Construction and other challenges in Auroville

Auroville Today: Tell me about your earlier life in Auroville.

I was born in Goa and came to Auroville for the first time when I was six years old. Back then, after finishing Transition school there was the option of going to Kodaikanal International School or to the Lycée Français in Pondicherry, or abroad. I went to the Alliance to learn French to see if I could go to the Lycée. Fortunately, just then, Chali and Luk started the Center for Further Learning, which later became Future School. After I graduated from Future School, I took off to Amsterdam to do a Bachelor in Economics and Business. After that, I found work for a few years in Amsterdam, and then went to Malaysia for a year.

What brought you back to Auroville?

I’d come back to Auroville a few times for holidays. But the decision to come back took me long to make. At one point I decided that I didn’t want to be part of ‘the system’. I didn’t want to take a mortgage, buy a house, etc. I realised that I wanted to do something else with my life, something which has a purpose, along with other people trying to achieve the same. Then, naturally, I began thinking about Auroville. A big worry I had was the financial aspect. I did not want to have to go out of Auroville for work every few years, just to have an income. I also wanted something in Auroville where I could focus my energy full-time. While I was out, I met Kevin a few times, and we often talked about the possibility of doing something together, and if it would be possible to restart Sumark Constructions, which was a dormant company at the time. Kevin was settled here in Auroville, had done some construction projects and needed someone to help him. That was my ticket back into Auroville. I came back to Auroville and joined Sumark. That was in 2012. Invocation phase IV and the Future School Multi-Purpose Hall were our first projects.

What is Sumark today?

Sumark is a construction company. We design, construct, and do project management. Kevin is not a certified architect but he is very capable in making construction and design drawings. These are then scrutinized by a structural engineer. In the case of Invocation IV, we split the project up into three phases because of the lack of clients at a certain point. There is no organisational body in Auroville that can advance a significant amount of money, so it’s always a struggle to find clients in order to continue to build and not lose our labour force. Sumark has a team of 50-55 people; masons, carpenters, painters and helpers. Some of our other projects were the Basketball court in New Creation, and the sump in Transition for the water. Invocation is now in the process of being finished, and we don’t have another project lined up. There are a lot of promises, some ideas in the pipeline, but as of yet nothing concrete.

How do you get work in Auroville as a construction unit?

L’Avenir d’Auroville, Auroville’s town planning department, has created a work allocation team. When there is a project above a certain budget, there is a tender process. Although it seems this would give all contractors an equal chance, architects usually work with the contractor with whom they have had a good experience. Since we are relatively new, this does not work in our favour. The work can be split up but ultimately the architects, project holders and L’Avenir decide who gets the contract. The tender is a necessary but painful process when the cost of everything is calculated. It is very tedious but there is no easy alternative. Alternatively, individuals approach you to build a house, extension, etc. Sometimes they already have selected an architect, or they themselves have a very clear idea of what needs to be built.

Could there be another way of allocating construction work in Auroville?

One way would be to have a team that splits up the work evenly and among Aurovilians, rather than to outside companies like MML which is constructing Sunship and Kalpana. The problem is that outside companies are often cheaper and faster as they can work on bigger projects and therefore invest in machinery. They have the shuttering ready, all the machinery such as cranes and JCB. Of course, I understand that this is why they are hired. Auroville units cannot invest in this because the building market here is not big enough at the moment, so no one invests in decent machinery, such as cranes or forklifts, for example. In Pondicherry or Chennai, a construction unit will have a few cranes and they will be able to work much faster.

There were several ideas to invest in machinery in order to keep work inside Auroville. When Citadines was being built, Eric thought about acquiring a crane for Auroville that could be shared among different constructors, but it didn’t happen. It would have helped a lot to bring our price down in the long run and then we wouldn’t require outside contractors to build the city. We should do it centrally so that our machinery gets rented or shared. Some things we do already share with Auzolan. For example, stone cutting machines and table saws. The question is who maintains and repairs the equipment, but that can be thought about. The easiest way is if someone would buy and maintain it while others use it. If Auroville funds it, it would be more complicated. Also, to reduce prices we could get cement and tile dealerships in Auroville. We need someone that we trust who could do those things. But at present it’s easier and cheaper in the short run to hire external companies. As an example, I wouldn’t buy a JCB because other Auroville contractors may still hire from outside, and then I would make a huge loss.

Where do you see Sumark going in the future?

For Sumark to keep operating in Auroville I think we have to come up with our own projects. That means being the project holder, construction team and, possibly, even architect. We would have to do everything from getting the building permission, making the designs (or overseeing them), finding the clients and constructing the building. Ideally, we want to do construction in Auroville, but we may have to look outside Auroville as well. However, I trust that there will be sufficient work within Auroville and a project will come along. In line with what Mr. Chunkath, the new Secretary, said, right now we have 2,000 people, but imagine what we would need for 10,000 people: more Solar Kitchens, grocery stalls, and services. So if and when Auroville grows there will be plenty of work in construction.

What is different in Auroville compared to outside?

