Auroville: Destination of Youth in Search of Meaning

I grew up in the Ashram school in Pondicherry where the approach is based on principles of integral education with a strong focus on sports and extracurricular development. I had the privilege of choosing my teachers and subjects, free from the constraints of exams.

Inherent to this education is its founder Sri Aurobindo’s spiritual social philosophy. As a result, I grew up with a strong sense of social responsibility, critical of current logics, systems and structures.

Right after finishing school, I spent a transitory year pursuing a liberal arts postgraduate diploma course in Ashoka University in Sonipat, Haryana. It was valuable for the exposure it gave me to the outside world. I could measure myself to test how my ashram education matched formal levels. Even though I found many interesting and useful tools, theories and structures at university, I was left convinced that there was more gloss than substance in the regular education system. Having spent my entire schooling life without the logic of exams, I saw how the exam-based system immediately curtailed my curiosity and restricted what I retained.

My taste of ‘regular work life’ at a Chennai-based research and policy NGO called Citizen Consumer and Civic Action Group was equally brief and left me yearning for freer spaces. Too much time and energy went into useless reports for donors. Policy briefs about central schemes looked good on paper but failed to capture the richness of ground reality or to make an impact. Worse, while I wrote and engaged on different platforms to promote a greener, more ethical life, I struggled as a young person to embody this within the existing social system.

I quit, feeling disenchanted and disengaged.

Now as a volunteer living and working in the international intentional city of Auroville, I live and thrive on the fact that the gap between my “talk” and “walk” is reducing. I live in Maison des Jeunes, a minimal and eco-friendly community where we take care of our own space, both individually and as a community. YouthLink, my workplace, is run by youth for youth, where the principles of sustainability, self-development, youth empowerment, integral education and living are infused in our daily routine. These principles are also reflected in our Comm4unity course; an ecovillage development experiential learning programme to discover oneself and the role one can offer in sustainable community development. With the value of fancy titles and rote learning slowly diminishing, and with the space and opportunities to explore a more immersive, inter-disciplinary and introspective way of life, I am happy to be part of a place where people aspire to build something new and true.