with Sri Ganesh

- 16-04-10:

The N.H engineers have reaffirmed that they have paid compensation for the land and the well and all must be dismantled at the earliest… The money thus paid to Auroville is under Government regulations, having been received by the Secretary of the Auroville Foundation, and to have any of it released for work is a cumbersome affair. Besides, the inertia that prevails in most Auroville working groups is such that there has been no planning of the work to be done to protect the exposed areas along the new Highway. Now estimates and quotations must be produced and accepted by no less than 3 groups before any funds are released and thus it seems we are heading for a very messy period, perhaps even without any water or security for the place… I am not sure what position to take. It would appear that whatever I have tried to create in this life has eventually drawn to itself a will for destruction; and also that I was ill- inspired when I had this well bored and the pump installed, and that my perceptions of Ganeshji’s protection were all delusory, as has been

this whole episode of “serving” here… Must I withdraw from this as well…?

… Nonetheless, it seems to me that, with or without water, with or without a protective wall, there is a kind of contract and I will continue to take care of this shrine…! But… what is all this? I don’t know, Sri Ganesh, I don’t’ know…

- 17-04-10:

… Krishna’s team is at work. Arun, Shanmugom and Venkat have come to mark the path of the new water-line and of the final boundary. Arun has not given up trying to save the well… In the midst of all this commotion, Vipul comes and stays long, even watching me in silence prepare the puja; later he gets involved in some complicated affair of sitting before Kusum’s picture and laying his connected mobile phone in front of it, after having had a long conversation in English with whoever was at the other end… I don’t know whether he realizes what is happening right now in the compound, he is so taken…

532