Organizing the caravan

Caravanning was pretty much in the air those days. So, when, in the beginning of 1974, in the office of “Auroville International France”, (AIF), Paris 8e, an Aurovilian, Jean-Claude Biéri, who had come for a visit, suggested forming a caravan to transport a large number of people to Auroville, the temptation was impossible to resist. Christine Devin and Nicole Elfi, who were both working with me in AIF, manifested an immediate interest. As for me, I decided to put on hold my major activity, namely touring UNESCO’s exhibition on Sri Aurobindo, Mother, Ashram and Auroville, to take an active part in the organization. It was very exciting as we all shared the “Band of Brothers” spirit.

The saga ended by the arrival of the bus in Aspiration, in December 1974. I was not among the caravanners. The full story is too long to tell and, anyhow, I was more interested in the organisation than in the thrill of the journey.

The caravanners owe a great deal of gratitude to three persons who, like me, were not part of the crew. Firstly, Micheline Etevenon who was the head of AIF. She was already paying through her personal pocket the rent of the large flat that sheltered this association. In addition to that, she was the one who footed the bill of the heavy additional finances needed for the preparations. Micheline’s generosity was legendary. All along she supported and encouraged the caravan, resisting her husband Pierre’s stern reproof of what he considered – not without justification – as a crazy collective trip.

Another person was (in a way) helpful: Shyamsundar. In the summer of 1973, during my first visit to Auroville, I had been introduced to him as one of the AIF office bearers. As Christine and Nicole had not been to Auroville before. the task of dealing with the person in charge of Auroville administration was given to me. I had to liaise with Shyamsundar almost every day regarding acceptance in Auroville of the caravanners. They had to get the much needed recommendation letter from Auroville before applying to the Indian Embassy for a long-term visa. So I had to forward their biodata, administrative information and motivation letters to Auroville, relay back when further information was needed, and patiently wait for the precious sesame to open. Dealing with Shyamsundar was not that difficult. He was curt but direct. If a misunderstanding occurred, he seemed willing to reconsider a decision if he had made it based on a wrong impression.

Alain Bernard is the third person to whom the caravanners owe quite a bit. Before Micheline, Alain had been the head of AIF for one full year. He knew Micheline, Pierre, Nicole and myself very well, and he was already close to Christine. Alain was the one who, all along, maintained the necessary link between Auroville and Paris. He actively and efficiently prepared the ground for the caravanners’ arrival, finding for each one of them a decent shelter in an Auroville already suffering from scarcity of accommodations. And he was also the one who liaised with Shyamsundar whenever explanations were needed. A considerable work was accomplished by Alain. Without him, the arrival of the bus in Aspiration would have been a fiasco.

Today, in spite of the fact that Vincenzo was Italian, Jean-Claude was Swiss and the bus was German, both caravans are being somewhat introduced as part of the activities of “Pavillon de France”. In reality, the caravanners’ mood was more in tune with the ‘Mai 68’ rebellious spirit than any kind of patriotic feeling. In brief, nobody was carrying the “tricolor”.

The only event bearing some French flavour happened in Aspiration soon after the arrival of the caravan with the launching of a restaurant called “La Joie de Vivre”. This odd initiative got Satprem’s attention. He reminded the joyful chaps that they had not come to Auroville to dance the “French cancan” and that their “Folies Bergère” was out of place in Aspiration. So a discreet farewell was hurriedly given to “french fries” and “croque-monsieur”!