content (Arts & Culture) On Saturday 28th January, 4.30 pm at the Tibetan Pavillion, Auroville was graced with a visit by Prof Samdhong Rinpoche. Rinpoche was greeted by children and guests who had arrived for the inauguration of a rare photo gallery documenting the 1959 departure of His Holiness the Dalai Lama from Tibet and arrival into India. There was a sense of nostalgia and appreciation to be present at such an auspicious event that dated decades back, during which His Holiness's asylum had been facilitated by the Government of India and, at their invitation.
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Wednesday, 01 February 2012 (News) Daniel, member of the Working Committee shares with us updates on land encroachments at New Farm, and on dr. Karan Singh, Chairman of Auroville Foundation yesterday visit. On Friday at 8pm Ana, Hartmunt, Suryan, Joy and Jivatman, Taranti, Caroline and Elisa and Anisha and Tiago will offer thir music to life and community under the sky of the Big Amphitheater in Kalabhumi Made in Auroville concert, postponed from few months back due to the rain at the time. Lively Up Your Earth is taking place on Saturday from 10.30 onward at Solitude Farm.
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Wednesday, 25 January 2012 (Environment) Walk trough Quiet Healing Centre was in a way relief after disastrous areas in communities in Auroville because beside few fallen trees Quiet looks almost as it was. Luckily they got mostly palm trees, which are known for their flexibility and endurance in strong tropical winds. In interview with Guy we found out that the major problem after tropical cyclone Thane is if they would be allowed to fix and erect their fence or not. Quiet hopes that they will find optimal solution for both parties trough ongoing negotiations with local fishermen.
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Wednesday, 04 January 2012 (Environment) Recently built zen house of Sabine and Philippe, residents of Repos community is now roofless, water tank broken, what used to be beautiful blooming fence by buganvilla, is now piece of uprooted shrubs...For Sabine and Philippe Repos is home for more than decade, and both actively participate in community life in Repos, as well in community in whole. Since they were well aware, and realistic of present treat of cyclone Thane on Thursday night, they evacuated themselves overnight, and also informed others and guests about situation. What now?
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Tuesday, 03 January 2012 (Environment) No doubt that last week cyclone Thane raging trough our town and neighboring villages caused lots of damages, and no doubt the worst it was for the beach communities - Repos, Waves, Samarpanam, Gokulam, Symplicity, Quiet, Sri Ma, Eternity. The hardest it was for them not only because they are situated on the beach, where huge waves were crushing the whole coastline in those 12 hours of cyclone, but because beach erosion already affected them seriously last few years. We spoke with Bagha and Vasu about cyclone, and about issues around erosion.
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Tuesday, 03 January 2012 (City Life) Some positivity by willingness to listen to each other was Renu good news on L'AVenir d'Auroville in our interaction. Team agreed to meet once a week to share and discuss on particular topic, prioritise them and stay flexible in the needs if they arise. Exciting news we heard was also the one on master plans - by December they hope to have a bio regional master plan, which will fuse with the green belt master plan, and will be based on conservation of water for the general bio region.; and my March 2010 five years plan should be completed.
Friday, 14 October 2011 (News) Youth Centre team announced, after few months of keeping it low, Ratbags Day of Fun&Action for this Saturday 8th of October. Children and youth of all ages are invited to come, share and celebrate that day with them in many different activities, games, pony rides...surprises. We feature short interview with Manolo about it. AV Security Service, Working Committee and AV Council informs us that the Tamil Nadu Panchayat Elections will be held on 17th and 19th of October. To avoid unwanted incidents we should not have loud music, night parties
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Thursday, 06 October 2011 (Arts & Culture) Olivier and Hilde moderated this debate. The participants were B, Basile, Hans and Doudou Diène. The first half of the debate was spent on defining Human Unity whereby every one got to put forth their idea of what they felt Human Unity encompassed. Human Unity they all agreed was a theme that was difficult to pin down. After the round of introductions each participant spoke about what Human Unity was to them. Read more Saturday, 01 October 2011 (City Life) Attendance was sparse at yesterday's General Meeting, yet Residents' Assembly Service members Elvira and Jesse facilitated an open meeting on the topic of selection processes for new Auroville Council and Working Committee members. Points discussed: whether to select by consensus or voting...whether an in-place study group meeting regularly might work, whether to return to the 2007 process which produced good results....another ongoing process, more challenges to face.
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Thursday, 29 September 2011 (News) In today's news we feature interview with Soham about his food strike, translated by Renu. On Thursday 29th long expected and warmly welcomed Auroville Film Festival 11 starts with the Opening Ceremony at 5pm at Town Hall Plaza, followed by the first set of films screened at Cinema Paradiso between 7.30 to 10.30 pm. Resident Assembly Service invites us on a General Meeting on Thursday, 29th at 5pm at SAWCHU with the main topic on how to Complete Review of the AVC and WC selection process. On Saturday 24th at Kalabhumi at 7.30 Smaranam.
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Thursday, 22 September 2011 (News) In addition to their regular service, the L'avenir team will be available once a month to community members. The first was yesterday on Wednesday, September 14th, at the L'avenir office, Town Hall. And here's and excerpt of interview with Dorle and Sauro on that .
Auroville Bamboo Research Centre will be planting seedlings of bamboo tomorrow at 7am on the grounds of Centre, and In the afternoon at 5pm in Conference Room at Town Hall few speakers will talk about bamboo - its usage, significance in Auroville and bioregion.
