Kuilapalayam

According to a report in the Times of India, on 22 October residents of Kuilapalayam and Edayanchavadi villages objected to the Foundation’s decision to cut large trees along the highway connecting the two villages.

In 1989, more than three decades ago, a retired British police sergeant and school welfare officer visited Auroville. Having recently lost his wife, Roy Wicks was in search of new meaning and purpose.

A year ago, architect David Nightingale talked about how Spiral Dynamics could provide one way of understanding the present situation in Auroville.

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.

In early December, six graduate students and their professor from the School of Urban and Regional Planning at Queen’s University, Canada, visited Auroville to explore the social impact of Auroville on the nearby village of Kuilaypalayam.

Karuna Periyaswamy, who was born in Kuilaypalayam, was only 14 years old when he joined Auroville. As a child, he had once met The Mother at the Ashram, as part of a school visit, and offered flowers to her.

There are important questions to be asked regarding the population of Auroville. Firstly, who decided that the intended population of the township would be 50,000, and is this figure immutable, fixed, or can it be adjusted?

Jothi was born in 1964 in Kuilapalayam. He joined Auroville by himself at a young age and has contributed in numerous ways, through service, education and sports, while battling long-term health challenges.

Krishna was born in 1969 in Kuilaypalayam village. He soon came to live in New Creation Boarding. Being an enthusiastic and active young chap open to learning many things, he rapidly got involved in community life.

In February, the Pavilion of Tibetan Culture hosted a double exhibition: Bhavyo’s paintings of the icy peaks of the Himalayan Tosh valley were displayed in its main room, while a number of urban design studies of his twin sister Bhavya were hung around the courtyard.

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.

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?’

Anjalai is an Aurovilian who has worked in Auroville for the last 50 years. She grew up in Kuilaypalayam and has been living in Auroville since about 2000.

Patha (Padmanaban Erichappan) of Fraternity passed away at JIPMER in the morning of May 30th where he had been taken due to liver failure. He would have been 55 this year.

La Terrace coffee shop above the Solar Kitchen is a special place. Not only because of the quality of the food but also, perhaps especially, because of the warm welcome and excellent service offered by Sudhakar and Ramu.

Bryan Walton, one of Auroville’s early pioneers, left his body on March 8 in Wisconsin, USA at the age of 80. Bryan left the USA in the mid-sixties for India in search for a better life, and eventually came to the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in June 1971.

On January 24th, E. Krishnamoorthy of Sangaman passed away in the General Hospital in Pondicherry, where he had been lying in coma after a road accident on January 12th.

J. Chellathai from Dharapuram left her body on November 3rd in Pondicherry’s General Hospital at the age of 73. Having suffered a stroke last year and being diabetic, she died from a gangrene infection.

On 18th March 2020 Deepam closed. Deepam is the day care centre in Kuilapalayam for children with special needs where I work as an occupational therapist (OT).

Jayram of Arka he left his body on March 17 due to heart attack. He was 38 years old. On investigation it was discovered that he must have suffered various silent attacks before.

It was a profound shock for the community when it was announced that four bodies of one family – Sundar (Sundharamurthy Murugesan, 40 years old)), his wife Mahesh (Maheshwari (35)) and their two daughters Kirthiga (17) and Samichsha (13) – had been discovered in their house in Auromodele on 17th November.

When your telephone line has been struck by lightning and your modem has gone up in smoke, you begin to appreciate the meaning of ‘service’.

I am now 28, born and brought up as a third generation in Auroville. My grandparents are of Indian (Kuilaypalayam) and European (Dutch/German) background... my grandparents having worked for Auroville at its very start.

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.

The garbage heaps on the fields and along the roads leading into Auroville are increasing. What’s being done about it?

An Auroville school uses various educational methods to engage children from the local area.

On Friday February 17th, Deepam, Auroville’s therapy centre for children with special needs, celebrated 25 years.

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.

In 1969, the Mother allocated Rs. 5,000 to start a dispensary in a thatched hut in Douceur, mainly to serve the villagers from nearby Kuilapalayam.

Auroville is not short of doctors and therapists. They work not only with the body but some work also with subtler levels of the being. A number of therapists work independently from home, others practise in one or more of the five major health and healing centres.

Auroville Today met with four local farmers who irrigate their land in the area of Kuilapalayam. Arivasu’s main crop is cashew, but he irrigates coconut trees.

Many famous civilisations were born around water sources, such as the Indus Valley or the Nile, and Kuilapalayam village is no different, according to local school principal and history enthusiast, Shankar.

Auroville was unaffected by the violence that erupted on January 14th in the neighboring village of Bommaiyarpalayam following the brutal daylight murder of the husband of its panchayat president.

Last year was the 40th anniversary of the arrival of the second ‘caravan’ in Auroville. That caravan, like the first caravan a few years earlier, was made up of a motley collection of individuals who travelled overland from France to offer their energy and idealism to Mother’s Dream.

Kuilapalayam and Edayanachavady, two of Auroville’s neighbouring villages, are in the process of being cleaned up. Over the years, many local schools have created strong eco-clubs which are building environmental awareness by doing environmental programs.

On Sunday 23rd November, Poongavanam, the mother of Shivagami, Rajaveni, Mani and Shiva, left her body at her house in Kuilaypalayam at the age of 75.

Little is known about those early days before Auroville’s inauguration, when land purchase and the first Auroville developments were started by the Sri Aurobindo Society.