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Alumni
L.E.C. - chronicles from an Alumni gathering on 10. November 2006 at Morattandi
It was a village visit to Morattandi after many years as a group – Zerina (our coordinator) has been going there over the years for births, deaths, marriages, functions, etc. but this was going to be the opportunity to see all the old students together, at least those who lived in Morattandi or close-by.
We met 9 old students all of whom shared their life-stories with us. Looking at the lives of each one of them and their stories and anecdotes, we do not see anything inspiring except the life of one of them.
Sandhya married late, according to the norms of marriageable age, and chose her own husband, but yet decided to get married with the acceptance of both the families. Her age at marriage, her life’s responsibilities along with her 2 sisters and widowed mother, her own mental maturity and attitude has allowed her to have a very satisfied married life. She has only one girl child who is loved by her and the husband dearly and is given the best education and care.
Her husband is the bread-winner and likes that Sandhya is the home- maker and not working outside; in the beginning Sandhya thought that this was suppressing her freedom, as she was used to working many years in a tailoring unit; but today, she feels that this is better as she is able to take care of her child and home better, give the family more time and this has brought the family closer.
Yet, she is able to do a lot of tailoring work, being at home in the village and earn whatever is needed. Often she has to reject work, as she doesn’t have enough time and so makes the clients go for making their dresses to another classmate from L.E.C. living in the same village, who is having a difficult life, but who is also qualified in tailoring.
In Sandhya's case, her husband is from another town far away and he has decided to come and live in the same natal village of Sandhya for practical reasons- closer to his work place, she has the support of her maternal family, she is a known tailor in her village.
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Crew:
Zerina – Coordinator
Harini – Executive
Marijke – Executive
Teaching staff:
Sylvia – English
Amar – English
Elizabeth
– Fashion Design
Susmita
– Teacher Training
Lisa
– Auroville Liaison
Contact:
Zerina:
zerina@auroville.org.in
Harini:
harini@auroville.org.in
Marijke:
margeen@auroville.org.in
Situated in Tamil Nadu in South India, near Pondicherry, Auroville is an experimental laboratory in the evolution of mankind. One of the many aims of Auroville is to promote development in the local bioregion – be it environment, technology, material and social change, leading towards a change in consciousness.
Read more here ... >>
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We notice all their lives are filled up with the repetition of the same stories of marriage, money, relationships, alcoholism. But in these problems also we notice strength, perseverance, endurance and faith. We see love and concern for each other, empathy for the other and also a need to know from each other.
Anitha, fondly remembered as the 'loud-mouth' of L.E.C., was always willing to fight for 'justice' in day-to-day situations, but if she felt the group that she sided was not completely truthful, she would immediately say this openly, much to their embarrassment and shame (this happened quite frequently!) – so the 'lobbyists' for any issue, could never depend on her stand/vote.
Anitha took a long time to marry as she was physically sick and today she is 28 years old, and has a 2 year old boy. Her husband is a mason, native of a village very far away, and he is an alcoholic who beats her when he drinks; but when he sobers up, she beats him. While this appeared funny to all of us, she started sobbing about her life that was full of grief and pain – she has her family support, and that’s why she lives in her native village Morattandi itself; her neighbours and the village panchayat, support her knowing her straight-forwardness, whenever she is physical or moral distress and that gives her the strength to cope.
While one of our intentions of our gathering at Morattandi, was also to update our old students database, and keep adding the information to our existing computer database of students from 2000 onwards, we felt that much more than this had been achieved – we had touched the hearts of all these 9 students who felt so grateful to know that we just wanted to visit them and talk to them, ask about their well-being and partake in their joys and sorrows by just listening.
At the end of the day, when we did our closures, each one of us (staff and current students) expressed our most sincere gratitude and joy for allowing us ‘back’ into their lives for a day and how moved we were by the what we had heard. We told them that were honored to be welcomed and treated just like their family member, although it has been years since most of us have seen each other. The need for meeting one another, they said was not only to share their life experiences but also to draw strength form each other – to know that their struggles are not unique and not without any solutions.
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