Issue Nº405

Jay Naidoo, former leader in the South African struggle against apartheid, and former minister responsible for Reconstruction and Development in the country’s first democratic government, where he worked closely with Nelson Mandela, recently visited Auroville.

Claude Arpi is a French-born Aurovilian living in Auroville for the past 49 years. He is well-known as a historian and tibetologist. He is the author of several books on Tibet and on Indo-French relations, and was instrumental in the creation of the Pavilion of Tibetan Culture in Auroville.

In the mid 1960s Roger Anger wanted to know the location of the geographical centre of the city to be. He brought a map to Mother and she indicated a spot.

Himal Jaiswal came to Auroville 45 years ago as a seven year old boy. Approximately two years ago he started working in the Matrimandir gardens.

Centre d’Art, Monday, three o’clock in the afternoon. About fifteen people are working on the photograph of the Auroville banyan tree which is spread out over seven metres in front of the large picture window.

Through this process, people who had known the Banyan for 30 years or more experienced it in a new way. As an artist, it’s interesting for me to see this happening in Auroville with people who have such an intimate relationship with the tree.

When I first saw the tree, I saw a Mother and her many children. Branches reaching out to all directions. Outward, skyward, earthward. The tree had roots that were branches and branches that were rooted.

As my partner and I were talking about the history of Auroville’s on-going crisis, she encouraged me to read a specific book chronicling the early days of Auroville.

In a few decades, perhaps, it will be clearer to take an account of what did we lose, what did we gain, and overall, what we did learn that will help us to take another small step together, collectively.