In memoriam - Subir (Olivier Caracostea)

Subir (Olivier Caracostea) passed away on 30 April of this year in Orleans (France) due to cancer. He was 68 years old.

Subir had a Romanian grandfather and came from a family linked to the Theosophical Society in Paris. On coming to India, he became a sannyasin and lived in a cave for one year. Afterwards, he went to the Theosophical Society in Chennai before coming to Pondicherry, where he met Mother and stayed for some time in the Ashram.

Subir joined Auroville in 1971. He worked on the Matrimandir and cycled all over Auroville, delivering mail to various communities. In 1975 he left, returning after a few years to start Djaima with friends like Jean Legrand, Jean Pougault, Diane, Joy, Gilles Guigan and Goupi. Joy recalls that he and Goupi were always ready for fun and laughter and made the community kitchen a lively place.

From 1981 to 1989 he lived in Fraternity. During that time, he managed the Boutique d’Auroville in Pondicherry where his imposing kurta-clad figure, leaning against the railings and engaging people in deep conversation, became one of the sights of Nehru Street.

In 1989 he married Neeta from Mumbai. They moved to Lucknow where he worked for Mira Aditi, the publisher of books by Sri Aurobindo, The Mother and Satprem, and opened a boutique. Shortly after that, the couple moved to Paris, where their daughter Saatchi was born and where Subir started a traditional French pancake restaurant in, of course, Pondicherry Street.

Some years later, he divorced and came back to Auroville on his own. He lived in Invocation from 2001 to 2004 and worked at Freeland Bookshop and La Boutique d’Auroville at the Visitors’ Centre. After this he started working for Mira Aditi in Mysore, where he moved in 2007. For many years he did a lot of touring all over India for Mira Aditi until poor health caused him to stop.

Around this time his mother died and he went back to his family house in France. He stayed there till his passing.

Subir had a wonderfully kind and warm nature, allied to very deep devotion. As Michel from Darkali puts it, “Subir will be remembered as a very dear friend to so many of the older generation of Aurovilians, someone who was very sincere and on whom you could rely fully, and who had a great sense of humour. His devotion to the Mother was entire and very sincere.”