Which town?

The Banyan also had much evolved, protected from the goats and, assisted by tall cylindrical woven baskets placed around them from the branches to the ground, many aerial roots had anchored into the soil the teams had enriched to become new slender trunks, and everyone appreciated gathering there, in the sweet, tranquil coolness it offered – with this unconditional love Nature knows better than man how to give.

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Most of those who had been there since the beginnings had learnt more than one skill – circumstances demanded one to be innovative, creative, attentive and adaptable – and most of the living and working places were also, naturally, sites or research. Be it the fabrication of a tool, the use of a vegetal dye, the setting of a fence or the kneading of a dough, each one associated the observation of the techniques and materials traditionally used with inspiration and reflection, as well as with could earlier be assimilated from one’s prior environment and education, and tried to experiment while responding to immediate needs. Thus, from one location to another, here a tool shed or a store-room modeled in ferrocement, there a precast porch or pond, a lane lined with stones picked from a ravine bed, a bamboo platform tied between the largest branches of a Neem tree, a hut resting on bare granite pillars, a hanging mobile made of tinkling metal segments shimmering in the breeze, a home of compressed earth with the top of its dome extended into a terrace, large lamp-shades of folded paper or crocheted cotton threads, a section of road well raised in its middle and bordered on both sides with absorbing gravel, yes, in every tended spot of Her territory such discreet gestures and unassuming acts, such unclaimed creations expressed the trust and the giving freely made.

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