I checked out of my hostel since I’d finally found a guest house close to the Auroville campus. This was within 15 mins walking distance from the Auroville campus.
After the late night at Kalarigram, I didn’t do much. I went to Marc’s Cafe for breakfast before taking an auto to the guest house.
In the evening, I went to the Auroville campus. I had a simple masala dosa. There was a lovely sunset on the way back to my guest house.
The following day was my first full day on the Auroville campus.
I wanted to see inside the Matrimandir, the gold sphere-like structure at the heart of Auroville. To request a visit, you have to submit a form on their website. Registration is open for five hours from 7am for five hours. The person at the Visitor Centre told me it’s very popular. To have a chance of visiting, you need to register at 7am!
I did that yesterday. When the form is submitted, you’re told that you will be emailed if your request is successful. A few hours later I got an email saying I was visiting at 8.25am the following day!
My German friend, Lorenz, messaged me with some events today. I decided to go to a talk. It was quite political and would give me a lot of information about Auroville.
On the way to the meeting, I realised I was hungry. The guest house had provided idli and coconut chutney this morning. At a stall in the campus, I bought a chickpea salad, a peanut salad (both lightly spiced), a large flattened vegetable bhajia (a sort of patty) and freshly squeezed mango juice.
Whilst eating, a cow came to me. My shooing it away didn’t deter her. At one point she had her head on the table, getting gradually closer to my food. At this point, a local came along and threw some water on the cow and drove her away.
I made my way to the talk about Auroville politics. The talk was about the changes being made by the nine-person government board. They had initiated much change. Aurovillians weren’t happy with it. The building of road through the campus was particularly upsetting for the old-timers. Trees were removed. There were protests at the time.
The speaker was issuing a rallying cry to Aurovillians. He wanted them to take collective action to oppose the board’s changes.
Many people spoke. One person emphasised that Auroville was a place for experimentation. Some things would work and some wouldn’t. He didn’t know until you tried. A few people mentioned the phrase “divine anarchy”. Anarchy was used in the sense of no centralised control but change from the bottom up.
Afterwards, I spoke for a while to Lorenz. He said some of the government “interference” was possibly a result of perceived inaction. The government had given funds for various projects and these had not produced anything. For example, school attainment or transport had not improved.
It was clear, however, that many Aurovillians were upset by the undemocratic way the board was proceeding. Unlike the past, there had been no consultation. The board was not following the process that had existed for decades.
Afterwards, free dinner was provided. Music played. I spoke for ages with a Belgian woman, Christiane, who gave me more background to Auroville. She had lived in Auroville for over 20 years. She didn’t think it was possible to live without money. But at Auroville you could. In Auroville there is an “Auroville card”, which is a sort of a charge card before they became widely used. The card is used for payment at various places on the Auroville campus. Some accept payment only via the card.
Her apartment had low rent because she arrived many years ago. She said that there was no longer sufficient housing for newcomers. She didn’t buy new clothes. Instead she went to the clothes recycle shop on the campus where people donated their clothes.
She went to the Matrimandir every morning to mediate.