On 20^th February 2019, FSL-India’s Pondicherry coordinator organised a Cultural Event (CE) for our regular LTV volunteers. Every month, we organise a cultural event for our regular volunteers and we take them to any cultural and historical places, which are located in and around Pondicherry. This month, the Cultural Event was focused on Religion and Nature theme, and we took our volunteers to the Botanical Garden, Sri Karaneswara Nataraja Temple, Manakula Vinayagar Temple and Aurobindo Ashram.

Sri Karaneswara Nataraja Temple: Sri Karaneswara Temple is located on the Pudhukuppam Beach at Pondicherry, 12 kms north of Auroville. Sri Karaneshwara Nataraja Temple is the most unusual, and yet, one of the most beautiful temples present in India.

Botanical Garden: A botanical garden or botanic garden is a garden dedicated to the collection, cultivation and display of a wide range of plants labeled with their botanical names.

Manakula Vinayagar Temple: Manakula Vinayagar Temple is a Hindu temple in the Union Territory of Pondicherry, India. Dedicated to the god Ganesa, it is a popular pilgrimage site and tourist destination in Pondicherry.

Sri Aurobindo Ashram: Sri Aurobindo Ashram is a spiritual community (ashram) located in Pondicherry, in the Indian territory of Pondicherry. The ashram grew out of a small community of disciples who had gathered around Sri Aurobindo after he retired from politics and settled in Pondicherry, in 1910.

In the morning, FSL-India’s coordinator and the volunteers started their travel from the meeting point to the place of the cultural event.  In the beginning, the coordinator explained about the activities. Then, she took the 2 volunteers to different places and explained to them about the place. After the visit, FSL-India’s coordinator and volunteers had lunch at the wedding place and discussed about their experiences in the host family and project.

Feedback from our volunteers:

• Very nice and interesting
• Is exciting
• I liked our conversation where we talked about Indian culture and  traditions
• I really refreshed
• Really nice day
• We learn about Shiva’s story
• It’s actually a wonderful event, would like see more places like this
• We have learned many cultural things, for example how they are decorating the god, why people are praying, why they are keeping Vibhuthi on head, why they are giving Prasadam etc.
• It was actually a nice journey and had a nice time with the coordinator. The places we went to were really amazing and the coordinator explained to me about the temple, who ruled there, and how it was constructed.