Villages

Between 5-24 September, Centre d’Art hosted an exhibition by the local artist, P Saravanam, titled “Together”. In a world which seems to be getting speedier and more complicated day by day, Saravanam’s art returns us to the simple joys of everyday life and encounters in the villages of India.

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?

On April 3rd, 2024, Shri M. Chakrapani, a member of the Legislative Assembly of Tamil Nadu representing the Vanur constituency of the Villupuram district, sent a widely circulated letter to the Secretary of the Auroville Foundation alleging Auroville mismanagement over the last two years.

Architect David Nightingale has been developing a plan for Auroville’s Cultural Zone, which has led him to more broadly consider Auroville’s urban planning and mobility issues.

Is Auroville prepared for an uncertain future? In 1968, Auroville was a desertified plateau. Since then, the landscape has been greened by millions of trees and fauna and flora have exploded.

Auroville’s history is very much interwoven with the story of water accessibility. When the Mother launched Auroville on this desertified plateau, it was out of necessity that tree planting, contour bunding and check dams were started, so that life could prosper and sustain the growing needs of the population.

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.

We can learn quite a lot about a community by observing what its members consume; and even more telling is what they throw away! Whilst living in Europe, I was often quite astonished to find perfectly usable, sometimes even brand new, items discarded in rubbish bins and, on occasion, even felt compelled to rescue an object and find a good home for it!

The International Zone Coordination Team shared the International Zone’s latest developments and future plans in an open community meeting in January.

For six days in early January there was a collaborative planning workshop or charrette involving over 60 Aurovilians and visiting experts. The stated aim of Auroville - A Way Forward was to “bring the purpose of Auroville into our life, built environment and organization’.

On 5th December, Auroville Consulting launched the Solar Village Search Engine to help fund its Solar Village Initiative, which aims to power 100 villages in Tamil Nadu with solar by the year 2030.

Cristo has worked for many years on developing collaborations with the local villages. Why does he do it? What are the challenges and the satisfactions?

On the initiative of the Auroville units Restorative Auroville, Prisma, Auroville Village Action and Aikyam School, Auroville hosted a Walk of Hope for Peace and Human Unity to spread the message of oneness, inclusion and respect among Aurovilians and the village communities around Auroville on January 28th and 29th.

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.

In the November issue of Auroville Today, a group of Aurovilian architects and town planners discussed the Galaxy plan and concluded that it still had much to offer.

On February 28th 2018, Auroville will celebrate the anniversary of its 50th year. The occasion presents an unprecedented opportunity to honour the birth and vision of Auroville, to increase the recognition of its relevance for India and the world, to attract people of all ages from India and abroad to visit Auroville and participate in the events, and to document and share its journey of 50 years.

In 1992 Auroville’s renewable energy unit, AuroRE, began providing renewable energy applications and solutions within Auroville and to rural and urban India.

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.