A special team

Both of them were born and brought up in Mathur, a sleepy village to the north of Auroville. Neither of them had any schooling. At the age of seven, Elumalai’s father sent him out to take care of goats, and he did this for seven years.  When the goats died from an illness, he began work as a mason helper at Pondicherry University. However, he didn’t like working with cement, so two years later he became a forest worker in Samriddhi, an Auroville greenbelt community. Here he discovered what he really loved doing, and for the past thirty years he has worked in the forests and gardens of Auroville.

Surya’s family are land workers and she began working on the land when quite young. Eighteen years ago, she married Elumalai. Within a few years they had a daughter and a son. When the children were old enough to go to school, Elumalai asked her to come and help him with his work in Auroville. That was eleven years ago. Since then they have worked as a team. When they work in the forest, he does the big cutting and hauling work, she does the smaller pruning and cleaning. 

It’s very unusual to see a woman doing forest work in Auroville. But Surya prefers it to be like this. “I’m used to hard work and I enjoy it. I love working outside and don’t mind whether it’s rainy or sunny.”  

After some time, the Evergreen residents where the pair worked decided they wanted a kitchen garden, so they sent Surya and Elumalai to Krishna at Solitude Farm to learn some techniques. “At the end of the training he gave us a certificate. Then we created a kitchen garden in Evergreen.”

“However,” says Elumalai, “we realized we were not getting enough money doing this work. We needed more money for our children’s education and other things. So we decided to become temporary workers. Now we go wherever somebody calls us, although we also continue to work in Evergreen.”

It seems to be working out. They have acquired a very good reputation (as well as visiting cards!) as gardeners and are much in demand. They each earn Rs 600 a day (“because people see we work as hard as each other”), which allows them to help with their children’s education as well as to construct a house in Mattur.

They see other advantages in being temporary workers. “When you keep moving around,” says Surya, “you are not in such a small world. You get to understand how different people are living, and how the people themselves are different. It feels like we are widening out. After you have worked in the same place for some time, like Evergreen where everybody treats us well, you begin to take things for granted. But there is always an enthusiasm in meeting somebody new and that gives us added energy for the work.”

Elumalai adds another reason for becoming temporary. “Sometimes in the past when I have had permanent work there have been misunderstandings, even arguments, with the people in charge, so now I don’t want to be dependent upon one employer.”  

He feels that, generally, their work is undervalued. “I work very hard but often I’m still seen as just another worker. I don’t feel fully respected for what I do and this hurts. This is another reason why I don’t want to be attached to anybody.” In fact, he sees this lack of respect as a larger problem. “Many people come to work in Auroville every day. Some work hard and very honestly, but these are generally on the bottom rung, and they are always undervalued.” 

One of the consequences of being temporary workers is that each day they have to work very hard to prove themselves to new people, as well as adjust to new expectations. Isn’t this very challenging?

“Yes,” says Elumalai, “it’s a big learning.” “We can never relax,” says Surya. 

They have a long day. After an early breakfast, they take their children to school. They begin work at 8 am and usually work until 6.30 or 7 o’clock in the evening, after which they pick up the children before going home. After dinner, they are too tired to do anything but sleep. “We sleep very well after this work!”

Elumalai is 47 years old now, Surya 35 years. They have been working hard since they were young children. How long can they continue working like this? What are their plans for the future? 

At present they are repaying a loan they have taken to build their house. “We will work at this job for two to three more years until we have enough money and then we will feel more relaxed to do our own work, “says Surya.

For Elumalai has plans. At present they have one acre of cashews. Elumalai would like to purchase another acre and then develop a small farm. “I will dig a trench all the way round with a pond in one corner. The trench will catch the rain to irrigate the land, and I will farm freshwater fish in the pond.  In the middle will be a garden.”

This doesn’t sound like typical village farming. Are they adopting methods they have learned in Auroville? “Yes,” says Surya, “As we work in different places, we are getting more knowledge, collecting ideas for the future. We will do water conservation on our land in the way they do it in the Auroville forests, but at the moment it is not possible because we don’t have the time or energy.” 

Are there other ways in which their Auroville experience has influenced their lives? 

“We are different from other families in the village,” says Surya. “We eat salads.  Even smoothies!”

Very few people from their village work in Auroville: most of them still work on the land or rear cows and goats. So how do the other villagers view Elumalai and his wife? Is working in Auroville looked upon as something desirable?

Surya hesitates. She’s reluctant to talk about it. Eventually she admits that it can be difficult.   “If there is a small difficulty, we are scolded by the other villagers. They say, ‘You work for vellakaras (white people). It is meant as a put-down and it hurts.  There’s a lot of jealousy in the village when somebody is seen to be doing well and we have to deal with these things.”  

But what about their children? Would the parents like to see them following them into forestry and gardening?

 At present their daughter and son are studying in New Era School (NESS) in Auroville. Education is very important for the parents. “We are sad because we have not studied ourselves,” says Surya. “We want our children to study as much as possible because that’s the way you learn more about the world.” “We have been working hard all our lives,” says Elumalai, “it has been a heavy effort on the body, so we don’t want the children to go through this. We would prefer they work in an office.”

The daughter would like to do this, but the son likes land work and has told his father that if he starts a farm, he will help him out. But if the children want to study further after NESS it will be a further expense for them. Does this mean that the biggest worry for Surya and Elumalai today is a financial one?

“Yes, says Elumalai. “It is very important both for our children’s education and future and to manifest our own dreams that we are financially more secure. This is why we hope people in Auroville will keep supporting us by giving us work.”

Both agree that Auroville is very different from the village. “In Auroville the people are always trying new things,” says Elumalai, “whereas everything in the villages is traditional. But the early Auroville and Auroville today are different. Now, money is coming more and more into play.  Before it was a more relaxed way of living and people seemed more satisfied. Even though there is more money today, people are running faster and are more stressed.” 

They admit they understand very little about the ideals of Auroville and why people have come here, yet they are happy that Auroville has brought prosperity to the surrounding villages.

Finally, when they look back upon their lives, what do they think will give them the biggest satisfaction?

“It’s planting a tree and seeing it grow,” says Elumalai. “When I was 18 years old, I planted a Vengai tree in Gaia forest.  Now it is big.  This makes me feel so good.  Sometimes when I’m driving past, I stop the bike and hug that tree….”

“The fact that we have planted so much, and there will be something in the forest still living after we die gives us very deep satisfaction,” concludes Surya.