Auroville's monthly news magazine since 1988
Sept 2017 (97 months ago) Download PDF (free download)
A deeper look
An interview with Prof Sachidananda Mohanty — Conversation led by Alan
Auroville Today: The Mother once wrote in 'The Dream ': 'There should be somewhere on earth a place that no nation could claim as its sole property: A place where all human beings of goodwill sincere in their aspiration could live freely as citizens of the world, obeying one single authority, that of the Supreme Truth.' What, for you, does being a world citizen in the 21st Century imply
An interview with Dr Prema Nandakumar — Conversation led by Alan
Dr. Prema Nandakumar has written and spoken to audiences the world over about Sri Aurobindo's writings and philosophy. She is the author of many articles and books on Sri Aurobindo and on Indian culture. She is also a translator and fiction writer in Tamil and has received several awards for her contributions to Indian literature.
An interview with Dr Anirban Ganguly — Conversation led by Carel
Dr. Anirban Ganguly is director of the Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation in New Delhi. He is a member of the Central Advisory Board of Education and also a member of the Policy Research Department and co-convener of the Library & Documentation Department of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He has done his doctorate on Sri Aurobindo and the national education movement in India. Here he speaks about his connection with Sri Aurobindo and The Mother and his work for India.
A deeper look — Story by Bindu
In the months of July and August, Auroville benefitted from unexpected rains. In July 153 mm fell, against an average of 73.1= for the last 39 years. In the first three weeks of August, 195.2 mm fell, against an average of 129.7 mm for the entire month. On an annual basis, the average rain fall over the last 40 years (January 1-August 20) is 233.6 mm while in the same period in 2017, 463 mm has fallen. This means that we are above average in spite of the drought that was prevailing so far. Our shallower wells, tapping mostly into the Cuddalore Sandstone aquifer, are responding to these rains and showing signs of recovery. However, water levels in our deeper wells, tapping mostly into the Vanur Sandstone aquifer, continue to decrease. We need much more rain if we want to recharge all of our aquifers. We hope that the northeast monsoon, beginning in mid-October, will bring those rains.
An interview with Swadha, Eugen, Lalit, Suresh, Ayesha, Mita and Inge van Alphen — Conversation led by Alan
While it is one of the youngest Auroville communities, Courage is one of the largest. It has 104 residents drawn from 16 different nationalities: 30 of the residents are under the age of 18. What are the joys and challenges of living in such a large and diverse community? Can it be a model for elsewhere?
A deeper look — Story by Carel
The idea of Sanjana began in 2011, shortly after Gundolf had moved into one of the new apartments he had designed in the Surrender community. “Can you build us something similar?” his friends asked. Ideas became designs, designs turned into a housing project, but it took a while before the project could get materialized.
A deeper look — Story by Shankar G.
Interestingly, when the French soldiers of the “Garde Républicaine” carried away the coffin bearing the mortal remains of Mrs. Simone Veil, the Holocaust survivor, they chanted a German song: Das Lied der Moorsoldaten. (Peat Bog Soldiers). This hymn was composed in 1933 by Johann Esser and Wolfgang Langhoff, two German deportees in the concentration camp of Börgermoor, in Lower Saxony.
Event review — Story by Bindu
From August 12 to 22, 2017, Bharat Nivas hosted Alpona, a festival of Bengal. The festival included an exhibition of paintings by ten women artists from Kolkata, an exhibition of textiles from Bengal, two musical evenings and screenings of Bengali films, including four by the internationally renowned director Buddhadeb Dasgupta who visited during the festival.
Water Ceremony for Auroville’s 50th Anniversary On the morning of 28 February 2018, on the occasion of Auroville’s 50th anniversary, a water ceremony will take place in the Matrimandir Amphitheatre...
Large Matrimandir test pond to be started The Matrimandir Lake team has decided to start work on a large test pond of 100 x 100 metres wide and 10 metres at its deepest point...
Seed Festival in Auroville On July 26th, the Sustainable Livelihood Institute, a joint venture of the Tamil Nadu Government and the Auroville Foundation, celebrated the Tamil month of Aadi by a Seed Festival in Auroville...
Eco-Femme certified Eco-femme continues to lead in sustainable menstrual hygiene by being the first certified organic sanitary napkin company in India...
Inaugurations On August 14th, the new building of the Auroville Electrical Service and the Auroville Solar Service in the Service Area was inaugurated by Dr...
Monkey menace More monkeys are visiting Auroville than before...
A tribute to
On August 22nd, Aurovilian Karpagavalli Selvanambi left her body in a Madurai nursing home to which she had been taken after a stroke in 2013. She was 72 years old. Karpagavalli was a lively and capable teacher in the Tamil language who had joined Auroville in 1992. She worked in Isaiambalam school, Ilaignarkal Education Centre, Transformation school and Arulvazhi Education Centre, and will be remembered by many of her pupils and colleagues. Her remains were cremated in her hometown, Madurai.
