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| (from Rough Guides) |
If it wasn't because of the surrounding trees, you'd already see it from the distance: from the empty fields of Tamil Nadu rises a majestic golden globe made by numerous steel circles on the outside, and each day, hundreds and even thousands of people visit it. These are not a conspiracy cult or a group of lunatics, they are citizens from the bizarre utopia of Auroville, and you are too. But to understand this, you'll need first a bit of history.
We start with February 1968. Somewhere in the heart of India, members from 124 states were gathered among a woman. Her name was Mirra Alfassa nicknamed "The Mother", as she was the one who gave birth to the modern utopia of Auroville, a place designed for union and peace. This event was the center of attention of the whole country for some days, as the world was living a war-y era and this was one of the few good news that time.
Auroville is a community where we all belong to and have the right to live in it, because it is a sort of universal township. A guy called Sri Aurobindo ideated this whole stuff because he had five dreams of the union of humanity that he wanted to become true. As he left his body before placing the first stone of this community, he let the charge to his spiritual mate "The Mother".
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| Sri Aurobindo (from sriaurobindoashram.org) |
In a nutshell, Auroville is like a parallel universe with rainbows and sunshines where all humans can live joined and happily, or at least, that's the objective. Their forms of life could be a downside for some of you as no drinking, smoking or cars are allowed (on the other side, a bike shop could be a good business). Money doesn't exist, neither does private property (forget about the bike shop). The only thing that is worth something, is the individual. But apart from the form of life, another interesting factor is the urban planning and architecture of the township.
Firstly, your eye will be caught by its singular shape, which equals a circle with a diameter of 5 kilometers. This circle is divided in four sectors (Residential, Industrial, Cultural and International), that encompass the so-called "Peace Zone" Here stands a lonely but amazing banyan tree, and over all, the impressive Matrimandir (pictured on the beginning this blog post), a colossal golden glowing globe named "The Soul of Auroville". This name was not randomly selected, as it is the main temple of the whole place and it even has got its own website. There, I learned that it is basically made of 12 adjacent petals (each with a meditation room) and at the same time, supported by four stairways that work besides as pillars for the sphere. The exact middle-point is occupied by an inner chamber made for meditation and concentration.
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The lonely banyan tree (top left), one of the four stairways (top right), the amphitheater (bottom right), one of the petals (bottom left). These images are a bit distorted from the original ones. Credit to matrimandir.org |
However, nowadays the place is already forgotten and it is by far least consistent than what it was in the past , as the utopia has been through tense moments that continue giving consequences in the present day. One type of the problems is the bad planning, as after that conference in 1968, expectations were much higher than the present reality. Almost no construction is finished (even the Matrimandir has some pieces left to build) and the population number (3 300) is not even close to the one expected (50 000). But not only that; once, workers from Auroville were caught felling trees and animal species have disappeared, even if it is supposed to be an echo-friendly place. With that and with a complicated VISA-policy, residents have started to move out. Will Auroville reach, in a near future, what it wanted?
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| The design model of Auroville (from auroville.org) |
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