Bioregion

“In this as in all great human aspirations and endeavours, an a priori declaration of impossibility is a sign of ignorance and weakness. For by the doing the difficulty will be solved.”

In February, the Pavilion of Tibetan Culture hosted a double exhibition: Bhavyo’s paintings of the icy peaks of the Himalayan Tosh valley were displayed in its main room, while a number of urban design studies of his twin sister Bhavya were hung around the courtyard.

Auroville Village Action’s Women’s Day inspires inclusion Imagine a scene bursting with vibrant energy, a gathering of over 500 women and 50 children, all united by a common goal.

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.

In 2023, Auroville’s Village Action Group (AVAG) celebrated 40 years. In this issue of Auroville Today we publish excerpts of the December 2023 newsletter of AVAG, highlighting the transformation AVAG has achieved in the life of women from the surrounding villages.

A unique race unfolds in Auroville's bioregion. Forget stopwatches and podiums; these victories are measured in triumphant smiles, forged on dusty tracks and etched in defiance of age and societal norms.

This is a yearly event organised by the Fertile community that aims to bring together local crafts people with the children of the Auroville bioregion and Tamil Nadu.

A recent British Academy report on the U.K. post-pandemic situation concluded that “We are in a COVID decade: the social, economic and cultural effects of the pandemic will cast a long shadow into the future... there are a set of deeper impacts on health and wellbeing, communities and cohesion, and skills, employment and the economy which will have profound effects upon the U.K. for many years to come”.

Recently Disha, which was a service that provides personalised support and guidance to the youth of Auroville and the bioregion, did a survey of Auroville youth and young adults.

“Vaccination lag in rural India points to a looming crisis” runs the May 19 front page article of The Hindu, one of India’s national newspapers.

In April and May 2021, India witnessed a surge in COVID-19 infections, with the country seeing over 3,50,000 fresh cases of COVID-19 daily, one of the highest one-day tallies anywhere in the world and the number of deaths was also increasing every day.

The following is a selection of reminiscences about Kottakarai community in the 1970s by its members. These were first published in the 2020 Fall-Winter issue of AVI-USA Connect magazine.

When Eco Femme founders Kathy and Jessamijn started the initiative ten years ago, they couldn’t imagine that their dreams would find such fertile ground.

A year ago, Auroville Today profiled the launch of the Aura network. Since then it has quickly grown, reflecting some of the core aspirations that drew many of us to Auroville.

The COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown have brought large scale unemployment, poverty and hunger to the rural villages and urban slums of India.

Is Auroville prepared for an uncertain future? In 1968, Auroville was a desertified plateau. Since then, the landscape has been greened by millions of trees and fauna and flora have exploded.

Auroville’s history is very much interwoven with the story of water accessibility. When the Mother launched Auroville on this desertified plateau, it was out of necessity that tree planting, contour bunding and check dams were started, so that life could prosper and sustain the growing needs of the population.

Auroville’s second Endangered Craft Mela took place in February, and it was a lively event. For one week, the Youth Centre was transformed into a hive of activity, with 50 craftspeople sharing their skills and 250 excited children being inducted into the pleasure of making objects with their hands

Ranging in activity from restaurants to consulting, fashion, construction and more, Auroville has over 250 commercial units. Many of them have developed a reputation for excellence that extends beyond the community, often becoming a first introduction to Auroville for those far away.

From August 2-9, the 7th Auroville Children’s Book Fair was held at Ilaignarkal Education Centre in Auroville. This highly anticipated scholastic event showcases no less than 50,000 books in Tamil and English, specially selected for the young student audience.

An important meeting in terms of planning for the larger bioregion took place on 11th September in Pondicherry. Hosted by Citizen’s Action Network, PondyCAN and the Puducherry Planning Authority, with participation of civil society from all the sub-regions, the consultation meeting was also addressed by Lt.

Looking at some of the old issues of Auroville Today, it’s fascinating to see how some of the articles could have been written just last week.

The garbage heaps on the fields and along the roads leading into Auroville are increasing. What’s being done about it?

