Forecomers community

Land exchange is very much in the news at present, with Auroville land being exchanged for privately-owned land in AuroOrchard and mooted as a possibility in places like Forecomers and Pebble Garden.

On May 2nd, Deborah Lawlor left her body in Los Angeles, California at the age of 84. Deborah and her husband Robert started Forecomers community in 1968, where, on the barren fields and baked, eroded red laterite earth, they had built two huts, one for living quarters and one for a dance and painting studio.

Robert (Bob) Lawlor passed away peacefully on 29 November in the hospital on King Island, Tasmania at the age of 84. After studying Art at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, N.Y., Bob discovered the Sri Aurobindo Ashram during his world travel in the 60s.

Covering about 25 acres in the northeast part of the Greenbelt, Aurogreen is one of Auroville’s oldest farms and was the first to go organic.

On February 4, Dany Foureau unexpectedly passed away due to sudden cardiac arrest in her room in the Mukti Complex near the AV Health Centre.

Former Auroville resident Joan Tomb left her body on June 23rd at the age of 85 in her apartment in Tucson, Arizona, USA, with three of her four children by her side.

On January 7th, Ingo H.W. Torp left his body at the age of 77 in Santé, after staying two days in the ICU in the Pondicherry Institute of medical Sciences.

From the pioneer days of Auroville's children traveling to school on horseback, Aurovilians have had a long affinity with ponies and horses.

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

Survey markings in the Greenbelt installed by a consultant working for the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) revealed that plans were afoot to build a four-lane National Highway through the Auroville Green Belt for a length of 3.5 kilometers, crossing the Forecomers, Pitchandikulam and Aurogreen areas.

Markings left by a consultant working for the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) revealed that plans are afoot to design a 4-lane National Highway from Ayyur near Vilianur to the north of Kalapet before the toll gate.

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.

Bob and Deborah Lawlor established Forecomers, the first community in Auroville, in 1968. They left in 1972, to work on the translation of a book on ancient Egypt, “The Temple of Man”.

I’ve been in Auroville since my marriage 26 years ago. I grew up in Chinnakottakuppam village on the backside of Forecomers, towards Pondicherry.

On the afternoon of Tuesday, February 16th, Mani (P. Munian) who lived in the Pump House near Bharat Nivas left his body at Trichy Hospital due to kidney failure.