Exploring Auroville, the city that belongs to nobody in particular…

… and humanity as a whole. What a vision!!!

My day of arriving here was pure bliss. A hearty welcome by the staff of Verite was followed by a delicious breakfast and moving into my incredibly lofty hut on 4 granite pillars. After a good rest I settled in the guest lounge taking up my ‘virtual office’. Internet is not always working and my Airtel mobile card doesn’t work at all. But hey, that might be a good thing.

Day 2 started with an early morning breakfast with healthy fruit, porridge and tea. Then I took off to explore Verite’s ILC (Integral Learning Center) where during the season they offer an incredible number of workshops and seminars on the subject. Right now it’s quiet and only the office staff is there but it’s still worth a visit.

Already the entrance to this learning space enchanted me. You come in and look at a beautiful pond with plants and fish, which come and give you a wonderful pedicure, nibbling away at your toes, heels and soles of the feet. It’s tingling at first but veeeeery pleasant.

Next you see some smaller cubicles to the left, supposedly for individual treatments or 1-on-1 sessions and a very inviting open space to the right, a view to the offices including the library. I ventured into it and honestly, I wouldn’t know where to start. There’s books on the Mother and Sri Aurobindo about the vision for Auroville, there’s all sorts of spiritual and psychological readings, travel guides to India and much, much more. I could easily spend an entire month just sitting here. But that’s not my job – for this time around.

I did indulge in a meditative session with the fish though and as I scribbled away in my notebook whilst the fish attended to what they must have thought to be a pair of extra ordinarily rough feet, I heard a wonderful sound. When I followed it, I discovered this huge wind-sound play (no idea what they’re called in English), playing very soothing tunes. It’s bigger than myself and yet, the tones it evokes, are so soft and tender – a meditation in itself…

But now, enough of leisure time. I strolled about the property checking out the alternative energy supplies. At the photo gallery you can see one of the solar panels on the ground as well as a whole row of them on the roof of the ILC. There’s also a windmill, which seems to be widely used in Auroville as I come across it again and again. It’s so colorful and making the funniest noises. Feels like back in the last century…

After yummy lunch with organic produce from the Verite gardens and other organic farms in Auroville including fresh orange juice and cream cheese, I took off to the Visitors Centre to attend a 2 hr introduction to Auroville. First ride on a bicycle (rented for only 25 rs/day from my guesthouse) since leaving Bhuj in Gujarat… Not anything like my bike (gosh, I look forward to Kalyan bringing our bikes back with him from Ahmedabad next week!!) but a very comfortable Holland-kind-of bike where I sat very straight and did the 3-4 km to the centre quite easily.

The ground of the visitors centre is big enough to get lost and boosts all sorts of facilities including boutiques where you can buy everything made in Auroville, restaurants, cafes, video rooms, exhibitions, medicinal gardens, an alternative technology trail, a water treatment plan and even a picnic area. The only place that’s not here is the one I looked for: Solar Kitchen. Ooops, back onto the bike again and off to Solar Kitchen, just a couple of kilometers away. For a moment, I feel like hopping onto that fancy mini train they have but decide that’s ridiculous after having survived our this big cycling journey through Maharashtra and Gujarat.

Oh and then… my cam went out of battery. Darn!!! It was just enough for one of the funny toilet signs and did not last to click the Solar Kitchen. However, this way I could totally focus on the fabulous intro that French Aurovilian George gave us there for over 2 hours. I’ll make sure to post my notes here in due time (i.e. when I figured out how to upload my supa-dupa smart pen notes). In the meantime, I can only recommend to browse around the Auroville website (www.auroville.org) including its shop (www.auroville.com), which delivers worldwide!!

Yesterday, I ventured out even further. I cycled through some of the villages inside and outside of Auroville, seeing how different the standard of living and life in general are. There is quite a few initiatives working with the villagers, like the Auroville Village Action Groups (AVAG). I have interesting conversations with staff from Verite, even get to meet one of the 4 founders and slowly, get a more realistic picture of the current reality of this amazing Utopia in the making. Keep tuned in for more details…