Invitation

South Indian Rainbow Gathering, 25 October-24 November, 2022

Rainbow family invites to the South Indian Rainbow Gathering in the midst of Shola forest
between the beautiful hill stations of Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu and Munnar, Kerala. We
shall sing, dance, learn, laugh, love and heal together around the ever-lit sacred fire. We
shall forage, cook and eat together under the sunny skies and starry nights. We shall keep
the place cleaner than when we found it.

What is the Rainbow Gathering?

How do we live together at a Rainbow?

Whether this is your first Rainbow or whether you are a veteran, read ahead!

The first Rainbow took place in 1972. Then and now, a Rainbow Gathering is
free, open to people of all faiths, religions and nations. There is no
authoritarian hierarchy, no leaders or official roles. Decisions are made
through reaching consensus. The only rule is that of peaceful respect. All
tasks are shared and handled by everyone that volunteers. All collective
expenses are funded by the donations made to the Magic Hat. Twice
everyday we gather around the sacred fire, where we sing together and
share a meal.

There are a few suggested guidelines that make our communal living more
practical, safe and respectful for the environment. These have been already
shared with you and you are receiving this invite trusting that you have a
conscious understanding to said guidelines. Let’s still have a quick reminder
of the most important ones:

• Your hygiene habits can impact everyone’s health. Use the shit-pit, keep water
sources clean and always clean your hands before cooking or serving food. DO NOT
bring toilet paper. Use water and ash.
• Recycle, reuse, reduce your trash. DO NOT bring any single-use plastic. Carry back
EVERYTHING you bring. Only compost pit and shit-pit contents stay back,
absolutely nothing else.
• If you must make a private fire, be sure you know how to do it safely. The area is
sensitive to forest fires; precaution is of utmost importance. If you’ve no prior
experience, refrain from lighting one.
• Honour your relations: respect the wildlife, respect the land, respect the family —
whether rainbow, whether living in the surrounding villages and towns. We are
guests of the locals, let’s not lose their trust and respect. Respect local traditions
and culture. Also, DO NOT ask the locals for directions to the rainbow or mention
about a gathering. Follow the map that will be shared at a later point one-on-one.
Word spreads fast in small villages and there’s always been the issue of some
authority trying to interfere in Indian Rainbow Gatherings.
• DO NOT smoke/use any illegal substances in public view. Strict action is taken by
local police if caught. Seed campers will make a consensus about substance usage
within the rainbow, we cannot stop what you do in your personal space but NO
SMOKING around sacred fire.
• DO NOT bring alcohol, electronic speakers, cameras, mobile phones, music players
and other disruptive technology/objects which hinder a peaceful & harmonious
existence within and with nature.

BRING:
• Your own bowl, spoon and cup. Your own REUSABLE water bottle to fill from the
river. The kitchen will provide two vegan/vegetarian (where vegan cannot be
ascertained) meals a day. If you wish to donate to the magic hat, bring the
donations. This is what supports the kitchen and other necessities at the rainbow.
• Waterproof shelter (tent, hammock with tarp, tipi, etc), waterproof clothes, warm
clothes and warm sleeping linen (sleeping bag, thick blanket, etc).
• If you need to bring hygiene products, please make sure they are fully
biodegradable. Packaging-free products create less trash for you to carry back.
DON’T bring soap for bathing in the waterfall.
• If you’ve any musicals instruments, organic paints, art supplies, group games
(frisbee, balls, etc); feel free to bring them. If you wish to organise a workshop,
bring anything you might need for it. Shouldn’t create waste.
• If you have material that can serve the gathering, such as tools like axes, saws,
ropes, big kitchen pots, tarps, tipis, etc — please mark them as yours and bring
them.
• Any personal medication and first aid. (Pharmacy is many hours away from the
gathering).
• Lots of love, hugs and smiles.
Weather:

Rain and shine play hide and seek in this mushroom paradise. So expect a few rains
during the month long camp, but hey, did we mention mushrooms? Many strains of
edible and also healing varieties grow here.
Current conditions:
Rainy days: 15°C to 20°C. Nights: 10°C to 15°C.
Sunny days: 20°C to 30°C. Nights: 10°C to 20°C.