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.

Sangamam in Tamil means ‘confluence’ or ‘a group of people coming together’ and this was very much the spirit of this year’s gathering on the 4th of March that brought together around 8000 people from Auroville, its beautiful bioregion, and many friends and guests from around the world.

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.

Through an organization called ‘Art Therapy without Borders’ and with other numerous partners in this adventure, Krupa uses art therapy as a remedial experience.

Auroville recently conducted its first women’s health survey. Lesley spoke to the survey’s convener, Paula, about the findings.

Recently, exchange visits took place between Auroville and the neighbouring village of Annainagar. Ain Contractor, a volunteer with Auroville Village Action, describes the event.

Monica Sharma trained as a physician and epidemiologist, then worked for the United Nations for 22 years. She was the Director of several global programmes, including the UNDP programme on HIV/AIDS, as well as being Director of Leadership and Capacity Development at the U.N.

Nammal mudiyam - the “we can” project - is a project of the youth of Edayanchavady. As a step in transforming their village, they organized an alcohol-awareness programme on 28th February in the temple square.

The All for Water for All (AFWFA) festival concluded recently on 22 March at Bharat Nivas, after seven weeks of knowledge sharing and learning.

Auroville recently hosted a two-day festival to celebrate Tamil heritage and culture, a first of this scale and vision. The brainchild of Balu from Mohanam Cultural Centre, and Meenakshi from Auroville’s Tamil Heritage Centre and Ilaignarkal School, the festival brought together artisans, performers, farmers, VIPs and visitors for festivities on Auroville land.

The Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment oversees the interest of the Scheduled Castes, and intervenes in critical sectors through various schemes.

The heavy rains took many areas in South India by surprise. Chennai and Cuddalore were flooded and many small villages in our bioregion were also severely affected, some almost washed away.

At the end of June, the Auroville Village Action Group (AVAG) received a 1 Crore grant from Motherson Sumi Systems Limited through their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme, for a project that aims to increase access to education for poor girls.

Auroville, a melting pot of arts, culture, science and society, has been involved in many educational outreach initiatives since the 1980’s.

Bridget, currently the only Irish Aurovilian, has been involved in many activities. These range from town planning to village work to helping to take care of Pitanga Cultural Centre.

In 1969, the Mother allocated Rs. 5,000 to start a dispensary in a thatched hut in Douceur, mainly to serve the villagers from nearby Kuilapalayam.

Six years ago, Auroville Village Action (AVAG) organized its first Women’s Solidarity Festival. Thousands of women from AVAG’s Women’s Self-Help Groups came together in an event that was described as unique, path-breaking and intensely motivating for all participants.

The Life Education Centre (LEC) has published Journeys / பயணங்கள், a narrative documenting its 24-year journey since 1991 as seen through the eyes of its graduates and current students.

Alan Rusbridger, the retiring editor of The Guardian newspaper, recently wrote an article on climate change. One of the things he noted was that newspapers don’t always cover the most important topics because “they may be occurring too slowly or invisibly for the impatient tick-tock of the newsroom”.

Toby, former director of a public water company supplying water to a province of the Netherlands, is executive ofthe Auroville Water Service.

The bioregion was defined as Pondicherry, Auroville, and the surrounding districts of Villupuram and Cuddalore (PAVC), an area of 2500 sq. kilometres that constitutes a distinct ecological bioregion along the Coromandel Coast.

Tom worked for many years in Auroville Water Service and later set up Harvest, an Auroville data collection and water management organization that did much work in the bioregion.

Auroville’s college scholarship initiative for village students, Reach for the Stars, is now in its fifth year and has supported 56 students to date.

On the weekend of Mother’s birthday, February 21-22, the Puducherry Village Heritage Festival was held in the neighbouring village of Alankuppam.

The Auroville Retreat, which took place on 12th and 13th March, brought together members of the International Advisory Council (IAC), the Governing Board (GB) and around 160 Aurovilians to examine the present state of Auroville and to draft an action plan for the near future.