Carried by the wave: growing up in a diverse community

“It was a very interesting childhood,” says Partha, about his early days. “My parents were some of the first local people to join Auroville. The local people were a little scared, wondering what all these foreigners were doing here. My grandfather was not so happy that my father took the strong decision to join.”

Partha’s parents joined Aspiration community, and his father worked on developing the Auroville land and its agricultural food processing. At that time there were about a few hundred community members, and Partha emphasises the sheer physical hard work of building the fledgling community, as well as the collaborative decision-making in the spirit of “moving forward”. “It was hard work, but the lifestyle was also fun for kids,” he recounts. “We roamed a lot, and swam in kolams and climbed trees, and we felt very free. There were hardly any cycles.” Partha went to Auroville schools and began boarding with his peers at New Creation, and would go to the beach each Sunday to play volleyball.  “We were friendly with our teachers and we did adventurous things. The adults would take us jogging around the whole of Auroville, and would be behind us saying ‘run, run, run’”. 

Despite the difficulties of getting a formal education in Auroville in the 1970s and early 1980s, Partha managed to finish high school, and then did a distance bachelor degree in history at Annamalai University near Chidambaram. He then undertook teacher training at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Delhi branch, but he didn’t warm to the rigidity of the rules and schedule there, and wanted to quickly return to Auroville and its possibilities for unending education. “People learn through experience [in Auroville]”, he says. “There is vast knowledge around, and you can go anywhere and learn. The best part of learning in Auroville is the diversity. You get to learn a lot of things from each person’s culture, as they share their intelligence or knowledge. You will not get that opportunity anywhere else in the world.” He took up a role as a student assistant at Transition school, and then worked at Auroville Village Action Group. After learning Awareness Through the Body under the guidance of Aloka and Joan, he taught this together with Suzie, in Udavi school for seven years, as well as theatre. 

While Partha’s parents had initially assumed that their future daughter-in-law would be a local Tamil girl, Partha explains with a grin that they “forgot that their son grew up in this diverse environment. But, eventually, they accepted my way of thinking.” He married Sonali, who hails from Pune, and their daughter is currently finishing her schooling and will soon start college studies. Partha explains that their daughter is a product of their diverse backgrounds and that he has moved away from many local traditions of his parents’ generation, such as “going to the temple or praying, or holding a puberty ceremony for my daughter, or marrying her at 18. I have different beliefs.”

Neem Tree café

About six years ago, Partha had a conversation with Min about starting a family-friendly cafe in Auroville that would provide locally-sourced food at a cheap price, a place where parents could eat and socialise while the kids played nearby, and where volunteers could work on their laptops, and people could sit and discuss, “We didn’t have a commercial motivation; we wanted to created a service-

oriented social place that was beautiful and offered a diversity of food.” It soon became a very popular dining place in Auroville. The no-frills structure –  a simple roof, an open space surrounded by trees, plain bench seating –  lends a rustic feel to the place, and its central location is also an advantage. 

Part of Min and Partha’s original vision with Mahavir, was that the café would offer food made with mostly Auroville produce. However, this hasn’t been entirely possible. While many vegetables and fruits come from Auroville farms, popular vegetables such as carrots and potatoes need to be brought in from outside. “Auroville produce is often more expensive,” says Partha, “because it’s organic. You can get milk for 42 rupees in the village, but it’s 64 rupees in Auroville –  22 rupees more. So, in that case, we get milk from the villages. Our tea is cheap compared to other places, so we have to balance out the organic intentions with the cost.” If he has to buy produce from outside Auroville, he tries to support local growers. “If I see a village elder selling their spinach or lemons by the side of the road, I stop and buy it, because I know they’re not putting pesticide on it.”

While Neem Tree café suffered economically during the Corona lockdowns, the café was able to carry on and is now functioning at a break-even level. The café’s point of difference –  remarked upon by many –  is the music playlist, which Partha curates according to the crowd each evening. “I have songs bookmarked on YouTube. If the crowd is quiet, I’ll play jazz. If it’s a Tamil crowd, I’ll play nice Tamil songs. If they're older, I play music from their times, and suddenly they say “Oh gosh, I haven't heard this music for 20 years!’ I want people to feel comfortable so they can sit for some time here, and not run back home.”

Being a Working Committee member

For the last four years, Partha has also been a member of Auroville’s Working Committee. He acknowledges that part of the job is dealing with Auroville’s “dirty laundry”, which includes disputes from labour issues to cows and land.  But he points out that it’s important for people to remember the “less advertised” positive aspects of Auroville, such as its achievements over the years. “If we concentrate only on bad things, it’s an energy drainer. Auroville also needs to acknowledge the good work it is doing, and to look forward.” 

