Outreach

Savithiri was born and raised in the neighbouring village of Edaiyanchavadi. Growing up, her life entwined her two passions: the Indian classical dance form Bharat Natyam; and the Auroville village outreach project Thamarai.

From August 2-9, the 7th Auroville Children’s Book Fair was held at Ilaignarkal Education Centre in Auroville. This highly anticipated scholastic event showcases no less than 50,000 books in Tamil and English, specially selected for the young student audience.

I recently returned from several months at my university in the UK dedicated to writing up my doctoral research on Auroville, and a series of related presentations in various academic conferences throughout Europe and the United States.

The Journey of Auroville is a project under the special grants from the Government of India for Auroville’s 50th anniversary. Officially started with the Auroville Expo in Delhi, which took place in November 2017 and comprised an exhibition and two conferences at the Indira Gandhi Centre for the Arts and the UNESCO Office, this 50th anniversary commemorative project has evolved into a festival format to reflect the many facets of Auroville’s vision and realities over the past fifty years.

In December, a group of post-graduate planning students from Queen’s University, Canada, visited Auroville under the auspices of the Auroville Integral Sustainability Institute.

A new website showcasing “What Auroville does for the world” – what progressive regenerative practices and culture are developed, demonstrated and taught in Auroville – has been created.

As a prelude to next year’s Golden Jubilee, a series of events took place in the nation’s capital in November to create awareness of what Auroville is, has achieved and aims to become.

Through an organization called ‘Art Therapy without Borders’ and with other numerous partners in this adventure, Krupa uses art therapy as a remedial experience.

Recently, exchange visits took place between Auroville and the neighbouring village of Annainagar. Ain Contractor, a volunteer with Auroville Village Action, describes the event.

The All for Water for All (AFWFA) festival concluded recently on 22 March at Bharat Nivas, after seven weeks of knowledge sharing and learning.

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.

The work of Sadhana Forest is well known. Yearly, more than 1,000 volunteers come for shorter or longer periods to learn about water conservation, rainwater harvesting, earth dam building, afforestation, alternative energies and many more ‘green’ practices.

Tamil Nadu today is ranked among India’s most ‘developed’ states. Increasingly urbanised, it has a growing service sector in the cities, and is a proud leader in healthcare and information technology.

Some months ago a new introductory film on Auroville, Auroville: The City the Earth Needs, was presented to the Aurovilians. The film, which begins with The Dream and ends with the Auroville Charter, gives a brief overview of the main projects and activities, including Auroville’s outreach activities in the nearby villages.

Temperate July evenings are usually the perfect setting for outdoor functions in and around Auroville. But when the skies open and wash out a performance and its audience of 125 people, it says much about an organisation’s professionalism that it can bundle the audience, projector and sound system into the nearby building, and have the show up and running again in a mere five minutes.