Issue Nº346

Tourism in Auroville has increased considerably over the years. What is its impact upon the community? Does it help or harm us? Should it be controlled and, if so, how?

On March 7, 2018, architect Balkrishna V. Doshi, former Auroville Governing Board member and Chairman of the Auroville Town Development Council (TDC) between 2009 - 2016, was announced as the Pritzker Prize Laureate, 2018.

The manifestation of the Hive, which was sanctified with a Bhoomi Puja on February 26th, has been suspended.

I do not remember when and from whom I heard about the idea of Auroville, but it appeared to me natural, almost inevitable, in the context of The Mother’s Dream of a place where people could lead a life according to the dictates of the highest and also her warning that it had become imperative for men, countries and continents to choose between Truth or the Abyss.

A number of women from the villages that surround Auroville and come to Auroville for work feel that the Tamil Aurovilian women are somehow different from them and there is a lack of connection.

Flashback to 30 years ago: A 10 year old Auroville child comes across a haiku in a book of poems that describes the moss temple of Japan. It sounds so beautiful and the little girl imagines that this must be a place in a fairytale where everything is possible …

March 30th saw an unusual theatre production, an English adaptation of seven short Tamil stories by the late renowned writer, R Chudamani. The Madras Players, Chennai’s acclaimed English theatre group, presented the 90 minute-long production as a seamless narrative of intimate peeks into the lives of orthodox urban middle class Tamils.

Meenakshi, our acclaimed Tamil poet, has just brought out a bi-lingual collection of her poetry to coincide with Auroville’s 50th birthday. Pebble contains one or two poems that have been anthologised elsewhere – like the lovely “I am the golden flame” – but many are new, at least to this reviewer.

In 1968 a young woman landed in Pondicherry, attracted by nothing in particular but her interest in India. She has stayed ever since, except for a two year period from 1970-1972.

I grew up in rural England: a very normal life. Until I realised, sometime in my teenage years, that I felt something was missing from me. It wasn’t until I was 24 that I discovered there was more colour in the world than I had ever imagined.

Here’s a paradox. Although Auroville remains a predominantly rural community, many Aurovilians have little knowledge of the wildlife that lives around them.

On the morning of February 21, at a beautiful ceremony held behind Santé, the Morning Star Birthing Centre was dedicated. The Centre, proposed to be ready by 2020, will provide Auroville with a specialized space for maternity and childbirth.