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Pondicherry is named after a French seaport in South
India which is home to the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, a community
which gathered around the Bengali political leader and
sage. Wendy first visited there in 1970 and stayed for
six years. Both she and Julian have worked on behalf of
Auroville, a UNESCO sponsored international community
just to the north of Pondicherry. The shop was founded
in order to provide an outlet for handicrafts made there. |
Unique items include beautiful "Tree of Life" wall
hangings on silk and mandalas based on the sacred geometry of
the Sri Yantra. Beaded hand crocheted lampshades and slippers
are made in the workshops, some of which are run by the local
Tamil villagers. Handloomed hammocks, cotton yoga mats and meditation
cushions are also imported from the various workshops.
As Wendy is a hatha yoga teacher, yoga is a main theme of
the shop. There is comfortable clothing for men and women,
much of it in organic cotton and hemp. Yoga videos and chant
CDs compliment a large selection of Indian classical music.
There are Indian curry pastes and pickles so customers who
buy a cookbook can get right to work on a nice Indian meal.
"We really are idealists of the first order, but we're
also practical. We want to see ideals put into practice. So
we're ecologists and into a sustainable and holistic lifestyle.
That is why it is so wonderful to be surrounded by kindred
spirits in the Hudson Valley. We have been fortunate to be
able to go to India the past two years to buy for the shop.
We have custom made some great summer cotton pants, shirts
and dresses."
The shop first started next door to Mirabai, a "new age"
book and gift shop down the street. It then moved to the other
end of town next to Baby Toes and finally to its current location
sharing the building with Modern Mythology next to the Reformed
Church on the Village Green.
"We have a wonderful landlord in Larry Lawrence and its
great to have Paul running the Village Green B&B right
upstairs. The guests are often customers. A fair number of
Indians and international travelers recognize the name and
stop in to see if we are "really" connected with
Pondicherry. I even had a former French Consul General of
Pondicherry stop into the shop."
"We also get lots of people in search of the festival.
I sell the '69 tickets and posters and t-shirts because I
was there and have lots of great memories, but I think there
was even more to it. The festival started on August 15th which
is Sri Aurobindo's birthday. August 15th was VJ (Victory in
Japan) Day marking the end of World War 2. India achieved
her independence from the British on August 15th, so I think
it is a great "cosmic coincidence" that this great
"Aquarian Music and Art Fair" also started on August
15th."
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