Location:

Shola forest between Kodaikanal and Munnar. Precise directions with a map will be
shared during seed camp.
General directions: Reach Kodaikanal town, a famous South Indian hilly paradise with a
huge lake at its centre.
Nearest railway stations: Dindigul junction (DG) and Madurai junction (MDU). Optionally
Kodaikanal road (KQN) station exists but very few trains stop here and buses uphill are
few... although taxi services are abundant. One has to take a local bus from either of
these cities to Kodaikanal directly (available 5-6 times a day from either cities) or change
at Batlagundu town (foothill of Kodaikanal with several buses uphill). Direct buses to
Kodaikanal are also available from the cities of Bengaluru, Mysuru, Kochi, Coimbatore,
Chennai, Tiruvannamalai, Tiruchirapalli, Erode, etc.
Nearest airports: Madurai (IXM) closest. Coimbatore (CJB) farther away. It is preferable to
reach Kodaikanal before dark as one has to change for a local bus in Kodaikanal to further
go into the forest towards Mannavannur/Kavunji villages from where the trial to the
camp starts. Expect it to get quite cold after sunset once you reach uphill. Bus timings
from Kodaikanal to interior villages will be shared during seed camp.

Places to visit on the way: Historic temples and monuments in Madurai including the
architectural marvel Meenakshi Amman Kovil. Gardens, waterfalls and natural wonders in
Kodaikanal.

If we go back far enough in our lineage, we all carry indigenous, native blood. At this
gathering, we invite everyone to remember and reconnect with this source in themselves.
And we invite everyone who's already and still in touch with their indigenous heart and
roots to come and inspire the circle. Stories, traditions, ways of living on this Earth, so
much can be shared and grown.
Declaration of Planetary Rights and Responsibilities
Preamble by Peter Tucker

We, the people – of the species Homo Sapiens within the family of the Great Apes, a
branch of the Tree of Life – do hereby declare our profound respect for all other life forms
that share with us the Biosphere on this planet we call Earth.

We do not distinguish between the Organic and the Inorganic; each are worthy of our
respect in their different ways. Not only the soil, air and water which are essential to
sustain organic life, but also the many forms of insect, animal, bird and fish, as well as the
plants, forests, mountains, plains, rivers, lakes, seas and oceans – all have their rightful
place in the network of being that is the Biosphere. We extend our respect to the layers
of rock beneath our feet and the metals and other materials secreted in their depths. We
also respect the fire within the body of the planet, as well as the fire within the heart of
the Sun. Finally, we respect all the planets and moons of our star-system, the spiral galaxy
to which it belongs, and the endless realms of space beyond. Formed during the last
million or so years of evolutionary development, humanity has been gifted with an
intelligence that differs from all other beings on planet Earth. This has placed us in a
unique position in the animal world, giving us the power to destroy nearly every form of
life on planet Earth. We have the power to destroy life, but we also have the power to
nurture and protect life. We humbly acknowledge that proper use of this power imposes
on us certain duties and responsibilities in our relations with all other species.

Apart from our distant relatives, the bacteria, we are the most invasive and adaptable
species on Earth. We acknowledge that we have hitherto misused this position and not
fulfilled the responsibilities that it entails. We have ruthlessly cut our way through the
network of other species, threatening their welfare and even eradicating many of them
completely, thus creating vast tracts of impoverished landscape and ocean where once
there was great richness of diversity. In so doing we have undermined the very basis of
life on Earth, without which we ourselves would not be able to exist.

We hereby solemnly promise to rectify this state of affairs. We will do this by

fundamentally changing the ways in which civilization has hitherto extended itself over
the surface of the globe, and by correcting the gross misuse of planetary resources that
this has entailed. We seek a new, more equitable balance in our relations with all other
species, in the best interests of all, not least ourselves. Our own right to exist is not
absolute; it depends on our behaviour. Neither do we own the Biosphere, of which we
are but a part. We promise henceforth to manage our role in that totality with far greater
love and care than in the past. From this common ground a future of well-being for all will
be born.

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