Like this:

The last day at the Aikiyam School. I arrive with my heart already fluttering, as I know that there will be some sort of goodbye and thank you in assembly. And so I am already tense as I sit in the back of the dining hall next to Nava. Shankar talks to the students in Tamil and Nava softly translates as speaks of all the volunteers that have come this year and in particular myself. He says there are no words to possibly express how they feel about us and me. So when Shankar finally brings me up to the front and Nava gives me a gift of a pink pashmina I am crying and I have no words to explain to them how I am feeling. When Shankar dismisses assembly the 4th std children gather around me, clinging to my hands. Gunavathi is crying also, and doesn’t stop for about 15 minutes. I usher them to the classroom as they offer me words of advice, “don’t cry Meghan.” “We love you Meghan.” A little later the entire school piles onto the back of two trucks and the teachers load children onto their motorcycles and mopeds and we head down to the beach. I am taking Mathi, Sivakumar and Gunavathi on my bike. When we get to the beach the children have tripped down to their underwear and are already diving into huge waves. I also dive into the waves and soon have children clinging to my arms and legs as if I am a rock in the ocean of moving and falling water. Often times the waves knock me over also and then we all scream as we are washed up on the sandy beach. Shankar is throwing the small children into the waves, Vijiaya has gone fully in, in her sari and even Ramkumar ignores his neatly pressed pants and shirt and heads in. Many of the female teachers stand on the edge, letting the waves lick their feet and cheering the children on. Michal is a great white mountain with the children jumping sliding and climbing all over him. We are all screaming and laughing and exuberant. I look around and tears well up again because I am sure that life does not get much more full or perfect than this moment.

Michal and the kids on the last day of school!

Lasts are difficult because you try to hold onto the moment, remember the feel the smell the way your heart beat in that moment because you know you will miss if in the future. There are so many goodbyes and lasts in our last week in Auroville that at some point Galen and I change our goodbyes into “see you laters,” and decide that these could not possibly be our last moments or experiences with Auroville. We suddenly know with clarity that this is a place we will return to, that our hearts won’t let us stay away. And I hold this idea tightly so that the goodbyes or see you laters don’t hurt so much.

Still it is a difficult week. After Aikiyam ends, the children at Roy’s are free for a week (except for Parimala who is still in school and Partiban who is on a class trip in Delhi) and in anticipation of us leaving they cling to Galen, Janina and I all through it. After breakfast they come over to just hang out doing whatever I am doing. Geetha accompanies me on my errands to pour tous, the tailors, to buy Janina’s birthday present. When I return from lunch one day, I drive into our parking area and all 5 children scream my name and drop out of the tree next to our house where they have been waiting for me to get home to watch a movie with them. Another day I tell them that I need two hours to myself and 45 minutes later I hear Geetha crying loudly. I run over to the house to find out that Geetha has been hit with a bamboo stick accidently and Nirmal and Iypa are calling each other names. After that I give in and teach Dhina, Parasu and Nirmal yoga, and then bake cookies with Geetha. After all- I will have plenty of time to myself in the future weeks and months, but these are my last few moments with my favorite Tamil kids.

Hanging out at the boarding house- our last few days!

When the day actually arrives for us to leave my emotions are so mixed that I can barely process it. What I do process is Geetha’s laughter and delight as she rides a wave into the beach and chases the boys around. It is so rare to see her so free and happy. Maliga’s tears and when she says goodbye to me as I drop Nirmalraj at her house. The solemn faces of the children who stubbornly refuse to say goodbye to us at Roy’s and insist on accompanying us to the bus station. Iypa who has so much bravado, who often walks around with his chest puffed out and loves teasing and being teased (his most common phrase is, “your lying!”) begins crying in the kitchen and goes outside to hide amongst the motor cycles.  As we drive to the bus station I look out the window at all the familiar places silently bidding them goodbye. Goodbye to Aikiyam school with its pod like buildings. Goodbye to Kumar’s where Galen first rode his mo-ped and it feels like everything began. Goodbye to the fruit stand and the temple next to New Creation. Goodbye to the shoe repairman, Richy Riches where we eat ice-cream, the tailor’s, the Bakery, Farm Fresh, Kofi Bar, Swadistha, Pour tous, the Beach Café, the Dolphin restaurant, and finally we leave Auroville and swing out onto the ECR heading to Pondi. Goodbye to the police station where Galen and Jacopo were arrested! Thanks to Tixon we now have bus tickets on a sleeper bus. The kids and Vanitha all climb onto the bus to survey the sleeper bunks- and possibly try to come with us. Nirmalraj had told me earlier that week, “Meghan I have a secret.” “What’s that Nirmal?” I asked him. “I dreampt that I was on an airplane with you and Galen flying to America.” He told me with shining eyes. Later on that day, he and Parasu decided to try climbing into our backpacks while I was packing just to see if they would fit! Finally Tixon manages to round everyone up and climb off the bus and then too soon, its time to go. And then we are all crying and hugging and kissing and soon we are on the bus and Tixon is waving to us through the window. On the way we had stopped on the ECR where Maliga was waiting with a big full of jasmine garlands for me that she strung together herself. As we ride out of Pondicherry and I let the rocking of the bus lull me, I gently fall asleep to the smell of crushed jasmine petals.

Our family in India!