Let’s Quave! Where? Down to Yahoo Land, where else!*

Having always wondered whether Sri Aurobindo’s poetry would ever appeal to the video generation in Auroville, it was a splendid surprise to attend the poetry recital that opened India Week at Last School. For there Sri Aurobindo and Tagore were the most popular poets chosen for the event by the students. They put on an admirable recital of poems and songs of different Indian poets, in English as well as in different Indian languages, including Hindi, Sanskrit and Tamil. The harmonious settings and rock garden of Swagatam were tastefully arrayed with examples of Indian folk art, silks, statues, furniture and panels throughout the week that lasted from December 12th through 16th. A series of informative talks were given by teachers and guest speakers on a variety of subjects that included: the modes of Indian classical music, Sri Aurobindo’s role in the Indian revolutionary movement, India’s linguistic diversity and a debate on post-partition India. The BBC series on Mountbatten was screened which, although unreliable and one-sided as a documentary, still served the purpose of providing a starting point for a discussion of the events that led up to India’s independence. The last day ended with everyone dressed in Indian attire, ranging from lungis and banyans with holes in them, to saris and punjabis that could rival anything seen in the marble floored hallways of a five-star hotel. An enthusiastic general knowledge test expertly hosted by Georges and Arjun brought the well planned and organized proceedings to a close, confirming the theory that the pursuit of knowledge can also be fun. 

The Last School Fair, held on the afternoon of the 24th and billed as something of a medieval extravaganza, lived up to its expectations. It was the best held so far. Booths displayed handicrafts, furniture, pottery, woodwork and information on the work of the Village Action Group. Pancakes, samosas, Belgian frites and a variety of Tamil snacks were offered. Panels displayed photos of the previous year in Last School, and an open air selection of paintings of different Auroville artists hung from trees in a nearby grove. As the afternoon progressed a Tamil puppet show competed with the musical performance of the Rolling Vundi Review, which in turn, lacking sufficient amplification, ended up cornpeting with the best cake of the year auction. Elsewhere Kumar was looking a bit wet in the dunkershern pond, Gordon sat at a desk intently writing poems to order, the more adventurous were seen climbing a large tree for a pulley ride down a rope stretched to some scaffolding set up far below, and a variety of dart and dice games attracted the amiable, colorful, milling crowd. 

A renaissance sunset provided a short break until the festivities spilled over into the star-studded evening and the Last School Auditorium, packed to overflowing (a new open-air theatre might well be a necessary addition to Auroville’s cultural desert in the years to come). Nadaka introduced a humorous fashion show, explaining that the reason that finally drove him to Auroville was the fact that Dior and St Laurent had stolen all his best ideas; this was followed by a mime show, performed by Ghiselle (a guest), that commanded a receptive silence from a surprised audience, who had already been in a mood bordering on the boisterous. 

However, the event of the evening was, of course, Johnny's new and much awaited play: Sleeping Dogs Don’t Lie. This was a musical drama, performed with gusto, humour and talent by the students of Last School, and supported by a back-up band in the shadows, composed of some of our leading living-room blues musicians, led by nine-year-old Savitri on the violin. The play was announced as not being for those of an excessively conservative nature and, from the opening scene on, it proceeded to poke fun and parody everything from Auroville’s great collective trials and tribulations (“Human Unity? It’s a good idea, but how to tell who’s human from who ain’t?”) to video culture and rock and roll. As the play unfolds we follow the misadventures of one Bramblemoos Brando (well acted by Vici), who is abducted on a trip to the jungle of pandemonium and enslaved as a lover to the queen of a tribe of matriarchal cannibals (a regal performance by Puja!). The admirable efforts of his parents, Livingstone and Mary (acted by Auroson and a suddenly very female Leo), to track him down and bring him back to civilization (That’s where you come from, that’s where you belong), lead them into hot water. But they don’t take no for an answer – Auroson’s accent and the wicked swing of Leo’s purse make that quite clear – and their saviour Brother Brimstone (Akash), a video-preacher with a direct reel to God and all the answers (It’s all a movie anyway), moves in to convert the cannibals to a diet of video and vegetables. But the tribe has other problems. Worshippers of the mystic bone, they are bitterly divided on how to cover the bone of bones: one faction wants to cover it with banana skins, the other with rooster feathers. Enter the architect, who, with no time to spare, quells the factions in rousing, soul-inspiring French English by coming up with a solution no-one had ever thought of: banana feathers! The reaction is unanimous, “This dude’s loose, let’s quave” are the Tribe’s parting words. Events lead, many enjoyable scenes later (which included a great song and dance number by Auroson, a jungle disco party, and a number of appearances by the neem-tree choir) to the final conversion of the cannibals and their return to civilization (the play ends with a cocktail party attended by all in an apartment in New York City and the marriage of Bramblemoos Brando to Devi Dewdrop). A bard once remarked: “All’s well that ends well!” All is certainly weIl in Last School and thank you Johnny and all you students, named and unnamed, violinists and down-home delta bluesmen for a great performance and thoroughly enjoyable evening!

* There’s no misprint in this article. You’ll learn more about Auroville’s underground slang in one of the next issues!