Early years

Letter from three members of the Auroville International Advisory Council to the Chairman, Auroville Foundation, regarding Annapurna Farm & and the Memorandum of Understanding with the IIT Madras.

John Mandeen passed away just over a year ago. John was a photographer who worked for many years with the Ashram Press, but he also extensively documented life in Auroville from the early 1980s, including important stages in the construction of the Matrimandir.

Auroshastri was born in Pondicherry at Cluny Hospital on July 4, 1975. His father Gerhard asked Nolini for his name and received Auroshastri, meaning “he who has knowledge of the divine law.”

Jivatma was born and raised in Auroville (in the 1980s) and after finding her path abroad, she recently decided to move back with her partner Daniel and young son Kailash.

Aurienne Fator passed away on September 1st in the USA because of a stroke. Aurienne was born in Auroville on Dec 29, 1971 and was given her name by The Mother.

Rolf Lieser arrived in Auroville in 1981 and during his thirty years stay here, among other things, he practised and exhibited his paintings and sculptures, played music in various bands, did graphic design (including working with Kireet Joshi on certain projects), designed and constructed a number of houses, and started Kalabhumi community in the Cultural Zone.

Having arrived in Auroville as a child with her parents in 1968, Marta provides a unique perspective as a member of the first generation of children within our community.

In April word spread that Frederick was seeking personal testimonies of what drew us to and kept us living in Auroville. He wrote, “In Delhi a senior friend and supporter of Auroville asked me: ‘What brought you to India 60 years ago?’

“Once upon a time ..” is how we begin telling stories, and here’s mine. Once upon a time exactly 50 years ago, there was a report about Auroville shown on French television and, quite by accident, I turned on my TV that evening to that channel!

An interview with Joel Koechlin

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.

I am currently 50, I live in Denver Colorado with my husband, Murugan and my 13 year old daughter, Rasam. My son Chidambaram is a junior at Harvard.

Francis was one of the first settlers on the Auroville plateau. Since then, he has been involved in many activities in the community.

How can you encompass something as complex and as multi-layered as Auroville? You can’t, of course. But it may be easier to capture something of this extraordinary adventure through images than through words.

On 14 August our long-term Dutch friend and brother Pieter van der Molen (‘Big Piet’) passed away at the age of 75 in his home in Holland. Pieter, who in the sixties was the top judo trainee of the then world champion judo Anton Geesink, had during a judo demonstration session a profound inner experience which left him in shock and in search for answers.

The compilation “Chronicling Auroville: A selection of articles from Auroville Today 2006 – 2018” has just been published. 189 articles cover 19 different aspects, including history, environment, town planning, economy, the arts, humour, people, outreach and Auroville and the world.

Amrit joined Auroville in 1969. Recently he wrote about his life and spiritual development before and during his residence in Auroville. As a member of the so-called ‘Neutral’ group, his account offers a very different perspective upon Auroville’s troubled history in the late 1970s and 1980s.

In 1968 a young woman landed in Pondicherry, attracted by nothing in particular but her interest in India. She has stayed ever since, except for a two year period from 1970-1972.

In March, 2015, we interviewed three Aurovilians, Gérard Maréchal, Janaka and François Gauthier, who had journeyed to Auroville in the first caravan in 1969, to learn more about the caravan story.

One June 24th, Yolande Lemoine, one of Auroville’s strong supporters in the early days, left her body in Paris. Yolande had been a close friend and aide of Satprem and Sujata, and liaised the important contacts between J.R.D.

Michael Neville, a long-term Ashramite, passed away on 22nd January. Michael, known as ‘Michael Redbeard’, ran the early Auroville transport service and taught in the first Auroville school.

From 4 to 14 February there was a photo exhibition at Citadines “And the adventure begins ...”in homage to Dominique Darr. Dominique was selecting the photos for her exhibition in December when she passed away on the 25th.

Louis Cohen, who first came to Auroville in 1971, is one of the original pioneers. He continues to be very active in the development of the town.

Education has been a significant area of activity for Auroville since its inception, with many initiatives throughout its history seeking to provide for the needs of the community’s youth, while attempting to actualize the foundational aspiration of ‘Integral Education.’

My mother, Jocelyn of Ravena, was an adventurer. After having me in Berlin, she travelled overland through Europe and Asia, baby in hand, until she reached Pondicherry.

Sharanam (Maria Desamparados Aznar Arce) passed away on September 1st in the General Hospital in Pondicherry after suffering a heavy lung infection.

It is easy to remember because it hasn’t really changed in 48 years: the same scanty grove of eucalyptus trees; the same flat expanse of fields now dotted with scrawny cashew trees and small, shadeless neems; the same playing fields of Certitude; the same blast of sun that, along with the traffic, grinds the road into a fine dust coating its wayside shrubs from green to a diseased brown.

While the topic of youth is getting a lot of attention in Auroville recently, the focus on youth empowerment has long been a mission of the Pavilion of Tibetan Culture.

In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the first meeting of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother in 1914, the Sri Aurobindo International Institute of Educational Research (SAIIER) has published its second compilation of remembrances of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother.

In January, Paulette mounted an exhibition of old photos, which she had painstakingly restored, in the Town Hall. Most of the photographers are unknown.