Last School

It all started in September 1998. Jean-François and I were at home when a group of teenagers, familiar faces from the Auroville schools, walked in with a quiet determination.

Born in Paris, Nathalie grew up surrounded by the evocative scents of her grandfather’s painting studio. At the age of seven, her life took a profound turn when her family moved to India, eventually settling in Auroville.

Sagarika was born and raised in Auroville. In 2019 she went abroad to continue her education and broaden her experience. Recently she returned to Auroville.

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.

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.

“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!

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.

Robert L’Heureux’s last glass works exhibition from January 7 marks the swansong of his career as a glass worker. Eleven large pieces, some well over a yard in diameter, were shown in Centre d’Art for two weeks.

Selvi, a teacher at Last School, grew up in Auroville. Her studies in political science took her to Chennai, but it's her frisbee prowess as part of India's national Ultimate Frisbee team, that became her ticket to travel the world.

Even before India entered one of the strictest lockdowns in the world, among the first measures it took to stop the spread of COVID-19 was to shut down schools across the nation.

Sagarika Bhati was born and raised in Auroville. She is among the few students who chose to follow the Free Progress system of education offered in some schools in Auroville.

Gildo Maria Pivetta left his body on April 5th, in Belgium, surrounded by his wife and children. Gildo (most people know him as Guido) had been quite unwell lately and left Auroville in March 2019 for Belgium where it was found that a terminal cancer had rapidly spread throughout the body.

One offering I had always wanted to make to Auroville was the Ganga Yatra experience. Why? Firstly, I have always had a fascination with the Himalayas and the Ganges.

Aurevan, Suryamayi and Kavitha are part of an enthusiastic team working on developing apprenticeship and internship programmes for Auroville youth.

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.

The name of Dominique Darr is indissolubly connected to the early days of Auroville. Who in Auroville doesn’t know her photo of a lone granite stone with the letters AV painted on it, marking Auroville land?

My name is Manjula, I was adopted at a young age by Sanjeev and Miriam, who have lived in Auroville for a long time. The Auroville experiment on human unity in diversity started right at home.

Last School, that hotbed of a bright new wave of young Aurovilians destined, come the year 2001, to take our citadel by storm, was the site, in this pleasant month of December, of two events worth noting: India Week, and the third annual Last School Fair.

At Last School, on 24th December, there will be a fair (in which artists, craftsmen etc. are invited to participate) and a musical drama called “Sleeping Dogs Don’t Lie”.