Auroville's monthly news magazine since 1988
Feb 2022 (44 months ago) Download PDF (free download)
A long read — Words by Alan
The ‘Dreamweaving the Crown’ is part of a process which attempts to bring down to the ground the Galaxy and the Master Plan in the form of a Detailed Development Plan (DDP). The DDP, a framework within which Auroville can develop, will be done by the Vaastu Shilpa Foundation, Dr. Doshi’s planning office in Ahmedabad. For an office of their size and experience, doing a DDP for a city of 50,000 would normally be a fairly easy undertaking. But because Auroville is special, the Dreamweaving sessions will provide an inspirational input to the process – albeit of an architectural / planning nature.
A long read — Words by Gita
Water has always been at the centre of Auroville’s story. The land sits on the ridge of the only plateau in the 740 sq. km. Kaliveli watershed area. One side slopes down to the sea, and the other to a poorly-maintained system of interconnected village tanks. Beginning around 1500 years ago, the region’s kings and rulers had the wherewithal and foresight to integrate an extensive network of catchment tanks (eris) connected by water channels into the development infrastructure of the times. This improved the soil and allowed for denser human settlement in a region with no perennial rivers and short seasons of extreme rains. A complex eco-system – including forests, small-scale agriculture, and people – thrived. But the system and cycles completely broke down under colonial rule, and resulted in the severe erosion that Auroville’s first settlers, assisted by local villagers, worked so hard to reverse.
35 years ago, much of the land intended for Auroville’s future Mahasaraswati Park, located near to the Town Hall, still belonged to neighbouring Kottakarai village. All of it was degraded, with extremely poor soil quality. Intent on “doing something for Mother, in the spirit of Auroville,” Krishna, Agnes, and Gopal began digging, planting, and bunding. Of the three, only Krishna had experience on the land. But the work was, “relatively simple,” says Gopal. “Imagine that it’s completely barren. You just look, you see there’s a slope, so you start your grid work to stop the monsoon rains from washing away topsoil.”
A long read — Words by Peter
Robert L’Heureux’s last glass works exhibition from January 7 marks the swansong of his career as a glass worker. Eleven large pieces, some well over a yard in diameter, were shown in Centre d’Art for two weeks.
The distant worlds of Zanskar, in the north Indian Himalayas, and Auroville’s coastal plains, met in December through the visit of Lobzang Wangtak, a Zanskari activist who journeyed down for the Auroville Learning Exchange (ALE). ALE’s original aim was to connect Auroville with countries or regions that have no current representation in Auroville to share ideas, cultures and experiences.
A conversation with Jyoti Naoki Eri and Noel Parent — In dialogue with Alan
Quietly, without fanfare or publicity, a beautiful Japanese garden has been created in the grounds of the Botanical Gardens. We spoke to Jyoti Naoki Eri, the designer, and Noel Parent who coordinated the construction work, to find out more.
Book review — Words by Carel
“This book is offered as an explorer’s source book in the mapping of various psychological problems inherent in the practice of Sri Aurobindo’s integral sadhana,” is how Dr. Joseph Vrinte defines the purpose of his book. “There are possible dangers in working with spiritual and psychological domains simultaneously and the various pitfalls are extensively elaborated.” He explains that his questions and critical notes are not only based on his academic analysis of Sri Aurobindo’s and The Mother’s writings – Vrinte is a retired mental health worker from The Netherlands who graduated from the Lucknow University and afterwards obtained his M.A. Philosophy / psychology and his Ph.D. from the Rohilkhand University in Bareilly – but also flow from his long connection with the Sri Aurobindo Ashram and his own experience of living for more than 20 years in Auroville.
This small book is a recollection of J.R.D. Tata’s involvement with Auroville as well as a meditative reflection by the author, Frederick (Friedrich Schulze Buxloh), of his very special relationship with this great man, one of India’s foremost industrialists who in 1992 was awarded India’s highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna, for his contribution to India’s development as the head of the then largest industrial conglomerate.
A conversation with Krishna D. — In dialogue with Archana
Krishna Devanandan studied and grew up in the forested hills and valleys of Kodaikanal. She is a Bharatanatyam dancer, she practices and teaches Tai Chi, helps manage Auroville Art Service and the Auroville Film Festival and is a member of the Funds and Assets Resource Group (FARG).
