Collaboration

To: Shri R.N. Ravi, Chairman, Governing Board, Auroville Foundation. Subject: The MoU with IIT Madras & Land Use Concerns Dear Shri R.N. Ravi ji,

A year ago, architect David Nightingale talked about how Spiral Dynamics could provide one way of understanding the present situation in Auroville.

Aurodeva is an artist and art therapist born and raised in Auroville whose work displays a rich blend of creativity, introspection, and connection to his roots.

Recently longtime Aurovilian Divakar circulated a paper entitled ‘Auroville and its destinies’ in which he suggested a possible way forward which seeks to integrate the present reality as a way of continuing our collective progress.

Some time ago, Suryamayi Clarence-Smith wrote a doctoral thesis entitled Towards a Spiritualised Society: Auroville, An Experiment in Prefigurative Utopianism.

Christian Feuillette has been Chairman of the Board of Auroville International (AVI) for the past four years, some of which were possibly the most challenging in AVI’s, as well as Auroville’s, history.

On 27th February, in a ceremony in Delhi, The Auroville Foundation and Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) entered into a Memorandum of Understanding to foster cross-cultural understanding and promote artistic exchanges and to advance the teachings and vision of Sri Aurobindo.

The aroma of freshly baked cakes and the joyous chatter of women learning new skills recently filled the air at AVAG. Over three days, 70 local women from nearby villages participated in an intensive training programme in making millet-based cakes and cookies, organized by Gelato Factory in collaboration with AVAG, the Auroville unit Gastronomica, and COWE (Centre of Women Entrepreneurship).

Centre d’Art, Monday, three o’clock in the afternoon. About fifteen people are working on the photograph of the Auroville banyan tree which is spread out over seven metres in front of the large picture window.

Through this process, people who had known the Banyan for 30 years or more experienced it in a new way. As an artist, it’s interesting for me to see this happening in Auroville with people who have such an intimate relationship with the tree.

For me, it was an absolute delight to listen to Kireet Bhai on the governance of Auroville. He, so beautifully, explains it in the larger light of Sri Aurobindo’s vision.

Recently, the Dreamweaving the Crown exercise finished. Approximately 70 people – Dreamweaving architects, their peers, multidisciplinary experts, focus groups and randomly selected members of the Residents Assembly – took part at various stages of the exercise, which began with a Crown walk at the end of December and concluded with an exhibition and presentation to the larger community in early April process [see AV Today no.391 for full details of the programme].

When things get hot, it’s easy to get caught up in the frame of the moment and lose of sense of the larger picture.

In 1959, the physicist and novelist C.P. Snow gave a famous lecture in Cambridge in which he distinguished two cultures: the scientific and the intellectual literary cultures.

At the beginning of April, Koodam, the conflict resolution platform that offers personal and group conflict transformation services in Auroville, extended their support to anybody needing help in coping with the challenges presented by the lockdown and quarantine regulations.

A new team – Axum, Elene, and Malcolm – has recently stepped forward to manage the African Pavilion, one of the more prominent pavilions in Auroville’s International Zone, due both to its high-visibility location next to the Visitors’ Centre and its regular cultural events.

Across more than one issue, Auroville Today aims to highlight our employees and their valuable contributions to Auroville’s daily functioning.

We are Julian, Jonas and Anadi, three Auroville youths that run Tree Care, an arboriculture business. In case you are wondering what arboriculture is, let us tell you: arboriculture is the synthesis of tree science (biology), physics, chemistry, physical coordination, strength, heavy machinery, and of course some yoga to stay calm and focused throughout technical and dangerous procedures, or as Google would define it: the cultivation of trees and shrubs.

Aloka and Joan talk about their approach to awareness in the body and how they have initiated a much appreciated programme to develop this in children and adults.

The Dawn of Auroville, which is published by the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, is a book of early photographs along with an outline history of Auroville’s conception, inauguration and growth during the Mother’s lifetime.

An innovative process to design a new garden close to the Matrimandir is underway. What is it trying to achieve? What does it involve?

Cristo has worked for many years on developing collaborations with the local villages. Why does he do it? What are the challenges and the satisfactions?

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.

The highlight of this year's 50th anniversary bonfire was undoubtedly the moving water ceremony. Srimoyi, a member of the Matrimandir Events Team, describes on behalf of the team how it came about.

The Meditation and Water Ceremony

The work of the Auroville’s Residents’ Assembly Service (RAS)

Auroville displays an increasing amount of art in public spaces. Two of the recent murals are telephone-themed and are located on telephone boxes on the Auroville main road near Kindergarten and the Eukies field.

Taxi-sharing reduces carbon emissions

From 4th December - 7th January, an Ecovillage Design Education (EDE) course was held in Auroville for the first time. The Aurovilian organizers invited participants not only from Auroville but also from the bioregion, India and the world.

In the late 1970s a young American, Peter Callaway, had a vision. He saw a globe of the world with three points of light radiating from it. He had no idea what it meant.

By a vote of 214 ‘yes’ against 23 ‘no’, the Residents Assembly approved that affected individuals can appeal against decisions of some working groups

One offering I had always wanted to make to Auroville was the Ganga Yatra experience. Why? Firstly, I have always had a fascination with the Himalayas and the Ganges.

A volunteer at Village Action (AVAG) shares her experience of this year’s Women’s Solidarity Festival

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

Roger Toll left Auroville in 1979 after eight years of living at Matrimandir and Certitude. Today he is a magazine editor and writer living in the United States.

In mid-December, youth teams from the USA, the USSR and India will arrive in Auroville to participate in a unique experiment – “TEAMWORK ’88”.