In memoriam - Ramachandra Rao (7)

Long-term Aurovilian 7 (Ramachandra Rao who insisted he be named ‘7’) passed away in a Chennai hospital where his family had taken him. The exact date and cause of his death are still unconfirmed. He was 67 years old.

7, who joined Auroville in the early seventies and has been here off and on since then, may always remain an enigma for us as his apparently passionate and burning need to express his inner findings and vision of Auroville tended to come through in a continuous flow of not easy to follow monologues, profoundly interlaced with his interpretation of the vision of our founders. As one Aurovilian put it, “There was something about his unique personality that could effortlessly (and unconsciously) unmask our pretensions and make us confront elements of ourselves that we didn’t suspect were there. The transformation of a collectivity is complex work. Each of us is indispensable. I am grateful…”

In later years, many may have witnessed 7, neatly and cleanly dressed, quietly sitting at a corner of La Terrace on the roof of Solar Kitchen, playing his flute for hours on end in the late afternoon sun.