Published: January 2020 (6 years ago) in issue Nº 366
Keywords: Matrimandir, Inner Chamber, Structural Engineering Research Centre (S.E.R.C), Madras, Fundraising, Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI), Renewable energy, Centre for Scientific Research (CSR), Town planning, Ahmedabad, Galaxy model, International Zone, Master Plan (Perspective 2025) and Auroville Town Development Council (ATDC) / L’Avenir d’Auroville
References: Tency, Toine, Piero Ciconesi, T.K. Santhanam, S.N. Meattle, Michael Bonke, John Harper, Madanlal Himatsingka, Dr Chamanlal Gupta, Suhasini, Tim Rees, Frederick, Lalit, Dr B.V. Doshi, G. Dattatri and Aromar Revi
With a lot of help from our friends
At times, Auroville has been perceived as a self–absorbed bubble which has little interest in the larger world. This is clearly untrue. Auroville’s borders are very permeable, both physically and spiritually – this, after all, is the place that welcomes all people of goodwill – and over the years, many Aurovilians have shared their skills and experience with the larger world, while Auroville has benefitted enormously from the numerous individuals and organizations which have supported it.
So where does the ‘bubble’ accusation come from? Well, there was a time in the early years when Aurovilians might have been seen to be less than welcoming of outside assistance. One of the pioneers, Toine, recalls a quandary that faced the Aurovilians digging the pit for the Matrimandir as narrated to him by Alain G, who was coordinating the digging work. At the rate they were proceeding it was estimated it by Alain that it would take them 20 years to excavate it, yet they felt that only Aurovilians should do the work as only they had the ‘right’ consciousness. Finally, three options emerged. Hire a large scraper with the driver operating it from outside the excavation; hire a bulldozer which would operate inside the pit; or, hire workers from the local villagers to do the work. This last option was considered by some as undesirable as according to them the work needed a special consciousness!
Mother was asked to decide and, of course, she chose for the workers! A little later, she further confounded the pioneers by recommending that an outside contractor rather than the Aurovilians should build the Matrimandir. In the end, this didn’t happen for various reasons. “But it shows how keen Mother was to get the Matrimandir built as soon as possible,” says Toine. “And once it was there she promised to fill it with her force.”
So who from the outside (“outside”, of course, is purely geographical: many of them are Aurovilians at heart) have taken part in Auroville over the years? The big names – J.R.D Tata, Kireet Joshi etc. – are well-known, but there are thousands of others, “a telephone book full” as Tency puts it, who have contributed. “If we made a film of the history of Auroville,” says Toine, “the credits alone would run for two hours!”
Constructing Matrimandir
Matrimandir has benefitted hugely from outside help. Aurovilian Piero played a key role in supervising the construction, but he was assisted, among others, by the structural engineer, T.K. Santhanam, from the Structural Engineering Research Centre (S.E.R.C) in Madras. Piero would send his drawings to Santhanam who would check the static calculations.
This was no easy task. The Matrimandir is a very complex structure, subject to many stresses and strains. In those days, the only computer available for the work was at IIT Madras. “However, to begin with there was no computer programme to do the calculations,” says Piero, “so Santhanam had to write it himself. It was a huge programming project which took him one to two years.” In other words, he was probably doing the complex early calculations for the foundations with only a slide rule and a calculator.
“Santhanam was a genius who could explain complex things in simple terms,” says Toine. He recalls a discussion about whether the ferro-cement outer skin would require expansion joints. “We had various opinions from different experts and didn’t know what to do. Finally, we asked Santhanam. He had a very simple solution. He said that as the Matrimandir was a globe it was very difficult to calculate the stresses of the skin as it would ‘breathe’, so to begin with we shouldn’t put any expansion joints. We should initially put low-cost waterproofing and after a year or so the building would tell us where it wants to expand because there will be cracks. These cracks would need to be repaired and become the site of ‘expansion joints’. It was brilliant in its simplicity.”
Santhanam was not a devotee of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother, “he was devoted to his work” says Piero, but clearly his relationship with the Matrimandir was much more than commercial. “He became a member of the team, somebody who we could always call upon,” says Toine.
Another individual who played a key role at a certain moment was Mr. S.N. Meattle, the man who manufactured the carpet for the inner chamber. Meattle had a factory in Agra. The person asked to contact him went to his house and found him reading The Life Divine. Meattle was asked if he could provide a carpet of pure white wool that was unbleached. He said it was impossible but agreed to come to Auroville to look.
Inside the Matrimandir office he looked at samples of wool the Matrimandir team had collected from all over the world. “None of this is good enough for The Mother,” he pronounced. “Moreover, what you want can’t be done.” Pause... “Except if I do it myself!”
He carefully selected the wool and created two special looms upon which to weave the carpet. Then he came himself with a small team to cut and lay it. “When it was finished,” says Toine, “this man who flew all over the world providing carpets and furnishings to the rich and famous, began crying. He said, ‘I have seen so many carpets in my life but this is the most beautiful carpet in the world’.”
