Deepanam School

The annual STEAM Fest organised by Yuvabe Education at Deepanam School in Auroville was held on 6th April 2024. Once again the fest captured the imagination of students and families alike.

One of Auroville’s young children, Tara Nayak, had a lethal fall from the roof of Sunship on November 7th. She was 12 years old. Born in Delhi, Tara came to Auroville in 2019 at the age of 8 with her mother Fakeera, and studied at The Learning Community (TLC) and in later years at Deepanam school.

I came to Auroville as an angry, friendless twelve year old who refused to go barefoot and hated the red soil, the stains it left on my clothes.

Deepanam School now has a new Sensory garden for the children to engage with nature. This initiative of Patrizia and Natascha was brought to life with help from the Auroville Botanical Gardens.

In 2022, Vishwa Chudgar, her husband and daughter spent a month in Auroville, before moving back to the USA. A little over a year later, the family is now calling Auroville home and Vishwa has started the newcomer process.

On February 11th, Eva passed away in her apartment in Citadines after a brain haemorrhage. She had just celebrated her 77th birthday on February 8th with her fraternal family in Citadines community, full of joy and deeply happy.

Sriman Kota and Anupama Jagadeesh both arrived in Auroville four years ago and happened to meet some time later at STEM Land while exploring how they could best contribute their energies and skills to Auroville.

On February 18, 2022 Amit Bawa passed away due to cardiac arrest at the age 48. Hailing from Srinagar, Aamit came first to Auroville in 2008 and became Aurovilian in 2011.

Tatiana Sineeva joined Auroville in 2014. Here she talks about her background, her work teaching Hatha Yoga, her discovery of Auroville, her educational experience at Deepanam school and her work as a member of Auroville’s Residents’ Assembly Service.

As the Auroville community concludes its 50th anniversary year, the Auroville Earth Institute is looking ahead towards its own 30th anniversary milestone in August.

Just as much it fills my heart with joy to see a sapling poke its head out of the ground and slowly grow and unfurl its leaves to the light, so also it gives me immense joy to see a new educational initiative take root and steadily grow each year.

Aikya has lived in Auroville for the past twenty two years. Here she describes how her quest to understand the meaning of life led her to a deeper understanding of the natural world.

On October 30th, Anand Agrawal left his body due to kidney failure. He was 43 years old. Anand, who grew up as student in the Ashram, came 15 years ago to Auroville and had been working as sports teacher in Dehashakti and Deepanam.

“All of the issues are interconnected,” says Krishna on a sultry summer afternoon, when asked about Solitude Farm’s Circle Garden Project. “The issue of water, the issue of land use, the question of why there is a stockpile of Auroville-grown rice sitting at Annapurna Farm, the question of our relationship to food and where it comes from.

Art Break Day is a community art event which occurs in locations around the world on the first Friday in September, including 29 sites this year in Mexico, the Netherlands and the US.