21 to 23 Sept Clowns Visiting Mahabalipuriam

The group split into two a bus and 4 wheel drive. Most of the group went directly to Mahabalipuriam by the ocean. The resort is south of Chenna and a tourist area, the only one in Tamil Nadu. Toot, myself, Puzzle, Santosh, Brett, Mike, Obiddi, Geri  travelled in a 4 wheel drive and went to Banyan residential home, a women’s shelter for abandoned women.

They waited for us in a large room. We got changed in a room together and did some makeup. Gerry was encouraged to have a go as she has been the organiser. My feeling was it would be great for her to give it a try. Anup had a go and he was great. They have all been fantastic.

There was a good debate in the car where philosophy was discussed in respect to teachers and students. I liked the idea of we are all students and teachers and really the best teaching is when you can draw out wisdom in students rather than rote learning.

The show started whilst I was still doing makeup. I then ran in and screamed with the others lying on the floor doing a funny skit. I went into the audience and played with my bubbles blowing them over people’s heads and looking for opportunities to connect. I sat on knees and lay across people, climbed over others and generally goofed around. I met a great boy who was actually a great clown himself. We all entertained the audience hugging them, sending balloons around, our friend Obiddi did some great balancing acrobatic work. The rest of us created a warm, loving and engaged environment. We see so many wonderful faces and we marvel at the lives these women have had. Some have depression, others are cheerful, others harder to break through but love is our secret weapon and we try out best to spread as much love and joy as we can, we give our all.

It is really interesting it is often disconnected at first but after a while of interaction you can feel the larger group merge with the smaller group of clowns. People start to feel more relaxed and realise it is about having fun and being silly. There is some fascination in their faces as they watch our antics. I often wonder how they see western women in the role of a clown given their own traditional restrictions and stereotypes.

After Banyan we de-clowned and went to Mahabalipuriam for rest and recreation. On spotting the sea I felt so happy, I love the water. We were taken to our guesthouse. The four wheel drive stopped in next to the guesthouse. We had to drag our stuff across rocks to get to front of the guesthouse. It was right on the beach, no building codes here.

I shared with Toot she headed off and I was just sleeping as I was totally exhausted. The night before I went to sleep around 2am and then we had to get up at 5am. It was pretty full on for me, perhaps I am feeling my age. Anyway, I dragged myself out of bed to go out and walk. The beach is right in front of the guesthouse and as I was walking saw Amo and Nicole on the beach and walked to the other end. We saw a cow walking on the beach and Amo commented. Only in India I say smiling. The sacred cow is seen everywhere it is indeed an honoured being. I like that, as they are seen as meat here in Australia. I decided to have a look around the town, I walked up to the main road and saw Obiddi, Brett and Santosh. Had a quick chat and Santosh asked if I wanted to come with them. I had no pressing engagements, happy to go with the flow and fancied a beer. So we went for a beer. That was so nice. It was a little slow in coming at the first place and then we were informed there was no beer, myself and Brett quipped the Australian adage equivalent to our predicament as ‘a pub with no beer’. We decided to go across the road. We chinked glasses and toasted. It was fun. Then we headed down the road for dinner and ended up meeting with some girls from Italy and had a chat. We saw Gerri and others from the group and she invited us to dinner, the guys went for a party. I met a young missionary guy who had been hanging out with Toot. They had ridden horses on the beach (lucky things). This guy had been at a christen camp. He said the food was not very good and he did leave after a time. His father was a paster and had travelled. We talked about spirituality and the importance of following the heart and that life is about experience. He was bright and intelligent and finding himself. India for him was a place for growing as a man and deciding what he wants. He had worked in orphanages through his Christian work . I think it is good for young people to see the realities of life to grow as people.

I was pretty tired and headed for bed.

The next day had a look around the township of Mahabalipuriam with Santosh. We just walked around looking at small shops. There were a lot of little shops selling colourful clothing. You can watch artisan’s make shoes. I had a very nice discussion with a Kashmiri proprietor. I could tell he was different as he had emerald green eyes, very beautiful. He told me he had worries and that business had dropped off. I tried to establish if he had spirituality. I did this to try and give him hope and help him to live in the moment. We connected and he felt much better. I bought a peace bag from him to contribute to his wealth, I didn’t really need it but wanted to buy it for him. We shook hands warmly and I felt the friendship.

