Kottakarai

J. Jayaraman, Jairam for those who knew him, joined Auroville at a very young age in 1970. He was born in Alankuppam (1959) and his childhood in the village had been a difficult one.

Palani is the executive and product manager of Aureka, Auroville’s engineering company. Here he talks about his upbringing, his work, and his plans for the future.

Long-term Aurovilians Gillian, Roy, Angad and Adil met in Adil’s house in late September. Angad and Adil are working potters, Roy a former potter and Gillian, Roy’s partner, ran a crafts workshop and has been active in promoting village clean up and cycle path initiatives.

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.

On July 3rd 2022, Daniel Brewer, one of Auroville’s early pioneers and co-founder of the Kottakarai community, passed away at the age of 84 in his home in Sayulita, Mexico.

The International Zone Coordination Team shared the International Zone’s latest developments and future plans in an open community meeting in January.

Andhayee ‘Ammal’ was born in Edayanchavady. In a love marriage, she married a man from a higher caste, a temple builder from Naidu caste, but this was not acceptable to either family and they were sent out of the village.

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.

Murugan Adhimoolam left his body on August 11th at the age of 43. Hailing from Kottakarai, Murugan joined Auroville in 2007 and has been working with Michel in Dana’s Flame Pottery.

On June 14 Sakthivel passed away at AUM Hospital. He was just 41 years old. Hailing from Kottakarai, Sakthivel came to work in Auroville in 1996 and officially joined in 2003.

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?

On January 19th Chris Gray left his body in his Yantra after suffering a stroke. He was 75 years old. Chris first arrived in Auroville in the early seventies, travelling overland in his blue Mercedes van.

On the evening of February 3rd, Aurovilian V. Gnanavel of the Matrimandir Nursery left his body due to a stroke caused by high blood pressure.

Under this programme, over the past eight years 122 young German volunteers have come to work in Auroville, generally for a period of one year.

On October 3rd, S. Vinod Kumar left his body in Nallam Clinic in Pondicherry, due to high blood sugar and pneumonia fever. He was 55 years old.

The doors are four meters high, each smoothly rotating on two ball bearings. The scene is the new Centre for Indian Culture at Bharat Nivas, the construction of which is in the finishing phases.

Records of Auroville’s history during Mother’s lifetime are found in periodicals (Mother India, the Bulletin of Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education, the Information Letter of the Sri Aurobindo Society and the Gazette Aurovilienne), in books published by disciples (Satprem, Shyam Sunder, Huta, Savitra), in archives (Sri Aurobindo Society, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Auroville), in personal archives as well as in published and unpublished interviews of disciples (Roger Anger and others).

Danapalan, father of Aurovilians Kanniappan, Nagappan and Arumugam passed away on July 27th. He was in his eighties. Danapalan gave his land to Auroville and has been working for Auroville from the early days, starting with the Matrimandir Nursery where he was driving the first bullock cart of Auroville bringing compost from Pondicherry.