Last summer, Tamil Nadu declared a bandh because of the dispute with Karnataka over water of the Kauvery River.  Aurovillians knew this was a day to lie low.  The guest house gate remained half closed, the town hall and all eating places closed, and whites were advised not to venture into the surrounding villages.  To do so would be to risk being hit by stone-throwers, or worse.

In almost every place in India where the writer has spent some time, there have been similar stories of violence. In Varkala there was a Swedish couple from whom local people attempted to extort money. In Meherabad there was the murder by goondas of Erico, and there have been several murders and rapes in and around Auroville.

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​The writer is thinking it could be an interesting experiment to completely avoid using the personal pronoun, and also to regard oneself habitually in the 3rd person.  Not as a pretension, but as a spiritual exercise, which, after all, reflects reality at least as well as the 1st person mode to which we are normally accustomed.  

It’s a difficult exercise.  In writing the first paragraph, the personal pronoun crept in: it was the first word written.  Formal writing also shuns the first person, so at least there is a convention to fall back on.  It would be even more helpful if there was some sort of alarm that would go off every time the personal pronoun is used.  But the word “I” is itself rather incongruous, and a little cumbersome to write on a tablet keyboard.