Auroville's monthly news magazine since 1988
Feb 2024 (20 months ago) Download PDF (free download)
Feature story — Words by Alan
The 29th February, 2024 will be the 17th ‘Golden Day’. The first one was celebrated on 29th February, 1960. An English visitor, Dick Batstone, described how the dominant colour in the Ashram compound that day was gold: Mother was dressed in gold, she stood on a gold silk cloth, her balcony was hung with golden embroidered satin, and even the flowers in the courtyard were gold.
Feature story
On the 4th January, many people were shocked to see many Service trees (Peltophorum pterocarpum/ Copper Pod tree) being felled on the Crown between the Solar Kitchen and Mahalakshmi Home. Some hours later, the Auroville Town Development Council constituted by the Governing Board (FO-ATDC) informed residents that trees on the Crown Right of Way were being cleared “so that the infrastructure cables and pipes along the Crown can be implemented”. In fact, the tree cutting in recent days went well beyond this stretch of the Crown. Trees were also cut between Kalabhumi and Transition, in the Centre Field area, Transition, Revelation, Youth Centre, Bliss, Aurovelo and Anitya, and the Southern Service Node was cleared of vegetation by JCBs. Since the Supreme Court of India stayed the order of the National Green Tribunal Southern Zonal Bench, which had directed the Auroville Foundation to prepare a proper township plan and obtain environmental clearance for the plan and till then, except for the Crown Road, not to proceed with further construction in the project area, more than 3,000 trees have been cut to begin clearing the Right of Way not only for the Crown, but also for the radials and the Outer Ring Road.
Feature story — Words by Peter
As befits chroniclers of our real lives, the organisers of the 8thAuroville Film Festival acknowledged in their address on the essence of the festival, the unique times Auroville is experiencing: ‘In the midst of the challenges we currently face, the Auroville Film Festival 2024 stands not as a conventional celebration but as a contemplative and reflective gathering. We come together not to celebrate in the traditional sense, but to engage in a collective introspection, exploring through cinema the deeper meanings of what Auroville stands for, especially in turbulent times’. Further they noted that ‘this gathering, which we call a 'festival' in the broadest sense, is an opportunity to pause and look within, to question and understand. It's a platform for us to explore what human unity truly means amid global unrest and violence. It’s a time to reaffirm our commitment to the ideals of Auroville and to actively engage in dialogues that challenge and inspire us’.
Profile: Aurosugan — Story by Alan
Aurosugan was born in Auroville. After completing an MBA in hospital administration, he worked at the Aravind Eye Hospital for many years. Recently he returned to Auroville and set up a primary eye centre here with ambitious plans to eliminate blindness in Auroville and the bioregion. Here he speaks about his journey.
An interview with Siegrun — In dialogue with Peter
“The Transcendent Function is a psychic dynamic, if you want to transcend something you have to bring the opposites together. It can change everything, it is a transforming power and can be activated by sandplay, dreamwork, active imagination and other techniques which brings you to a different and wider levels of consciousness. In the end, archetypal opposites can belong together. There is never a one-sided archetype. The devil is an archetype but in the end he’s a part of our godly strength and takes this form to develop ourselves.”
A review of works — Story by Chandra
A ceramics art exhibition by Priya Sundaravalli. Priya’s fifth pottery exhibition, set against the backdrop of the gallery space at Pitanga, was a breathtaking confluence of artistic skill and poetic sensitivity.
A review of works — Story by Peter
Dominique Jacques posed questions and changed the rules in her recent exhibition ‘Endless Game’. We’re used to visiting a gallery to see an art work with a little caption and then we are left to appraise it. Whilst this was a part of Dominique’s work, there were unexpected additional dimensions.
Feature story — Words by Pranav
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New Entry and Exit regulations The Governing Board (GB) has approved new ‘Admission and Termination of Persons in the Register of Residents Regulations’, and published them in part III of the Gazette of India on January 4th, 2024...
New Entry and Exit regulations: responses In response to the publication of the new Regulations, the RA-WCom initiated an Emergency Residents' Assembly Decision-making process...