Governing Board meets The Governing Board of the Auroville Foundation held a meeting at Auroville on January 18th...
Working Committee presentation to GB Three members of the Working Committee discovered that the other four members had submitted a presentation to the Board bypassing them, which, they say, had “errors of judgement and facts and was undermining the role of the Residents' Assembly”...
Senior Aurovilians presentation to the Governing Board Six senior Aurovilians presented to the Board their account of the last two months, challenging some of the narratives of failure and stagnation, and how differences within Auroville have deepened since the current Secretary arrived...
Residents’ Assembly decides In a well-attended meeting of the Residents' Assembly (RA) held on January 2nd, a proposed decision to be made by the RA (RAD) was formulated: To pause all clearing, infrastructure laying and permanent construction work on the Right of Ways of Crown, Radials and Outer Ring in order to enable the community to define a way forward for Auroville's development, following collective processes, the 'Master Plan: Perspective 2025' framework, and other relevant regulations...
Visa declaration On January 7th, a form was circulated to be signed by foreigners needing a visa recommendation from the Secretary, Auroville Foundation, which stated amongst others that the signatory agreed to 'Abide by the Master Plan of Auroville, based on the Galaxy Plan conceived by the Mother and gazetted by the Government of India, based on which the Auroville City will be developed and built", and 'I hereby state that I will in no way or form, obstruct of hinder its manifestation...
Award for B.V. Doshi Shri Balkrishna Doshi, the eminent architect and ex-member of the Governing Board of the Auroville Foundation, received the RIBA Royal Gold Medal 2022, one of the world’s highest honours for architecture...
Visits from Regional Registration officers About 30 non-Indian Aurovilians who had joined efforts to stop bulldozers destroying the Crown Road stretch through the Bliss and Darkali forests, have received visits from officers of the Regional Registration Office, requesting to see their passport and Residential Permit, asking if they had been joining the ‘agitation’...
Resignations from 150th anniversary core group The Working Committee announced that Hemant, Jürgen and Christine have resigned from the Core Group of Sri Aurobindo’s 150th Birth Anniversary team...
Outreach Media On January 21st, the Auroville Foundation instructed Outreach Media to vacate its office and surrender all its material and immaterial assets to the Auroville Foundation...
AV Council questions ATDC legitimacy On January 13, the Auroville Council published its note to the Auroville Town Development Committee (ATDC) stating “As you have misinterpreted the minutes of the Governing Board and at the same time intend to ignore the Residents Assembly’s processes, although you are constituted by the RA, we must on these grounds alone place your office appointments and legitimacy in question...
AuroSur Auroville International Argentina has started AuroSur, News from Auroville which will appear every two months...
Art exhibition at Kala Kendra In December last year, the Pondicherry Art Akademy showed 180 paintings by 90 artists from 19 states of India at Kala Kendra...
Retrospective 2021 Savitri Bhavan hosted an Auroville art retrospective 2021 from 17 December till 14 January...
Wildlife in Auroville Aurosylle and Tim gave an informative introduction to wildlife in Auroville during a live and online event on 21st January in Bharat Nivas...
In memoriam:
In the afternoon of January 13th, Chitra Balaguru, committed suicide in her Humanscapes home, which she shared with her husband Balaguru and their daughter Praveen. She was 39 years old. Originally hailing from Chennai, Chitra came to Auroville in 2014 and officially joined in March 2016. She worked at Auroville Healthy Services as a much appreciated, conscientious and friendly hygiene inspector and care giver. Chitra’s body was taken to the Farewell Centre and cremated at Auroville’s cremation grounds on January 15th.
On January 24th, E. Krishnamoorthy of Sangaman passed away in the General Hospital in Pondicherry, where he had been lying in coma after a road accident on January 12th. Krishnamoorthy came from Kuilyapalayam and worked from the early 1990s for the Auroville Messenger Service, bringing the Auroville News and other post items on his bicycle to the various communities. With his open smile and upbeat demeanor, his was a welcome presence in those much quieter days without email and telephones. Afterwards, he worked for the Solar Service and Electrical Service, and more recently at the UTS Taxi Service. He became a resident of Auroville in 2020. His body was cremated at the Auroville burial and cremation grounds on January 25t