As part of his role in the Working Committee, Partha takes care of liaising with the police, which includes coordinating the visits of VIPs to Auroville. “When I was a child, I would see a policeman and get scared and run away!” he recounts. “Today, I often go to the police station to meet the police, for issues related to Auroville or Aurovilians.  We have a cordial and sincere relationship. They visit Auroville and I show them around and help them understand that Auroville is a special project.”

Most of the police-related issues are day-to-day problems, such as encroachment, fence issues, theft, harassment or disputes. Partha explains how petty crime, such as bag-snatching and harassment, has reduced since Auroville introduced its own security service.  He suggests that Auroville doesn’t have a significant drug problem, and that the police “can sniff if there’s a party happening locally”, which means that visitors staying in surrounding areas are sometimes caught by police for small-time drug offences. And when media report the matter, they often suggest that it took place in Auroville, says Partha, which is an unfortunate side-effect of the wider region being dubbed as ‘Auroville’.

While Auroville has developed a good working relationship with the local police over the years, Partha underlines that the community should not take advantage of this. “Once, someone borrowed my motorbike,” he narrates, “and the police caught him talking on the phone while driving, and he didn’t have papers. So the guy called me, saying: “Anna [brother], come! The police stopped me.” So when I went, the police said, ‘Oh it’s you, it’s your bike! You’re our friend. Take your bike and go.’ But the police had also stopped other people and were giving fines. So I told them, ‘Whatever mistake he’s done, you have to give him the same fine you’re giving to other people.’ I wanted to do it correctly, because it’s not fair for the other guys standing there who have to pay a fine. For me, a rule is a rule, so we paid the fine. The other people standing there should not think that I’m taking advantage of my connection to the police officers.”

In the last decade, Partha has been involved in two groups formed by Tamil Aurovilians that aimed to develop Auroville and bring Tamil people “into the mainstream of Auroville”: the initial group Aurosangaman, and its offshoot Auromumpty. “Friends of mine were involved, and we wanted to bring change to Auroville,” he says. The groups worked to get Tamil Aurovilians elected onto working groups, in order to reflect the makeup of Auroville’s population and in the belief that “some specific tasks in working groups can only be done by Tamil Aurovilians,” says Partha, “because of our local knowledge.” He explains that village panchayat leaders and police “relate better to Tamil people”, so it’s essential that a Tamil Aurovilian is part of such meetings in order to do “the laundry work”. 

Auromumpty, however, disbanded last year. “The Auroville Council felt that there’s no need for group-based organisation in Auroville,” explains Partha. “We later realised that promotion of one group is not needed, as it’s a diverse population. We’re all here to learn from each other, to achieve something together. Mother talked about human unity; we shouldn’t get caught in petty politics or differentiate between Tamil, north Indian, whatever. Of course, there are expectations –  people say ‘You’re Tamil, you should be helping me’. And there can be conflicts. I have to be neutral and not think just of individuals. I look at the larger issue and what is best for Auroville. I have to follow my own heart and conscience.” 

The work of the Working Committee has long been known to be demanding, but the work has increased even more with the arrival of the new Secretary and new Governing Board. “A lot of things are changing, and change is happening fast. Some new energy is there. The Governing Board wants to see us grow fast. The Board says that we’ve had 50 years and we’re only at 3,000 population. And they want to see Auroville as a completed city. Maybe some fault lies within ourselves. Maybe we have been too slow to realise a city, and that gave them the wrong signal. And they’re saying ‘enough is enough’. But how can that sit with Auroville’s approach to governance? Society can change only with the residents. If you want to bring changes, without the support of the residents, it can’t happen. There will always be some unhappiness. But we should be given the opportunity to come to an agreement to do things. There should be a balance between the expectations of the Governing Board and the Residents. For me, the two approaches should mingle, it shouldn’t be too slow or fast. It’s an interesting phase of Auroville.”

So how does it feel being in the Working Committee at this pressurised point in time? “It’s like being a drum: we get beaten from both sides! We’re told we have to push things, but we cannot agree amongst ourselves in the Working Committee: we have diverse views on issues. But none of us has a personal interest – everyone is fighting for what they think is best for Auroville.”

With another two years to go in his Working Committee role, Partha takes a philosophical view of his future. “I’ve always floated along with the wave, whichever way it carries me. Things happen and I don’t regret that I didn’t do certain things. Life takes you along; just go along with it. And you get to learnand take the opportunity to grow along the way.

“I’m nearing my 50s, and slowly I’ll have to find somebody to train for the roles I’ve held. The Working Committee needs more young people – for there should be experience and also young energy. I will share my experience with young people.”