A delegate remembers Auroville’s Inauguration

Among the invited speakers to the recent Auroville International (AVI) meeting in Barcelona was Dr. Gonçal Lopez Nadal who had a very interesting story to share. Some time ago a member of AVI Spain had sent him a photo, a photo he had never seen before, of him representing Spain at the inauguration of Auroville in 1968. Here is the short version of his speech:

It was my first trip to India. I had arrived there precisely on the day of my 15th birthday (January 10, 1968). I was the guest of my uncle, Mr Guillermo Nadal, Counsellor at that time in the Spanish Embassy in New Delhi. Several weeks later, my uncle told me that the Ambassador had asked him if his nephew – myself – could be the Spanish delegate at the great Auroville event. Of course, I had no choice. Knowing precisely nothing about Auroville, all I had to do was to carry with me a little box containing soil taken from the garden of our Embassy. My uncle summed up what I had to do: obey all the organizers’ orders and observe protocol to the letter. I thought it shouldn’t be too difficult to fulfill both aims.

On 27th February I woke up at 6.30. A van came to collect me from the house. We drove directly to the Residence of the Prime Minister, Mrs Indira Gandhi. She wanted to bid the foreign delegates a personal and official farewell. We waited for her in the garden, where she arrived dressed in her habitual white saree. Because of my small stature, I was standing in the front row, and so I was one of the few people with whom she shook hands. One of her assistants let Mrs Gandhi know that there was a considerable number of delegates, and that it would be best to make a general salutation. With utmost solemnity, she put her hands together and said: namaskar.

When we arrived at Madras airport, the weather was terribly hot, fifteen, or even twenty degrees difference from the temperature in Delhi. On arrival in Pondicherry, I was guided to the big private house which I was to share with three other delegates from Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand. However, I realized that we were unlikely to get on easily because of my very poor English, so I applied to stay with other representatives who spoke Spanish. I ended up staying with the representatives from Argentina, Peru and Colombia. They were all older than me – about 22 or 23. We were set on having as much fun as possible.

Wednesday, 28th February: We got up at 6.00 a.m. Breakfast was ready. Buses carried all the delegates to a big deserted patch of land where the only shade was provided by a big tree: the banyan. Of course, huge shamiania – ceremonial tents – were put up with the express purpose of ensuring that people survived the event! We delegates had to stand for a long time in the sun, with only our Indian girl partners for company. Each of them carried a simple wooden placard bearing the names of our countries. Finally, accompanied by my Indian partner, I walked up to the Urn into which I solemnly deposited the Spanish soil. Mission accomplished!

Thanks to Catalan friends from Auroville, fifty years later I was reunited with my colleague and partner in the Auroville ceremony, Gita Dolia. At that time, she – like most of the Indian participants – was a student at the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education (SAICE); these days she works at the aquarium of the same Centre.

Thursday, 29th February: The third day was much quieter but in the evening there was a truly elevating event – a darshan, or visitation of a deity. I was on the terrace of our residence from where I was able to witness an unexpected and striking spectacle: all Pondicherry seemed affected by Mother’s darshan. People were in ecstasy, in trance. This was not like watching some fantastic American film version of Jesus Christ and the Sermon on the Mount. I was actually there, very close to the Sri Aurobindo Ashram where, every Leap Year on the 29th February and on other special days, Mother used to perform darshan.

How privileged I was to have witnessed this marvellous event! Together with my climbing to the Urn, witnessing the Mother’s darshan was the high point of the journey.