Issue Nº415 – 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.