Santosh helped me buy some shoes which he calls slippers, very sweet I thought. Toot came along with us in her bare feet, I love the way she just walks around naturally. We did lose her at some point as we got side tracked by gypsies. I ended up buying them 2kg of rice. They wanted more but I told them that is all I am giving. I did humour them as well and gave them hugs and kisses and just said ‘no more’. I played with their determination and persistence and I felt I did get through on an emotional level. I felt they would become hardened by life and have to eek out a living. They live a life selling beads and jewellery and they approach this with determination. The children also just do what their parents teach them, so it is a way of life. I feel love for them and it is not my place to judge, I just have limited funds and will give if I feel inspired to. I am aware as you give money more people come. They are street wise and I am aware of that.

We headed back and Toot was organising a wonderful ceremony on the beach for Gerri. It was Gerri’s last night with us as she has to go up to the mountains. What I love about Toot is she just organised candles and a present (a diary) and made sure Gerri was brought down to the beach by 7.30pm. We all stood on the beach. We placed sand in plastic bags and placed the candles in the sand and lite them. They were lined against the sea wall. It looked beautiful. The plan was for Anup to bring her down the beach and she would stand in the centre of the circle and we would tell her how appreciated she is. The candles were against the wall and Gerri came. She stood in the middle of the circle and one by one the candles were placed in a circle around her. It looked amazing at night. We also had a little Indian girl with us with the most beautiful face and sweetness. Toot asked me to look after her so I just placed my hands on her shoulder. Obiddi, a light in the sun himself, played the guitar to her (small guitar) and sang to her a song. She participated in patting her head, sticking out her tongue, tapping her knees. He made the song into a game and she laughed. I thought how lovely he is and the memory this child would have of this night. It was Toot that found her and played with her and then had her be the chief present bearer. She was told in Tamil it was Gerri’s birthday to make sense to her. Anyway, Gerri was standing in a ring of candles as the motto of Seb’s Projects is to be a light in the darkness. Indeed she is that. Each person told her how wonderful she is and there were tears in her eyes. You could see how deeply touched she was. It was so beautiful this ceremony, I looked at Toot and felt the lesson in building community. Toot is a mum and I noticed I didn’t have the same sense of community as I go it alone. I saw the power in building community through love.

After the ceremony Santosh and I did a meditation connecting to the moon. We stood in the water feeling the tide pulling and marvelling at this celestial object that has such a powerful effect on our lives. I thought of woman’s cycles, without the moon we wouldn’t menstruate. I remember telling him that society sees menstruation as dirty but in truth it is a cleansing for a women’s womb, the very hub of life. It is a cleansing to allow the bringing of new life. It is an honour to be a woman. I also noted that women do become hormonal during this time but my feeling is that any suppression of emotion comes up and women usually say what they think at this time. I believe nature has a reason for this.

After the ceremony some of us went to dinner at another restaurant. Santosh went to have indian food, Bryani, whilst we stayed and enjoyed some western food. It was nice listening to the chatter. Earlier that day we had met some social workers from Australia, they were working in Chennai . There work was focussed on trafficking. They said the trade was growing as slave labour has an economic advantage. They told me of places where those rescued could go. They said the Indian’s had a different approach to work and things sometimes didn’t happen. They learned to be more assertive. I asked about other issues they have come across, domestic violence came up. I’ve heard this a lot that women are beaten. I just can’t imagine what that would be like.

Obiddi and I walked back to the guesthouse and I watched the stars for a while. It was a hot night. I was a bit reluctant to keep the door open as I saw some youth’s walking outside our room the night before. However, Toot wanted the door open to cool down the room, my feeling was to not allow fear to dictate my thoughts just leave the door open, nothing happened just kept cool. Toot and I chatted for a while and then fell asleep.