From a project perspective, if we had 30 or 40 lakhs in a bank account related to our project, anywhere else, it would be earning interest for the project. That doesn’t happen here. The interest earned on money in the Unity Fund goes to the common pot to pay for Auroville services and not to the individual project. However, when you take a loan as a unit or project, you have to pay interest on it. So, a lot of things are a one-way street. I understand why it’s done, but if you look at it from a project holder’s perspective it can be seen as unfair. But that’s just the way the Auroville economic system is set up at present.

What are the pros and cons of working in Auroville?

I would prefer giving, for example, a plumbing job to an Aurovilian. Even if I pay them more, at least it means that this person doesn’t have to go abroad to work. Or maybe they can invest in tools and soon become more efficient at what they do. Sadly, we don’t have so many Aurovilians people who want to do hands-on work. I would very much like to see Aurovilians take up some of the construction jobs. I think in a few years this will happen, especially with more focus on tools and machinery.

Initially, working with some of the working groups was frustrating. As they have no obligation to answer or respond, it can take months before they reply. As project holders, we have an obligation to provide documentation and replies but they don’t have an obligation to answer within a certain time frame. It’s a bit of the one-way street again. But, we have built up some relationships and the frustration we felt initially has faded. Also, I feel the groups are shifting and starting to become more interactive and pro-active. This is very positive in my view.

Another drawback for me is the taboo around money. We should not let money rule our lives but we need it as an exchange. Even if we rename it or remove the physical aspect of it by having an ‘account’ or ‘aurocard’, it’s still there, just in a different form.

I feel that sometimes there is a lack of trust. Maybe it is because of bad experiences in the past where people hoarded things for themselves. But working groups and individuals should work on trusting each other. When we can foresee issues, we should prevent them. But we don’t all know the ‘right’ and ‘only’ way. People have different approaches and these should be celebrated. Something will naturally fail along the way, but we should draw lessons from those without restricting ourselves from taking up new experiments.

On the positive side, it is great that we know people personally; you’re not just a number in a system or a person who has to sign a document. While there are obstacles, there is a lot of support. Overall, there is much more support and family feeling in Auroville than obstacles. Moreover, we are all here to build and be part of Auroville together. So the feeling of community and purpose is a very binding and positive factor.

What do you think Auroville needs at present?

In the past year there has been a lot of talk about attracting young motivated people to join Auroville. However, when people come to Auroville they should be able to support themselves with the work they do. If you come in your twenties, or even if you are forty, and you have to rely on a maintenance, it’s hardly possible. Especially if you have just moved to Auroville. A foreigner will have to get a visa, renew their passport and visit their relatives. And there are the expenses such as transport, the fridge breaking down, a new chainset for the motorbike or cycle, Whatever it is, it is very hard to do on an Auroville maintenance.

Moreover, not being able to have a maintenance for the first year or so makes it even harder. These factors are quite a hurdle and I would be supportive of them being reduced. I would also open up places that people can rent cheaply. Moreover, I think that if someone needs an income of, say Rs. 20,000 a month, and they are able to work to attain that, then it should not be an issue or even taboo to have that. In the past, people opened units in order to generate some income for themselves. I think that in the future people should be able to work somewhere and ‘earn’ the resources they require.

Another thing that I think needs to change is the fear of change. Lots of people are clinging on to their backyard and scared of further development. But when we have more people, we will have to develop more facilities and services.

What do you have to say about the housing situation in Auroville?

I don’t think there is any lack of housing, no one is sleeping on the street. If I compare it to Amsterdam where people are renting out half their bedrooms, we definitely are not in a crisis. The problem is that people want housing, and they want it for free. Not everyone wants to invest, or put their money in housing because you don’t get your investment back if you decide to leave Auroville. I would like to see a very diverse housing situation in Auroville where people may start with a little keet hut and improve it as and when they can or need. And different types of housing to meet different needs. We could have cheap and low cost dorms for people who spend their days out working. Since there is no place like that in Auroville at present, I know of Newcomers, Aurovilians and volunteers together renting houses in the surrounding villages.

What does your day look like?

Kevin and I combine site supervision, office work, material purchasing, client meetings, accounting, and designing. It’s a very mixed job. While we often meet the clients together, Kevin does all the drawings and design decisions along with changes, while I take care of the accounts and usually do the Pondy trips to buy the material. The day starts at 8 am, with the first hour setting up work and deciding on what is required, followed by meetings, purchasing or office work. The afternoons are mixed too, and we usually end by 4:30-5. We’ve offered the team to have Saturday off and work longer days instead, but that’s not been accepted so it’s still a Monday to Saturday routine.

What are your interests/hobbies?

Workwise my interest is in setting up a system that functions well and keeping on improving it. I hope that I can start developing some economies of scale or using more machinery and technology to improve on efficiency.

In my free time I enjoy team sports, basketball, badminton, football. I also like getting out and doing some fishing. Unfortunately, there are no big rivers or water bodies (other than the ocean) around. However, I find it very relaxing and it allows me to get out of my fixed routine.