And that’s
what the Mother had declared in the August of 1954. The
“City of the Dawn” which was the idea conceived by both the Mother and
Sri.Aurobindo of a place where a group of men and women could freely live where
the sky is the limit for their creation and expansion. Although numerous attempts
were made in the past to create one such habitat by people around the world, it
was never successful until the advent of Auroville.
I had longed to stay there, experience and
discover the life in Auroville when I ran the Auroville marathon for the first
time last year February. Auroville marathon 2015 appeared not more than a
reason for me to visit Auroville this year. Along with Lakshmi and Avani, twelve
of my friends decided to have a vacation in Auroville after the marathon this
February.
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| Auroville marathon “Runners Adda” |
Though the
neighborhood I live in Bangalore is pretty much of the same age of Auroville,
although our family house in my native has seen more generations growing up,
Auroville has a charm that no other mundane township has. I was mistaken initially
for the Europeans living there who might have brought about that charm or charisma
amidst the rustic muddy roads and greenery, but I was wrong. It is simply the
intention behind the creation of Auroville. Mirra Iffassa who is dearly called
the Mother had defined the intention:
“Auroville belongs to nobody in particular.
Auroville belongs to humanity as a whole. But to live in Auroville one must be
the willing servitor of the divine Consciousness.”
This gave
way for a barren land about 20kms north of Pondicherry that had nothing but a
big banyan tree and a few palm trees to grow into 25sq.kms of thick forest. It
is a self sustained township that produces various kinds of fashion
accessories, incense sticks, herbal/ organic products, home decors, toys,
handicrafts etc. It is a city where humanity takes over currency. For the
Aurovillians, there is a currency card (Auro-Card) that is provided, which works
like a debit card for all their transactions in the Auroville city. An outsider
should pay currency to avail the same.
The
Auroville is characterized by the lush green man-made forest, muddy roads,
artistic earthen buildings and Matri Mandir. Aurovillians have planted close to
4 million saplings over the past 6 decades that houses numerous species of
birds now. Peacocks are no special birds in Auroville.
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| the muddy roads |
Auroville city is designed for 50,000 people, however only about 2,000
currently live. There is an organization created and people employed to manage all
the financial transactions, tax payments, registrations of people as newcomers
or as citizens of Auroville etc.
I have heard
that no Aurovillian fully owns any piece of land inside Auroville. It is all a
part of the Auroville trust and the citizens use them to generate revenue for
their sustenance. There are guesthouses, homestays, apartments, boutiques,
restaurants, bakeries and art galleries. Most of them are focused to cater the
European people’s needs as you could hardly see Indian dwellers inside
Auroville.
Except for Matri
Mandir and an audio-visual show about Auroville and Matri Mandir, there are no
other tourist attractions. Since the common philosophy of a common Indian
tourist is to watch lot of places during a holiday, a large chunk does not consider
visiting Auroville. However, there is a world of its own to discover being in
Auroville.
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| Matri Mandir |
We stayed
in Auroville for six nights and enjoyed every moment living there. It’s like
living in a forest and yet in a civilization. The big banyan tree that is about
a kilometer away from Matri Mandir is the geographical center of Auroville, and
the Matri Mandir is believed as the soul of Auroville. Designed by a French
architect, Matri Mandir has in its center a crystal ball mounted on a lotus
made of white marble with twelve petals in a pond of water. Aurovillians
strongly believe that all the energy of Auroville is focused in there and is constantly
radiating. Though Matri Mandir is free to view from a distance by anyone, one
has to take an appointment to visit Matri Mandir. Only 75 visitors are
permitted in a day for an hour in two slots where one may choose to sit and
meditate.
A host of
events, workshops, different forms of art performances and film shows keep
happening in various parts of Auroville. Men and women and their families from
all over the world come and live in Auroville both on temporary and permanent
basis. Life is as laid back as it is in any of our villages yet as forwardly
thought as in any of the metropolitan cities in the world.
While busily
engaged in the mundane routine of life in the dusty streets of Bangalore, a week’s
stay in solitude inside Auroville; woken by peacocks, morning walks in the
dense forest trails, our children running through them without being scared of traffic,
is an enchanting experience for a blissful holiday.
http://www.aurovilleguesthouses.org/