The manufacture of the disks was another area where outside help was crucial. There were several options for the fabrication of the disks themselves but the big question was how to provide the gold finish. The owners of a firm in Paris which gilded most of the Parisian monuments using gold leaf were contacted. Their estimates were high even after they agreed in principle to train Aurovilians in the process. There was also an apprehension that pigeons would scrape off the gold leaf as already had happened with a few sample disks.
Michael Bonke had been asked to explore the possibility of procuring gold leaf directly from manufacturers in Germany. When he heard about the bird scratches with the first option, he remembered he had seen Buddhist temples in Thailand where gold was sandwiched between two glass tiles. However, this method was not good enough because there could still be corrosion: glass can corrode. So Michael developed a special system which created a vacuum and melted the edges of the glass so there would be no corrosion. “This became the final solution for the gilding of the disks,” says Toine, “and this is how Michael became a key member of the Matrimandir team.”
Raising funds
Of course, all these experiments as well as the ongoing construction required funding. This is where the hundreds of donors who have kept the work going over the years have played such a vital part. “They include,” says John Harper, “the devotees in the U.K who paid for the crystal and the lady in Mumbai who paid for the marble for the floor of the chamber. Originally, the idea was to have a simple flooring as it would be covered by the carpet. But when this lady heard about this, she said, ‘But I’ve got marble on the floor of my kitchen. How come you are not going to use it for the chamber?’
John also recalls that a devotee paid for all the Agra stone used in the Amphitheatre and surrounds, and Auro-Engineering, a local firm also run by devotees, manufactured and paid for the heliostat designed by Piero. “They had originally undertaken to manufacture and pay for the symbol that supports the globe, but there were problems with the gilding and this was finally made in Germany.”
Matrimandir does not usually name its donors or fund raisers. However, one in particular needs to be mentioned. Madanlal Himatsingka was a devotee who lived in the Ashram. At one time, Madanalal wrote to The Mother, that “I feel that if we 4-5 persons sincerely work to bring and/or earn funds for Matrimandir, it can be built before Thy Centenary.” Mother called him and said, “I am very happy, very happy with your proposal. My full force will be with you.” Madanalal took this as a mandate, along with another of her messages, that the Matrimandir should be completed as soon as possible.
“He kept a low profile, but a lot of the money that came to Matrimandir was raised by him,” says Toine. It was Madanlal who raised funds for the marble, the completion of the chamber, the skin and so much more. Mother said that donors should not be asked directly for money but should be made aware of the work going on and what was needed. So Madanlal would bring potential donors out in his little van and show them the Matrimandir and explain what still needed to be done. The funding discussion would often happen on the return trip.
Toine remembers that in 1989-90 Matrimandir was facing a funding crunch. Madanlal’s Matrimandir connection had been broken for some years because of the conflicts but John Harper and Toine went to see him. They invited him to come and see how the work was progressing. He came. Afterwards he visited Toine and Meenakshi in their house. “During the discussion at home he had asked how much it would take to finish the chamber. I told him that it was estimated to cost Rs. 25 lakhs. While leaving, he opens the car window and says, ‘Toine, the Chamber is underwritten. Go ahead.’
Over time his ‘underwriting’ also covered the petals and ultimately the whole project.”
But Madanlal was more than a wonderful fundraiser. He also had an extensive network of contacts which proved very useful. At one time no cement was available in the whole of south India and it looked as if work on the structure would have to stop. However, somebody in his network knew the owners of a large cement business. Madanlal managed to make an agreement with the family that shipments of cement would come directly by lorry from the cement plant to the Matrimandir.
“What I admired in him,” says Toine, “was this incredible focus. He felt committed to The Mother to work full time for Matrimandir and so when he met somebody he would see immediately if they could be useful in that regard.”
“The people who have helped Matrimandir over the years are endless,” says John. “In addition to the Aurovilians, there are the donors, the villagers who sold us the land, the hundreds of paid workers, as well as the outside consultants who have offered their expertise. At the moment there is a whole team of outside consultants waiting to come forward for the test pond and lake. And now we have launched an international competition for the design of the next Matrimandir gardens, for which we have received thirty five proposals from all over India. So once again we are welcoming outside support.”
Renewable energy
Madanlal was a great support in the manifestation of Matrimandir. A similar figure in a different field is the devotee and scientist, Dr. Chamanlal Gupta. “For those associated with design, architecture, energy, engineering and sustainability at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram and in Auroville,” writes Suhasini Ayer-Guigan, “Chamanla-ji is a beacon, guiding us in our practice, prodding us to understand the physics of solar energy and how to integrate and work with it…As the principal scientific advisor for the applied research projects in renewable energy in Auroville, he never restricted himself to just guiding us; he would be the first to roll up his sleeves and work in the field, coming up with ingenious solutions for those pesky application problems that would inevitably pop up during implementation.”
