The Matrimandir water channel is built

On the night of April 19th – 20th, 2022 a special milestone was reached with the completion of the installation of the waterproofing liner in the 7.5 metre wide water channel, one kilometre long, which now surrounds the Matrimandir gardens. This channel has a double significance: of forming a first sketch of a water body which the Mother wished to have surrounding the Matrimandir gardens, to act as an “isolating zone”, separating the quiet gardens from the activity of the outer shore. This band can be enlarged in future as work on the main lake construction continues. The second function of the channel is to act as a rainwater harvesting pathway, catching all the rainwater runoff from the 22-acres gardens oval and then directing it into the test lake section which is now being constructed on the southeast side of the gardens. Three good years of rainwater harvesting (or one year if like the exceptionally rainy monsoon in 2021) would be enough time to fill the 10 metres deep, 12,000 square metres test lake now being built.

As with all the other milestone moments, an atmosphere of joy and accomplishment suffused the air as the task was done. There were smiles all around, a step forward had been achieved. Many steps have yet to follow in the months to come, of course, – to complete the protective gravel layer of the water channel, then to beautify its borders, and finally to bring the water body alive, introducing many flowering plants and then fish, to keep it mosquito free. But the major step is done, and can now be built upon.

There were months of preparation to come to this point. First, the entire set of old Matrimandir workshops on the eastern edge of the gardens had to be modified and moved back by 20 metres to make room for the channel. Then followed a massive earthwork, shaping the red earth to create the V shaped profile of the channel, to smoothen it and make it ready for the laying of the liner. There were ground level differences to be dealt with, as the eastern side of Matrimandir is 3 metres higher than the west, so a massive granite block wall had to be built to protect the foundations of the workshops on the east (see photos), while earth infilling had to be made on the western edge of the gardens oval.

Then there was the ground reality of existing trees to be negotiated. Many trees had grown up on their own over the decades of the construction of the Matrimandir, and others had been planted during different stages of the outer gardens development. All available techniques were used to find ways to lead the Water Channel around the rim of the gardens. Some very special trees were transplanted. Other larger trees which had grown to some statuesque beauty were preserved by winding the channel between them, or narrowing the channel to slide by. One tree was distinguished by having a granite wall built half around it to separate it from the path of the channel [see photo]. And, finally, several trees – being judged to be simply too much in the way or too difficult to protect – were cut down, to be used as timber wood or firewood. Sorting all this out was perhaps one of the most difficult parts of the Water Channel exercise, but in the end, a harmonious way forward was found.

A specialist in liner installation came from Germany for this phase, and for seven nights, from April 13th to April 20th, the Matrimandir team supported the visiting welder in the intensive process of laying the liner and then sealing its 147 doubly welded joints. The welding of the two mm thick HDPE sheets had to be done when the material was cool, so the work proceeded at night under illumination provided by several spot lights. Many present remarked that the energetic atmosphere of those nights brought to their mind the similarly special feeling of the night time concreting's held while building Matrimandir decades earlier. It was a wonderful, intense week, and the completion of the job was celebrated by all.