Piero Ciconesi

On 14 August Dr. Karan Singh, who has been Chairman of the Governing Board of the Auroville Foundation for more than 20 years, briefly visited Auroville.

In 2018, Amrit published ‘Children of Change’, a memoir recounting his early life and the difficult years in Auroville when he and others chose not to take sides in the bitter conflict between the Sri Aurobindo Society (SAS) and the then-dominant Auroville collective.

It all started in September 1998. Jean-François and I were at home when a group of teenagers, familiar faces from the Auroville schools, walked in with a quiet determination.

Nothing happens by chance and we are therefore entitled to wonder what is the meaning of the crisis which has been shaking Auroville for some time.

In early January, the team supervising the process announced that a final design had been decided upon for the Garden of the Unexpected at Matrimandir (see AVToday November, 2018).

An innovative process to design a new garden close to the Matrimandir is underway. What is it trying to achieve? What does it involve?

Written by Mona Doctor-Pingel, with additional essays by Chamanlal Gupta, Pino Marchese and Poppo Pingel, the book presents the work of two pioneer architects who, along with other architectural ‘forecomers’ like Roger Anger and Poppo Pingel, have left an indelible mark upon the fabric of the community.

On April 01, 2009, John, Elumalai, Pierre and Srimoyi took charge as executives of the Matrimandir. On July 31st, after more than 8 years of dedicated service, their term of office is coming to an end.

In 1969, the Mother allocated Rs. 5,000 to start a dispensary in a thatched hut in Douceur, mainly to serve the villagers from nearby Kuilapalayam.

Many months of work in the merciless sun led up to two all-night concretings this summer on the cap of the Matrimandir. The cap is a protective platform that crowns the top of the structure.