Chamanalal’s association with Auroville began very early. In 1972 he set up a meteorological station and later was the consultant on Eco-House in Certitude, which was fully solar powered and also incorporated water harvesting. While Chamanlal did not think it was a success, it was the first eco-house in Asia and for many years people would come from all over the world to see it.
In 1974, along with Tim Rees and Frederick, he set up the Auroville Centre for Environmental Studies to receive the first Government research grants. In fact, through his association with the Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI) and the top scientists in his field, who greatly respected him, he was able to funnel a lot of outside expertise and funding to the fledgling community. For example, when John Harper started work on a small solar bowl project, Chamanlal helped. “In those days there were only two similar projects in the world,” remembers John. “He brought the man in charge of the large French project to visit Auroville and see our 3.5 meter solar bowl, for which Chamanlal had raised funding through TERI.”
Tency’s first contact with him came when he wanted to present a biogas project to the Department of Non-Conventional Energy Sources (DNES). “Chamanlal was one of their senior scientific advisors and came to Auroville to see it. He supported the project and it was accepted.”
Through Chamanlal’s help and facilitation, the project enabled the freshly started Centre for Scientific Research (CSR) to develop the necessary infrastructure. Every week he would cycle the 12 kilometres from the Ashram to the CSR office to follow up on projects, freely sharing his expertise. As Tency from CSR puts it, “You can say that for any research project anywhere in those days – biogas, solar water heaters, solar panels, wind pumps, climatic architecture – he had an input.
“While he was frustrated by our poor data system and lack of proper documentation in Auroville, he knew we were not scientists. In fact, he valued perseverance and truthfulness above everything. And he always wanted to be involved. He once said, ‘I am an Ashramite by choice, an Aurovilian by heart’.”
Town planning
Perhaps the other area in which Auroville has received much outside help is the complex task of town planning. While Mother sketched the original zones and Roger provided the larger concept, neither was a town planner. In 1999, when initial work was being done on the Master Plan, Lalit was the only specialized town planner living in Auroville. Nevertheless, over the years, attracted by the adventure of the Galaxy and a new concept of urban living, various experts have shared their insights and knowledge. “The eminent architect, Dr. B.V. Doshi, tried to integrate our ideas and concerns,” says Lalit, “and give a direction for growth and planning related tasks involving community participation. He was very receptive to the vision of The Mother and had a wonderful eye for detail. He also could articulate the key tasks to be done in the short and long term perspective. He even offered us space in his office in Ahmedabad. Unfortunately, he didn’t receive as much support from the community as his expertise warranted.”
More recently, Luis Feduchi, Spanish architect and town planner, made a detailed development plan for sectors one and two of the Residential Zone, which he presented to the community in 2016. “It was the next step in the grounding of the Galaxy concept,” says Lalit. “He did a very comprehensive and professional job in ‘decoding’ the Galaxy, in putting in mobility patterns, public spaces, community facilities etc., while integrating inputs on ecology and the existing reality.”
Andrea Cammarata is doing a similar work at the moment for the International Zone.
However, two names that are less well known outside our planning group are G. Dattatri, the first chief town planner of the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA), and Aromar Revi, the founding Director of the Indian Institute for Human Settlements. Dattatri’s contribution was considerable. “He came at just the right time,” says Lalit. “There was an urgent need for Auroville to come up with a Master Plan and he brought in the recognized planning structure and terminology. In fact, he actually wrote the Master Plan with the support and guidance of Dr. D.S. Meshram, who was at that time the Chief Planner of the Town and Country Planning Organization, Government of India.
“Dattatri, was a very gentle soul and a great integrator. His job in Chennai had been very challenging, as is the case with any major city in India. Auroville was a different experience for him. He felt that what was being talked about elsewhere was actually being done or planned here. In that sense, he saw Auroville as a potential role model for India.”
At the invitation of the L’Avenir team, Aromar Revi wrote in 2007 what is, according to Lalit, the most comprehensive document to date on how Auroville could plan for the future. As Revi put it in his Auroville Mission Notes, there is a need to “build a high quality, result oriented team that is based on capacity within Auroville, but uses a complementary external catalyst team – to kick-start the process of first building a flexible pattern language for the city; then developing a detailed development plan and appropriate urban design for key segments, and finally a financing and implementation plan that would enable the ‘city’ to be created over the next few decades.”
“Unfortunately, we have not been able to implement his suggestions,” says Lalit. It reflects our inability over the years to make the best use of those who have offered their insights and expertise to our planners.
And yet, in so many other areas we have benefitted hugely from our friends and supporters. Some have come in briefly to help with a specific project and then disappeared, others have become lifelong collaborators.
Perhaps, as Toine suggests, we need to revisualize our role as Aurovilians. Rather than seeing ourselves as the source and measure of all that happens here, we should view ourselves a little more modestly as the back stage assistants who take care of ‘sound and light’. “We have to keep the stage ready and Mother will bring the actors.’