The last room

On July 1st the Foundation Office’s newly appointed members of the Town Hall management, ACUR, issued an order that the Auroville Council was to vacate its office with 24 hours notice. Since then, the office has been attended permanently by a minimum of two volunteers with the intention of preserving its usage for the Council and the Residents Assembly. It’s a smallish meeting room on the first floor of the Town Hall, dominated by a large table and an overhead projector, above the Financial Service with a balcony directly facing the Matrimandir. Since July 1st over a hundred people have volunteered thousands of hours there.

As so frequently happens in Auroville, it’s when things are challenging that the best comes out of the community. So much goodwill, creativity and community building has emerged to support the room’s continuation as a Residents Assembly venue. As an occasional volunteer I’ve got to meet Aurovilians I didn’t know, and felt enriched by who I encountered there. Always visible is the golden view of the Matrimandir, shining in sun or moonlight, and inspiring conversations to reflect soulfully into what’s going on in Auroville, from the practical to the esoteric.

Three different community restaurants offer free meals for those who are there during meal times. When the air conditioning was cut off by the Town Hall management a pukka magnetic mosquito net was quickly installed at the outside doorway. A ‘chi’ machine – a kind of massaging tool – was gifted and games are played with a scrabble and rummy set with a never-ending supply of coffee and occasional biscuits. Weekly pot lucks are combined with video showings, and also ‘Flow games’ are offered.

Two mattresses and tents were donated for those sleeping over and are rolled out and then up again every evening and morning. What was a rather unassuming functional room in a Town Hall has now become a colourful site of creative presence, with ‘peace’ prayer flags inside and often people sitting outside observing the Matrimandir discs.

Three times there have been attempted take-overs of the room, once regrettably with force, but months later the office with its constant presence keepers has remained in the hands of the Auroville Council. Thousands of hours, organized via a google calendar, have been spent there, including sleeping overnight during the heat of the summer. Diwali was celebrated there with chanting and with candles in the shape of Auroville’s symbol.

Recently, when discussing whether to continue this presence keeping, the Working Committee of the Residents Assembly urged the community to continue holding it as the last symbolic room of the Residents Assembly in the Town Hall. Symbolic too, is the closeness of the Council room to the Foundation Working Committee meeting place directly across from each other. Hopefully the day will come when that divide will disappear as quickly as it appeared.