Russia

Vladimir, who was living in Grace and working at the Matrimandir, passed away on 30 August at the age of 69. Vladimir was born in St Petersburg, Russia and joined Auroville in 1995.

Halyna (Galyna) Kubarchuk, living at Prayatna, passed away at home on 7 June. Her body was cremated on 11 June at the Auroville Cremation Ground.

Boris, Auroville’s entomologist and nature lover, passed away on 22 April at Marika Home, where he stayed for the past few years. He was 87.

Victor Plotnikov was born in 1954 and grew up in Moscow, Russia. Since 1993 he had been living in Certitude, with his wife Galina. His son Nikita was born in 1998 in Auroville and all three lived as a family till his last day.

Pitanga's much loved hatha yoga teacher Tatiana Tolochkova left her body in JIPMER in the first hours of the New Year. She was 54 years old.

Few are those from whom the Grace withdraws, but many are those who withdraw from the Grace. Sri Aurobindo

Tatiana Sineeva joined Auroville in 2014. Here she talks about her background, her work teaching Hatha Yoga, her discovery of Auroville, her educational experience at Deepanam school and her work as a member of Auroville’s Residents’ Assembly Service.

Last month the dried plant collection of the Auroville Herbarium moved to a new dedicated building in the Botanical Gardens. Funded by SAIIER, inaugurated this March, slowed down a bit by corona, its establishment marks a new phase in the work of preserving and classifying our indigenous flora.

On October 8th, Andrey Grigorachtchenko from Russia passed away in Djaima at the age of 58. Called by Auroville’s ideals, Andrey first came to Auroville in 1985 where he was welcomed as the first Russian and lived for a short while in Ekta, Auromodèle.

Auroville’s Hall of Peace, the home of the Peace Table for Asia, was inaugurated on February 11th, 2014.