Community

It all started in September 1998. Jean-François and I were at home when a group of teenagers, familiar faces from the Auroville schools, walked in with a quiet determination.

It Matters is a space for artists and the community to connect, collaborate, and create. Rooted in Auroville’s spirit of exchange, it fosters dialogue and new ideas beyond the local art scene.

On Saturday, 1 March, the community was invited to come to Cinema Paradiso to hear community members telling short stories; transformative memories of the past or hopeful dreams about the future of Auroville.

A reader comments on the article “Time for integration?” in which Alan interviews Divakar about his recently circulated paper entitled Auroville and its destinies.

It’s not easy to describe the emotion felt when stepping into a clearing in the forest, a magical place, perfect for hosting the portraits of 111 Aurovilians who have passed away in recent years.

The Auroville Youth Center has sent out a mass bulletin to all residents stating that the Youth Center is a place of learning, exploration and personal growth for youth of all kinds and ages and that it has recently started to work closely with the community, creating various workshops such as welding, woodwork, kombucha making, mushroom cultivation; with more to come.

Sagarika was born and raised in Auroville. In 2019 she went abroad to continue her education and broaden her experience. Recently she returned to Auroville.

Sathiya, a second-generation Aurovilian, speaks about her upbringing and her unwavering commitment to Auroville's ethos despite external pressures.

In the beginning of May, the Auroville farmers published a report in the community edition of the Auroville News and Notes questioning the results of the imposition of the fruit harvest auction by the Auroville Foundation Office (AVFO).

In August last year, Omar, Mona and David made a presentation to the community about the next steps they envisaged after the Dreamweaving on the Crown experiment [see AV Today no.

One thing is evident at present: there is a complete breakdown in communication between those who favour the present developments and those who, for various reasons and to varying degrees, oppose it.

Amid the chaos of the crashing of Auroville’s facades, one can sense now, silently being born, but already immensely powerful, the re-emergence of Auroville’s orientation towards its true goal: a fundamental change of consciousness, the growth of a real, deep, unifying link between its residents, and another way of being.

It is no secret that there are divisions within the community at present.

Gwjwn Daimari first heard about Auroville while he was working on his B.Sc. in Physics at Pondicherry University. He returned to his native Assam after completing his degree but came back in 2022 to explore Auroville.

Arun Kumar (age 24) and V. Vignesh (age 22) are both Kottakarai village youth who grew up in and around Auroville. Here they share some of their experiences and perceptions of Auroville the community, the project and the Dream.

In amongst Auroville’s current governance schism, there are a few initiatives taking place to find a way through to an opening to something higher to unite us all.

The Chairman of the Governing Board and Hon’ble Governor of Tamil Nadu, Shri R.N Ravi, accompanied by three members of the Governing Board, Smt.

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].

In our big Auroville family, just like everywhere else, loneliness affects all generations and backgrounds, from the misunderstood teenager to the senior in a retirement home, including single parents and people suffering from disorders.

Since the shocking events of early December, a few people have been working to transform and facilitate the trauma and emotions that were triggered.

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).

Elvira grew up between two worlds: the pristine lakes and snowy alps of Germany, and the red soil and Palmyra trees of Auroville. As a teenager, she became interested in leadership and the transformation of conflict into positive change.

May 2021: empty streets, sweltering heat, very few masked people on the road… Sounds like a scene from a post-apocalyptic movie, right? Drone’s eye view of the roundabout, the glint of a huge inverted disco ball in the sun.

The term ‘community’ is used in a very loose way in Auroville. Sometimes it refers to the settlement where people live, sometimes to national sub-groups, sometimes to the residents as a whole, and sometimes to an idealistic or occult aspect of Auroville.

Joy of Impermanence (JOI) is an umbrella project that aims to create new communities in Auroville based on impermanence and sustainability.

It is sometimes difficult to place the 1980s in Auroville. The 1970s was a period of pioneering and high drama – including, as it does, Mother’s passing and the conflict with the Society – while the 1990s witnessed a Cambrian explosion of projects.

Many residents have come to know Sathish Arumugam through his work with the Residents Assembly Service (RAS) and his recent chairing of General Meetings.

In the first issue of Auroville Today, way back in 1988, we said we would make it our mission to provide an overview of what is happening in the community in each issue.

Money, in any of its forms, stipulates a hierarchy of values, which creates separations between people as well as between humanity and the environment.

Imagine being a young person, discovering, participating, and actively dedicated to the development of Auroville. Imagine living in a group of twelve, all volunteering in the community: people from different parts of the world, with different cultural backgrounds, but with a common intention to experience and contribute to Auroville.

I finished my undergrad studies in architecture in 2017 from Bangalore. I come from Ayodhya, in Uttar Pradesh. During my stay in Auroville, I lived in several places including ‘La Maison des Jeunes’ which influenced me to make 0 comic strip relating to the community.

I am 24 years old and i am from Tamil Nadu. I came to Auroville 2.5 years ago, I consider myself a barefoot architect working on integral rural development through community empowerment and participatory leadership.

Special events are celebrated in all parts of the world. Have you ever been in a big city, like Paris or London, when they are celebrating something like Christmas or the New Year?

Recent disagreements in the community about the status and form of the Galaxy plan made me wonder about our belief systems in general. What do we believe in, and why?

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.

Now the Town Hall has a circle garden. It was started by Krishna from Solitude Farm around six months ago. “Despite Auroville being home to many inspiring and different experiments, the community still by and large does not realize that the essence of our existence lies in our relation to food,” he says.

The Auroville Urban Farming project was started by Riccardo, a long term volunteer studying Food Security in Auroville, with the aid of Luigi in late 2014.

The Residents’ Assembly Service (RAS) facilitates the decision-making process of the Residents’ Assembly (RA). The current team is the third since it was set up.

As part of its efforts to highlight alternative and sustainable solutions for an urban future, Auroville Green Practices has launched the colourful publication My Pumpkin Roof.