Auroville's monthly news magazine since 1988

Issue Nº342

Jan 2018 (94 months ago)
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Upasana: starting the fourth seven-year cycle

An interview with Uma Haimavati Prajapati, By Carel

Uma (middle) with models at the Fair Trade Forum India fashion show in New Delhi

Auroville Today reported on the social outreach work of Upasana in January 2009, eight years ago. Today Upasana is 20 years old. What direction is it taking now?

The Kalpana housing project

Feature, By Carel

1 Architectural image of the Kalpana project

Across the road from Humanscapes, a Rs 15 crore (US $ 2.5 million) housing project is coming up, consisting of 42 different-sized apartments, four offices, a caretaker house, a gymnasium and a covered parking for 70 motorbikes.

Remembering Hu Hsu

Feature, By Devdip Ganguli and Eric Avril

Painting by Hu Hsu

In September 2017, the Chinese Ambassador to India Mr. Luo Zhaohui visited Auroville and the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. Addressing a gathering at the 68th anniversary celebrations of the People’s Republic of China at New Delhi soon after his visits, Ambassador Zhaohui remembered Hu Hsu.

Preserving the Green Belt

Feature, By Alan

The Green Belt of the Auroville Master Plan has six villages which together have a population six times larger than that of Auroville

In December, a group of post-graduate planning students from Queen’s University, Canada, visited Auroville under the auspices of the Auroville Integral Sustainability Institute.

Reviewing the “Galaxy” concept 50 years after its conception

Feature, By Gilles Guigan

In the November issue of Auroville Today, a group of Aurovilian architects and town planners discussed the Galaxy plan and concluded that it still had much to offer.

Matter matters

Reflection, By Alan

The Koodam Impact

Feature, By Elvira, Mukta and Niva

Koodam's conflict cases (meeting facilitation excluded)

Koodam, Auroville’s conflict resolution referral platform, recently published the “Koodam Impact Analysis Research Report,” presenting an overview of Koodam’s growth and development since 2013 and assessing the impact of its work.

The 5th Auroville Film Festival

Event review

Throwback to the sixties

The 5th Auroville Film Festival was held from December 16-23, 2017. With more than 275 films screened in three venues, this edition of the Film Festival was the largest yet.

A doorway into Tamil

An interview with Meenakshi and Jonathan, By Alan

Meenakshi and Jonathan

A new online English language magazine, Vaasal, has just been released. “We would like this magazine to be an entrance into the world of Tamil ideas, art and culture for anyone in Auroville who is a non-native, from another (village, country, habitat, that place that belongs to you and you to it)” it announces.

Grant for 50th anniversary celebrations The Government of India has made a special grant to the amount of Rs 10 crores for fixed assets expenditure for Auroville’s 50th anniversary celebrations.

50th anniversary update On 29th of December, the 50th anniversary planning team gave an update to the community on planned events. Among other events, there will be a water ceremony after the early morning meditation on 28th February 2018, in the Amphitheatre.

Fundraising Website A new website showcasing “What Auroville does for the world” – what progressive regenerative practices and culture are developed, demonstrated and taught in Auroville – has been created.

New Entry Board The Auroville Council and the Working Committee have completed the selection of an Entry Board. Under the new entry policy, the Board will oversee the Newcomer process and participate in deciding whether or not a Newcomer becomes an Aurovilian.

L’avenir d’Auroville The new L’Avenir team has announced they will be holding regular interactions with the community. On the first Monday of every month at 3 pm, people are invited to visit their office for exchanges and dialogue on everything to do with city planning.

Road works For many years, Auroviians and guests have suffered from Auroville’s dusty roads. This will now change. The Neyveli Lignite Corporation has made a donation to the value of Rs 1.1 crore from its Corporate Social Responsibility funds for making the access road in front of the Visitors’ Centre.

Exploring Prosperity The exploring prosperity team is investigating how the community can move closer to the system of prosperity as envisaged by The Mother and which operated in the early years of Auroville.

Line of Goodwill In late December, the team which is planning the Line of Goodwill, a megastructure that will stretch from Matrimandir to close by the Visitors’ Center, made their second presentation to the community.

Art for Land The third edition of ‘Art for Land’, in which artists donate work to raise money to acquire land for Auroville, was inaugurated on 1st January at the Unity Pavilion.

Golden Sunbeams A mixed-media outdoor exhibition of works by Auroville artists was held in the boulder garden of the Matrimandir in January.