A Youth Hack of Auroville Today

Our adventure started in February  2019, at Bhumika Hall, when ten young Aurovilians spoke about what Auroville means to us, presenting our aspirations, projects and ideas for the community. This was the spark for this special issue of Auroville Today, which is not only dedicated to the voices of young people in Auroville, but is also curated, edited,  and designed by a team of young Aurovilians – Bhakti, Inge, Michael and Suryamayi.  

The four of us unconsciously chose not to interview and write for our peers; instead we invited them to take up this opportunity to express themselves freely, directly, in their own way, in their own words. The only suggestion we had was to communicate what makes them feel alive and connected to Auroville. Some have shared personal or professional journeys within Auroville, projects they are involved in  and talents they developed here; others have  reflected critically on aspects of our community.  The contributions take various forms – beyond  articles, they include creative writing, poems,  images and songs. We felt moved to see an  opening up and sharing of passion in such a  unique and authentic way. 

Our little team worked intensively for the last  three months to harvest all these gems hidden  in the Auroville jungle. Inge, Suryamayi and  Michael were the gatherers, tracking down and  encouraging youth who had something to say, but  who were maybe too shy to do so under their own  steam. We tried our best to support the writers  to align their contribution with their intention  and what they deeply wanted to share. And then  Bhakti conjured her design magic to present all  these contributions in one amazing package that  reflects the spirit of this generation of youths.  But this is just the beginning! We are giving  you here only a glimpse of what the youth can  express! 

We would like to thank the Auroville Today team for welcoming and supporting this issue –  especially Alan, for proposing it in the first place,  and Lesley, whose final round of proofreading  and editing was key to producing this polished  edition so that you – the readers – can enjoy this  journey to the fullest. You will find a great range  of writing styles, along with a wide diversity of  experiences of Auroville! There is no attempt to  make any point or convince anyone: it is simply  a pure expression of opinions, dreams, aspirations  and experiences. We hope you will be surprised,  delighted, moved, tickled and shifted by these  contributions.