Auroville is divided in communities where "foreigners" can volunteer in different projects like planting trees, gardening, working in a bamboo centre, in a bakery etc.
Alcohol and smoking are strongly forbidden to preserve spirituality.
In the communities people live in houses made of woods and straws, and eat all together.
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| The dorms |
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| The dorms |
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| Meditation area |
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| Library |
I thought that it could have been the place I have always been looking for...however the reality check lower sadly my expectations.
In my short visit in Auroville I was more a spectator, or better a watcher of how life flows in this place.
I had the luck to be hosted by Gaurav,an Indian film maker who lives in Auroville...or better said he is embracing the Auroville status.
Gaurav was a great host, I had such an amazing time also because he has huge culture that makes him even more interesting
Thanks to him I was able to meet Aurovillians and volunteers.
I had few dinners with his neighbours,the German corner. Pretty much they are middle (old) age Germans... I was not very comfortable around them because they did not reflect at all the Aurovillian idea, actually to me it was more a place for retired Western people , where they can live above average with little money...simply ugly!
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| My host house |
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| Add The toilette |
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| The garden |
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| Xmas Eve at my host neighbour |
Gaurav is also a great cook and once per week he volunteers at Sadhana Forest Community as a chef, cooking for around 70 people. I went with him, helping the volunteers in peeling off the vegetables for our lunch.
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| The cooker at Sadhana Forest |
They complained about the lack of interaction, I saw it later during lunch that people formed small groups and it is a little bit hard to bond with others if you are a shy person.
Also they were not happy about the community work and the after work activities were not that enjoyable.
I think I was lucky because that day there was a seminar on non violent communication, so inspiring and open mind, I simply loved it.
At that seminar I met an Italian guy who was hosted by another small community. He told me about the problems within the community they were facing at that time. There was an inside war that divided the community in two sides and no more volunteers were accepted.
Another negative point, stressed by volunteer at Sadhana Forest, was that there is no cooperation or communication between the communities.
It resembles an archipelago where communities are islands with few or not interactions among them...from my understanding there is a kind of competition that chokes the initial spirit of the project.
Moreover ,around Auroville there is a small village and even though locals are pretty used to Western people, they look at you as you were...different, there is no integration at all!
Also if you want to visit the Matrimandir, the big metallic sphere you have to go through a boring iter: watch a documentary on Auroville and its fundamentals and then register for the visit. During the visit you are forced to watch another documentary for being allowed to visit the centre for 15 minutes.
I booked my visit but I didn't go cause I was too lazy to get up early and the way it was organized sounded to me like a secta...
Event though some controversial points, I would love to be back in Auro and spend at least couple of weeks there to experience the common life with other volunteers from everywhere around the world, because at the end this is the best you can get from the universal town.
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| A pond |
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| My bike |
