Dear Companion,
This month we have done a lot of physical work! We now have a physical space we call Office. Location given below. You are most welcome to drop by if you are in the neighborhood.
Vaazhga Vazhamudan House
62 Manickam Nagar Road, NGO Nagar
Chromepet, Chennai 600044
Directions on Google Maps
The space
We want to spend some time sharing about the space. This is my childhood home. A space I have had complex relationship with. This home has housed some of my best memories, gave me most valuable life lessons, immersed me in spiritual activities, helped me understand what it takes to host community gatherings, a safety net waiting for me everyday, but also a space that pushed me away to find my independent voice, put forth my needs as a priority, to expand my worldview, to break away from the shackles of difficult periods in family relationships. In short, this space has played a formative role in making me who I am today.
To return to this space, in 2026, feels like I have finally given space for my voice to be heard. Not by others. But embraced by myself. To own and take up space in literal sense. You might get a sense of how intense it might have been. If not, I’ll spare you off the burden.
Now, coming to our dreams for the space and what this holds, it is a bag of mixed emotions.
Our experience of Recenter in Tiruvannamalai would come very handy as we shape this space. In recreating some of those magical, organic gatherings, and peaceful immersions.
We hope this space invites intergenerational crowd and is used for multiple engagements, not limited to, film screenings, retreats, library, maker space, listening circles, art and cultural exploration, wellbeing classes, and some research that is built from the ground up. More on the research part coming soon.
We also want to model some of the sustainable solutions we have learned during our visit to EPIC farm such as natural water purification, solar dehydrator, composting, garden-farm, etc.
So we are quite excited and want to get busy immersing ourselves in the neighborhood and start working from the inside out as opposed to outside in. Our goal for this first year would be the result of the answers to the following questions:
How are we adding value to the neighborhood we call as home to our work?
Are we regenerating this community? If yes, how well?
How do we be the community while working with the community?
So this is about the space and we have so much more to say but I have said enough for now.
Moving to other updates
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We started shooting for our podcast. Aram Thinai was kind enough to offer their insights to kickstart the podcast series on Community as a textbook. We will soon release the series once other guests have been interviewed.
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Jayashree helped with the session on Compassion — taught by Geshe La, from the esteemed Menlhai Jamtse. We will soon post our learnings from the session in our blog session. Do stop by.
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Our cooking club is going on well. We are having lots of fun learning while cooking. We have started experimenting our potlucks with single ingredient focus — such as curry leaves, banana stem — with the hope that we learn more about that ingredient, its significance and versatility.
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We have acted upon our visit to EPIC farm visit. A few of the families from the homeschooling group is planning to do a short term project at the farm. About 4-6 weeks. It is still brewing. We will give an update when we have finalised the work and our goals for the engagement.
We also have plenty of announcements to make
Our office space now has a library. All our books, collections that are at least half our age, has found a permanent shelf in this space. We aim to expand this where in addition to reading it on campus, the community might be able to borrow it in the near future.
Bharatanatyam and Yoga classes. A beautiful soul crossed path with me and has offered Bharatanatyam and Yoga classes. The space that has always been furthering spiritual activities will continue to do so, thanks to our friend. We will announce the dates very soon.
Climate Week India. We are partners to Climate Week India celebration. Saturday and Sunday (Oct 3, 4) is going to be quite busy for us. We are hosting film screenings, student groups from different parts of Chennai, art talk, open mic. Quite excited by the array of activities. We might keep them as a monthly set of activities, if all goes well.
A read aloud programme for children, starting at the office.
New friendships in the neighbourhood. We already have made some good social bonds — pregnant with possibilities of collaboration. Local art school, aided school, tuition center, and some kind hearted neighbors who are helping us with word of mouth and some inspiring connections.
Art showcases. We are also planning to host art showcases — encouraging local self-taught artists to display their artwork. Spread more inspiration and creativity in the neighborhood by exposing the local people to exhibitions, open mics, performances, curations, that are otherwise limited to city hotspots. We hope ICF office will feature as one of city’s favorite and buzzing hotspots to stop by.
And the cooking club continues.
Another major change to the update is we will not be running this through AI for perfection. You get real updates, from an actual person who has played a critical role in making this happen. You find grammar errors or less ornate language, you know that is how I write. And that my companion is how I want to honor our relationship.
I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as we did living it.
We are opening our doors to artist in residence, and gurus who want to teach a skill or two. So come and offer your skills for our community. Do share this to a friend who might want to know about us. Your patronage means a lot for us to keep going and when the going gets tough, you help us toughen up as well.
In gratitude and happiness,
Jayashree
Inner Companion Foundation · Chennai · innercompanion.in