Anusuya and its inhabitants

Auroville Today: How did Anusuya look when you first saw it?

Yvon: Wild. Really wild! But very beautiful and very quiet. 

Did you have plans about how to develop Anusuya?

Wolf: No. There were obviously possibilities there, but at first we began working on what needed to be done – a house, a windmill and so on. It was a whole field of practical experience. You’d need things, so you’d make them and you’d learn on the way. 

So self-sufficiency is important to you?

Wolf: Yes. It's a challenge to try to use the possibilities around you and not have to rely on others. But not self-sufficiency at any cost.

You’ve been here 4 1/2 years now. What have been the major changes?

Wolf: Auroville has changed and this has affected us here. When we first. came, there were regular budgets (financial support). Then we produced what we could and used or distributed it. When the budget stopped, we started selling our farm produce. But we quickly found out that you can't live off a small farm like this. We needed other products. So as we had many fruits and plants, Yvon began food processing – jam and so on. We took on more workers. Then I had to build a windmill, and a vandi, and this brought me into contact with another material. I began to work in wood and started a small carpentry workshop. And now Yvon has begun making clothes for children.

You could both be doing what you’re doing here almost anywhere in the world. Does it make a difference to do it in Auroville?

Yvon: Yes. Here you are involved with the whole process. You grow the tree, you cut it, you work with the wood. The same with food processing. Life here is very basic. There is a strong contact with nature and with people’s basic needs. When you work, there is a strong connection between the material and yourself, the mood you’re in, which is much stronger than I’ve experienced in the West. And the attitude to work in Auroville is different. You’re not just producing. You are a part of what you’re doing. 

Wolf: There's a concentration of something here, because each person, in their own way, is trying to reach something else, trying to get out of the mess that the world is in. That makes a difference. 

You mention business. Some people feel that business represents an old vibration and has no place in Auroville. What do you think?

Yvon: Business means exchange – there is nothing wrong with that. But when you start producing just for the money, you cross a line. As the demand gets stronger, it pulls on you. You produce more and more and then your relationship to what you’re working with changes. It becomes impersonal. Perhaps that’s what people are afraid of when they use the word ‘business’. The problem for us in Anusuya is that things are always so tight financially that when we see a chance to release the pressure, we’re eager to try it. But then you may get caught.

Wolf: It’s our relationship to business and money which is the trouble. That’s why we tend to reject it. But I don’t see that we can just drop it at the moment. So we’ve got to learn to deal with it. At the moment I’m stuck. I’d love to do carpentry for fun, to give the products away. But then, how do I pay my workers and keep the place going? But there’s something else too. If I got a regular budget, perhaps I wouldn’t have to care so much if people liked my products. Maybe we still need this push to make us do something well. It might be too easy otherwise. 

How do you feel you are connected to the larger community?

Wolf: It’s not easy to answer. I don’t go to big meetings. I don’t have the capacity to make decisions for Auroville. My part is to contribute in a different way. By making chairs, for example. For me, it’s this dream of Mother, that’s why I'm here, and this is my connection with Auroville. Also, I’m physically connected with people through my work. Everything, relating, learning, everything goes through the work here. 

Yvon: Before I came to Auroville, I thought I’d have the possibility of moving from one community to another, say every half-year or so. When I came. I found it was almost impossible. It takes time to set up a workshop, for example. You can’t just put it down. But I’d still like to be able to live in different places. Just to see how others live and work.

You’ve both received some knocks over the years in Auroville. What have you learned from them?

Yvon: To build up a good defense! When you receive a blow, it shows you that you have a weak point somewhere.

Wolf: Sometimes by reacting too strongly, we feed something and make it more of a problem. If it doesn’t bother you, it stops. But it’s very hard to be like this. 

Yvon: These knocks are a very intensive way of seeing yourself. Sometimes people have to put a strong stop on what you’re doing to make you see something. As soon as you work with more people, you need these lessons more. I miss this now, working on my own. These knocks are not always so nice, but they’re necessary. As long as we get blows, we need them. It’s part of the waking-up process! You shouldn’t take it personally, because they’re doing you a favour! 

Is Auroville too disorganized? Or is this its strength? 

Yvon: What I like in Auroville is that there is a certain flexibility. There’s always space for a certain development. But the basic necessities – health, education, etc. – these need to be organized. 

Wolf: We should be more connected in Auroville, through work and activities. But the organization, the will to do this, must come from within, not without. We’ve got to feel that Auroville is one body, that whatever we do, or even think, affects the rest. But for basics – yes, we need structure. At the moment, you have so many small hassles to deal with that you can’t spend much time on your real work. Auroville is weak at organizing the basics.

What are your hopes for the future. For yourselves and Auroville. What would you like to see in five years time?

Yvon: I’d like to see our roof repaired in five years! 

Wolf: Personally, I just hope I fit in somewhere. In Auroville I’d like to see more sense of community, less groupism and much better functioning on a practical level. For example, more stores, etc., so we don’t have to go to Pondy. And more looking after each other’s needs. We have to realize that we are not in competition, but in one boat trying to get somewhere.