up between 6:30 and 7:00 am, got ready and walked to the dining hall. There I had breakfast and started the one kilometre walk downhill to Sada Sukh, the temporary clinic, where the dentist, Aachal, and my mother worked. We were assigned to treat children from four schools in the area. Suriyagandhi and I would take the equipment that we would need for the day and would start walking to the school. The closest school was just about two hundred meters away and the furthest one was about two or three kilometres away from Sada Sukh.

Once we reached, we would get out the material that we would need for the day, send for the kids, and the day would officially start. I would write down the names of the students and their ages. Suriyagandhi would tell me what kind of problems they had on which tooth and I would write that down next to their names. Then she would treat the cavity using a drill or an instrument called the excavator. I would mix the filling material or the sealants and hand them to her. It would continue like that until lunch time, when we would eat a lunch of vegetables and rice. We would begin again and go on till about 3:00 or 3:30, when we would start packing up to leave. On busy days we would see as many as fifteen children and only make it back to our rooms at about 5:00 or 5:30. Then we would take a shower and just lie down for a while and it would be dinner time already.

Some days after a real quick shower I would help the people in the kitchen because I had made friends with them. Then I would help serve dinner and eat afterwards. I would sit and chat and drink mint tea till about 10:00 or 10:30 and then I would go back to the room that I shared with my mom and go to sleep. The great thing was that I never had any trouble falling asleep!

Closer to the end of May the plums, peaches and apricots started to ripen, so I ate a lot of those fruits, and I was not complaining! After a month, we had treated around 300 students, and even so we could not finish everyone who needed treatment.

We left Ramgarh to come back to Auroville on the 4th of June and after a stop in Delhi we arrived here on the 7th. I enjoyed my time and learnt a lot of new things on this trip, even though by now I think that if you offered me any plums I would decline the offer.

By Rathna Ramesh

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Home

The city of dawn. Built and animated by hands and hearts striving to create a place of peace and unity. A home for all, determined not by origins or race but by the willingness to overcome differences and live in harmony. As of today, a multitude of people have embarked on this journey, leaving behind others that were a home to set new roots here.

Whether we are in Auroville to change ourselves, change the world learn to live differently or understand things far greater than us, we are all inevitably caught up in our own existence. Fullfilling our ‘purposes’ and battling our problems.

The reality that we are in Auroville - an idealistic, experimental, nearly impossible dream - connects us all inside a secluding bubble, that seperates us from the rest of the world in many ways. This seclusion is vital in order for us to progress, because what we are attempting to attain is extremely far from the conditions of the world today. It is incredibly easy to get carried away by our issues and daily lives in Auroville, and to forget that we live on a subcontinent, in a country, amidst an ancient culture and race. I think there is the lack of connection to the country that has provided us the space and resources to build Auroville. It seems that most of us are too absorbed with ourselves to take a look around and try to comprehend the wonders of India, the complex reality of the people around us, and to learn from the myriad of beliefs and customs.

Every time I leave Auroville - either to discover the Tamil Nadu countryside, visit a temple or eat a dosai on the side of the road - I am drawn into a mesmerising kaleidoscope. An ancient country that is gradually adjusting to everything happening in the world while stubbornly holding on to all that it has carried with it through the times. And I realise that I see it as home just as much as I do Auroville. I began to ask others “What is home to you? Just Auroville or also India?” The majority repleid that to them India is’nt a home, and if Auroville would not be here, they would probably leave. I admit that the only reason I see India as my home is because Auroville happens to be here too, so I wonder if I can call it ignorant not to percieve India as home. Yes, there are ugly sides, but if you look deeper, the stories and images that unfold are spectacular. In a way, the friendliness, the genuine happiness, the precise, immaculate rythm to life are not far from what we are here to achieve.

By Tara Bene Rex


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Hi! My name’s Singham and I’m gonna tell you the story of my life up until now. I was born up north from here, in Pune. In my childhood I was mostly focused on one idea: how to make everything I did fun. Whether it was chasing a stick or chasing my tail. I always did everything to the fullest.

One day when I was about a year old 9 (that’s one and a half months in human years), I was walking around in the woods and saw a beautiful butterfly. I couldn’t help myself, I had to follow it. The bright blue color of its wings was mesmerizing. I’m sure if you were there you woulda followed it too. I had been following the beauty for almost two and half hours, my eyes still fixed on its wings and then without realizing I stepped on some sort of a trap. It didn’t catch me, but it hurt my paws real bad. I couldn’t walk. All I could do was sit around and wait for mom to come and get me. I knew she would because this sort of thing had happened before. While I was waiting it started to rain, and not just a little drizzle; this was a storm. Luckily there was a nice and big banyan tree for me to take shelter under. For hours I waited, so sure mom would show up. I was getting scared because I didn’t think that mom would be able to find me now, and she never did.

The next morning I was awoken by a hiker, I should have been scared but he had kindness in his eyes. He patted me and said that everything would be okay. Then he took me to a vet and my wounds were treated. I did feel an urge to run back to my mother, who I had loved; I didn’t though because I loved this man too. He saved my life. He was great; he always played with me. We spent months together having fun, but it it didn’t last forever.

We travelled south to a little place called Auroville, which, as you all know very well. Youth Centre is where we stayed. In my opinion it’s one of the few special places in Auroville. A week later though I saw the man had all his bags around him, packed. He patted me on the head and told me that everything would be okay. There was still kindness in his eyes but there was sorrow too.

That was the last time that I saw him. From then on the Y.C. crew has been taking care of me. All I have to do is bark once in a while when I see someone who seems suspicious, and I get free food and shelter; good deal don’t you think? Well, that finishes my story so far. If any of you’d like to chat you can find me at F.S, Y.C and well, all around AV. Oh, and a nice petting here and there would be greatly appreciated.

By Bagirath Prakash

Singham – Living Life to the FullestWe love to hear stories of how folks find their way to Auroville. Here is the story of

one special guy who is pretty much Auroville youth’s mascot.


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Thoughts, on a warm summery night

I remember those stars, pinned in the skyWhile curtains of clouds slowly travelled by.Shining stars on that warm summery nightTwinkling like Christmas lights.That moon, a thin crescent, sitting in the skyGazing down with its silver eternal light.The soft grass upon which I layAnd stared up into the vast universe.Remember feeling so tiny, so smallAs the immensity loomed over me.Against these majestic starsWhat is my place in this world?To be a mere speck of dust?Remember feeling a whisper from around me:It is to shine always like they do,And be as bright as they are.

By Bhavya Trivedi

Art work: Tara Bene Rex

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Do you have feedback for the Future Scribbles Team? Send it to: [email protected]. Mention ‘Feedback’ in the subject.

Editorial Team: Ahilya Bamroo, Aloe Tormo Mir, Amara Den Hollander, Bagirath Prakash, Bhavya Trivedi, Cameron Stewart, Marissa Martens, Milla Den Hollander, Mohana Navare, Rathna Ramesh, Tara Bene Rex

Cover Photo: Marissa MartensSpecial thanks to Muralidharan, AVDZINES.

Art work: Tara Bene Rex

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