Auroville Foundation (Framework for Selection of Working Committee) Regulations, 2024. On January 12th, 2024, the GB published the Auroville Foundation (Framework for Selection of Working Committee) Regulations, 2024, in part III of the Gazette of India...
Responses to the Framework for Selection of Working Committee Regulations As the Framework for Selection of Working Committee Regulations appear to be in contravention of the Auroville Foundation Act which states in section 19...
Minutes Governing Board meetings 2023 published More than two months after the Central Information Commissioner, an appeal authority under the Right to Information Act, reprimanded the Public Information Officer of the Auroville Foundation for not responding to Right for Information requests and not publishing the minutes of meetings of the Governing Board, the AVFO has published on its website the minutes of the GB’s 63rd, 64th and 65th meetings, held on February 16th, August 9th and December 12th 2023 respectively...
63rd GB meeting. Excerpts. In its 63rd meeting the GB approved the project proposal submitted by the EdCIL (India) Limited for the construction of 1,000-bed student hostel in two phases at Auroville...
64th GB meeting. Excerpts In its 64th meeting the Board asked the Secretary, Auroville Foundation to take necessary steps to streamline the housing allotment and regulate the housing according to The Mother's perception...
65th GB meeting. Excerpts. The Board in-principle approved the construction of a boundary wall around the inner circle of the outer ring road...
City Services Contribution waivers cancelled The GB appointed Funds and Assets Management Committee (GB-FAMC) has cancelled all city services contribution waivers approved of by former BCCs or FAMCs for individuals, services and units before March 2023...
New housing policy The FAMC and Housing Service have announced a new housing policy, which has been endorsed by the Governing Board...
New donation channeling process The establishment of the Donation Channeling Group (DCG) was approved by the Governing Board in their 65th meeting held on 12th Dec 2023...
Closures at Visitors Centre The Kiosk Cafe (as well as the Dosa Corner space (Cafeteria upstairs) have been ordered to close by the Visitors Centre executives, in consultation with the Assistant Secretary...
Auroville Safety and Security On 19 January 2024, five of the six Aurovilian members of the Auroville Safety & Security Team (AVSST) received an email from the Budget Coordination Group (BCC) informing them that "BCC & FAMC are unable to support maintenance on your current positions...
Earthbound pottery festival The inaugural edition of the Earthbound Pottery Festival – a convergence of artistic expression and cultural celebration – took place over three days at the Alliance Francaise in mid January...
Pongal celebrations The three-day Pongal festivities began with a colourful celebration at Alankuppam on Monday, January 15, 2024...
Shaktikumbh 2024 The Unity Pavilion and Shaktikumbh 2024 organising team are inviting the community to participate in what they describe as “a unique nine day spiritual and experiential immersion based on the philosophical significance of numbers in an integrated Indian context” between 21—29 February in the Unity Pavilion...
In memoriam:
Pitanga's much loved hatha yoga teacher Tatiana Tolochkova left her body in JIPMER in the first hours of the New Year. She was 54 years old. Tatiana first came to India in 2003, studying Iyengar Yoga in Pune. She continued to come to India each year to deepen her practice and work through the various levels of certification of yoga asanas. During a chance visit Auroville in 2004, accompanying other Russian yoga practitioner friends, she felt the call to come to Auroville. She made the step in 2007, along with her teenaged son, and ever since has been giving yoga classes at Pitanga. Tatiana’s remains were cremated on January 6th at the Auroville cremation grounds. An article about Tatiana and her work was published in the November 2011 issue (# 268) of Auroville Today.
Franca Crocetti from Auromodѐle passed away in PIMS hospital on January 8th. Her son Padmanabhan was at her side. She was 86 years old and had been admitted with a respiratory disorder. Franca visited Auroville for the first time in 1979 and joined for good in 1983. She was a senior school principal in Italy and got actively involved in Auroville’s outreach education and made donations to purchase land for this purpose. Another of her activities was setting up the Seniors Helping Seniors (SHS) group to address the growing concerns and changing needs of the elders in the community. Franca’s body was buried on January 10th at the Auroville burial ground.
