Personal history

Bob Zwicker has worked in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Archives for 52 years, with particular responsibility for the Mother’s works. Recently, three new books have been published containing new material not published in the Centenary edition of The Mother’s Collected Works.

How an Israeli top lawyer joins Auroville to become a sound healer.

Tucked away in a small room at the back of Auroville’s Vanaville unit is Michel’s bookbinding sanctuary — a quiet space where hundreds of worn books have been given a new lease on life.

Boris Verjoutski, who passed away in April of this year, regularly contributed his observations of the natural world and human behaviour to Auroville’s weekly “News & Notes” community newsletter.

Auroville Today: What was your childhood like, how did your own musical journey begin? Shalini: My journey with music began very young. Singing was always central to my life, but never through formal education.

Friederike Mühlhans has a long experience of working for Auroville International (AVI). Since 1997 she has been a board member of AVI Germany and since 2003 she has been Secretary of the AVI Board, with a four-year break when she served as Chairperson.

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.

Born in Istanbul, Cansu has always been driven by a desire to explore diverse cultures through travel and the study of philosophical and mystical texts, shaped by her upbringing in the Sufi tradition.

Francesco, once a professional snowboarder (or “rider” in snowboarding lingo) from a mountain village in Italy, shifted paths after a family crisis and a snowboarding accident.

Jivatma was born and raised in Auroville (in the 1980s) and after finding her path abroad, she recently decided to move back with her partner Daniel and young son Kailash.

I first visited Auroville in 2000 as a student in the Living Routes programme. After I came home, Auroville lived inside me. I dreamed about it and imagined myself there, but I didn’t go back for 13 years.

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.

Seza is Auroville’s first Newcomer from Türkiye (Turkey). She moved here 1.5 years ago after her first visit eight years earlier. She describes her journey from Istanbul to Auroville as a quest for meaning, self-discovery, and transformation.

Sang first arrived at the Matrimandir Camp in 1996. Adopted from South Korea and raised in Denmark, she is a skilled and seasoned massage therapist whose global travels led her to Auroville, where she discovered a profound connection with its people and where she continues to explore diverse avenues of learning.

Auma is a second-generation Aurovilian, born to Indian and French pioneers, Marie Babu and André Tardeil. While she raises her third generation child, she shares insights with us about what makes Auroville unique to her.

Jacqueline Lacoste, Roger Anger’s long term companion and collaborator, came to Auroville in 1970. In a sunlit moment at the Centre d’Art exhibition Roger Anger, l’artiste, she shares insights into Roger's identity, where the lines separating artist and architect dissolve, and reflects on the transformative influence of his spiritual encounter with The Mother.

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.

Judith joined Auroville in 1971. Here she talks about her journey.

Many people have met The Mother. Some were blessed by Her responding to their questions in writing. One of those is Frederick Schulze Buxloh, who first came to India in 1960 when he was 20 years old and then met The Mother for the first time.

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?’

“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!

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.

H.P. Rama is a successful hotelier based in the U.S. He is also a devotee of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, and has founded a university – AURO University – in Surat based upon the former’s educational principles.

Antonello comes from Northern Italy and moved to Auroville in 2014, where he now lives with his partner and children. He runs ‘Gastronomica’, an Italian take away gourmet store - sometimes affectionately referred to as the Italian Pavilion - that has gained popularity within and outside of Auroville, thanks to its handmade pasta, Italian takeaway dishes, and imported Italian culinary products.

After completing his higher studies at Delhi University, Dr. Jai Singh joined Auroville in 1992. His wife and children joined a year later. Jai has been a member of the Auroville Council, and has also worked at SEWA, Village Action and New Creation School.

The following is the first in what may become a series of articles featuring Aurovilians who hold the city deeply in their hearts, even though they may disagree about the details of its manifestation

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.

An interview with Joel Koechlin

Since joining Auroville in 2016, Anandi Zhang has taken up various work in the community. But she feels the most important work is that which she is dong upon herself.

That’s me - the baby sitting on the edge of the windowsill – one of the first children to live in Auroville. I was born in Kampala, Uganda, and I came to Pondicherry with Shyama, my mother, and my two brothers in 1965 when I was one and a half years-old.

Auroville-raised Lili spent eight years studying art history, theatre and fine arts abroad, and is now perhaps the busiest youth in Auroville.

How does Auroville deal with ageing? Are there community retirement plans? Are Auroville units planning for succession? Auroville Today talked to two unit executives – one who is (slightly) stepping back, the other who is stepping forward – and lifts the veil on a Silver Fund which is being planned for the older members of the community.

Home birth is rather common and very accessible here in Auroville, and I was one of those lucky children to evacuate my warm private cocoon straight into what would be my home for my first 19 years.

Many view the disruption caused by the lockdown in Auroville as an opportunity to radically transform our economy, governance, food provision systems etc. and a number of proposals to achieve this have already been made.

At my father’s funeral, my mother disclosed to me that I was their love child. What this means is that there was a moment in time when two people united and created a chemistry, such as that of the cauldron that Obelix fell into.

Many residents have come to know Sathish Arumugam through his work with the Residents Assembly Service (RAS) and his recent chairing of General Meetings.

Recently, the Youth Center has been holding ‘conscious learning nights’. In mid December, they invited Aurovik (Vikram Mani) to share his experience of living in Auroville for the past 15 years.

Jagadeshwari hails from Annai Nagar, a small village on the northern side of Auroville, where she works as an administrator and facilitator in Thamarai after-school (an Auroville outreach project).

It’s generally Auroville’s attractive products or tangible outputs that have gained the most attention for the community’s units and services over the years.

I have been in Auroville for 20 years since the age of 10. I worked as a teacher in Future School, a writer for the Auroville Today and Auroville Village Action Group, and served a term in the Working Committee.

I was born in Auroville in 1994, where I grew up as a child. I left for France when I was nine years old, came back for one year in 2009, and returned to France to finish my studies.

I am currently 50, I live in Denver Colorado with my husband, Murugan and my 13 year old daughter, Rasam. My son Chidambaram is a junior at Harvard.

I grew up in Sanjeevinagar village next to Auroville. My father worked as a builder in Auroville. My first impression of Auroville was from my father.

Auroville and local youth are being trained in the Y-PEER methodology by the Auroville Peer Education Network (APEN) that enables them to help their peers deal with the challenges of life here.

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

In November this year, Aurovilian Dr. Mira Aster Patel, in recognition of “her invaluable contribution in developing Auroville”, was awarded the Auro Ratna award from the Overman Foundation in a ceremony in the Hall of Harmony of the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram.