Community Gatherings

These gatherings were initiated due to the felt need by some Tamil Aurovilians to break the generalised false narratives painted about Tamil Aurovilians, such as: they are the silent majority, they support one side strongly, they are afraid to speak up, etc. We felt that these narratives should be broken down and – as we mentioned in the first gathering – we would like to act to bring a space of Unity in the community.

Our group is composed of mainly young Aurovilians from the bio-region, who want to express their support for the Residents’ Assembly (RA). We first organised a gathering on June 13th at the Unity Pavilion. During this event, we presented our stand, focused on understanding the roles and responsibilities of the RA, and also tried to understand the extent of the term ‘development’. More than 600 people attended this gathering.

Our key objectives in organising this gathering were: i) to increase Tamil Aurovilian participation in community events; ii) to raise awareness about the role of the RA; iii) to break down the language barrier amongst Tamil Aurovilians that sometimes prevent them from attending meetings; iv) to evoke the sense of unity among the residents; and v) to show that the diversity in our larger community cannot be misconceived or misquoted as ‘division’.

Each one of us present in the gathering experienced a renewed beautiful connection and felt that it was like a new beginning. We announced that such gatherings would continue in some way in the future, for this sense of unity and togetherness is necessary in view of the challenging situation we are currently in.

This gathering was followed by a peace walk on July 2nd, which we organised together with other community members. More than 500 Aurovilians walked peacefully from the Solar Kitchen to Matrimandir, and then participated in the collective concentration under the Banyan Tree, to show the solidarity of the RA.

The third event was a ‘community potluck’, held on July 16th. We were really excited to organise this first-of-its-kind all-community potluck in Auroville, for which more than 1,000 residents showed up. All the work for the preparation of this potluck was done by Aurovilians themselves, utilising only Auroville resources and in-kind help, except a few that were sourced from outside. It was beautiful to see so much willingness and support pouring in in so many ways. It reassured us that the Auroville spirit is very much alive and that each one of us sincerely carries it in their Auroville journey.

We want to work further towards deepening the sense of unity and the meaning of belonging to this beautiful experiment. A short-term goal is to open up our team so as to be able to work towards our long-term goals, our key focus mentioned above. We are aware that these gatherings may not be direct responses to any challenging situation in Auroville at the moment, but through these we aspire to keep the Auroville spirit and our unity alive.

In this journey, we aspire to move forward with our intentions sincerely, despite the misconceptions about our efforts. We believe that this will widen the perspectives and pave the way for a true Unity. We sincerely request all the members of this beautiful Auroville family to strongly hold hands and jointly navigate towards the light, feeling Her Grace that is with us.