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Thursday, 15 September 2011 (News) In today's news we feature short excerpt of interview with Cecilia from the Entry Service about the announcement in last News and Notes about potential newcomers. On this Saturday and Sunday, 3rd and 4th of September between 12 to 13.30 and between 6.30 to 8pm the book "The Salt of Life" by Emanuele, with cartoons on Auroville, a sixteen years antology, will be released and signed at Tanto Pizzeria. Working Committee informs all residents that the next Governing Board and International Advisory Council meetings will take place in October.
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Thursday, 01 September 2011 (News) An appeal (against pollution) from the residents of Auroville to Members of the Governing Board, to help them in their efforts to protect human health by ensuring proper waste management at the Karuvadikuppam dump site - the Pondicherry Municipal Dump. Auroville and the villages are directly affected by the pollutants in the air and the water caused by the Pondicherry Municipal Dump at Karuvadikuppam. On Saturday at 8 pm at Pitanga Pavillon de France and the Club de la poesie are presenting Surrealism Poetry Reading by Croquette .
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Thursday, 25 August 2011 (City Life) Sunny Friday afternoon, people gathered in expectation - yes, community has said (clear majority with 55%) that they would like to begin the process to replace Working Committee and Auroville Council or seek the next groups now using the old process, and that essentially are not too disturb by the old process, and that they are quiet happy for to things continue business as usual. As such the decision of Resident Assembly has been to select the new Working Committee and Auroville Council right now using the old process.
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Saturday, 13 August 2011 (News) Announcements offer Dhrupad, a vocal concert by Uday Tuesday, Pitanga Hall; an exhibition of digital paintings and photographs by Juergen at Gallerly Square Circle opening next Saturday; a biodynamic agriculture and compost workshop at AuroOrchard next weekend; practice sessions in Restorative Circles (a community process for supporting those in conflict and, greenbelt/land use planning presented by Achva Benzinberg Stein of Spitzer School of Architecture, New York and David Stein, consultant on social/economic patterns on land use 2 August.
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Monday, 01 August 2011 (News) In today's news we feature an interview with Kavitha about Zeitgeist movement in India, and a visit of its members in Auroville.
On Saturday and Sunday will be Argentine Tango Workshop for beginners & intermediates with topics on tango basics & quality of the embrace through several steps. Both days will end up witl Milongas on different locations.
On Saturday at College Guest House from 10am to 5pm will be a workshop to wake up your true inner being, to discover your inner world through fairy tales.
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Thursday, 28 July 2011 (City Life) Yesterday's General Meeting, one of many in the last few months, was different: we came together to listen and be heard; and togetherness and sharing took place after a silent meditation. Approaching the problematic issue of selecting a new Working Committee and new Auroville Council, it became obvious that the solution doesn't lie in any mental exercise, but in the practice of unity. It happened: a unique moment of unity, expressing a solution that most felt comfortable with, to be presented at a future Residents AssemblyRead more Wednesday, 20 July 2011 (News) Today's General Meeting will be still at SAWCHU at 5pm, and Resident Assembly Service does expect us to come, to share, to be constructive, to be loving to each other...to create unity in order to build the city of dawn.
In today's news we feature an interesting excerpt from the presentation of Resorative Circle which happened last week and full recordings will be published soon on our page. A Restorative Circle is a community process for supporting those in conflict. It brings together parties of a conflict to "hear" each other.
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Tuesday, 19 July 2011 (City Life) The last meeting for transit lounge of 24th 0f June was basically about the land issue when one Tamil person on the previous one that had taken place on 16thof June claimed that part of the land was his. Manu who is the main man and his team went back and sat on the table to figure out how they were going to deal with issue there fore they decided to go for plan plan B and this was to take up the land opposite Courage. In this interview however Manu and Balagi spoke about how the project will benefit the Aurovilians and newcomers who have a housing situation and the materials that would be used in the construction of the dis-mountable houses further more they talked about how the students(architect interns) will be involved in the project and also that the materials are tested at pondicherry university......
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Monday, 18 July 2011 (News) In today news we feature short interview with Gilles about Town Development Council which was recognized and is supported by district authority of Villupuram as a legal body of of the Auroville Fundation. Governing Board empowered L'Avenir d'Auroville to be Town Development Council, and in the area of master plan all have to follow its guidance and rules for the development, but those does not apply in the nearby villages. This morning a new stretch of crown road toward Vikas was open.
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Thursday, 14 July 2011 (City Life) Some might have expected a new breeze to flow in the stalled position of whether to start a process to select new members for the Working Committee and Auroville Council, or whether to modify or change the selection process. But shouldn't we keep in mind that the Residents' Assembly Service is just a service? The General Meeting on Tuesday 12th July at SAWCHU proved once again that there are few in comparison to the total population who care about what will happen in the decision-making process. These are our decisions to make
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Wednesday, 13 July 2011 (News) The news features a few words from each of the new RAS team members (sadly missing Partha.) The team invites all residents to attend tomorrow's General Meeting, 5 pm at SAWCHU, at which time they will introduce themselves. Residents are encouraged to voice any concerns, hopes and suggestions for the future. The meeting is also an opportunity to discuss how to proceed on the issue of the selection process for Auroville's Council and Working Committee. Also some news about Restorative Circles, a dialogue process to resolve parties in conflict.
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Monday, 11 July 2011 (City Life) In the interview with Chandresh, one of the Working committee members we talked about it, about Resident Assembly Service...about problems Working Committee and Auroville Council does face in its functioning. What challenges Auroville and its residents do face in governing the city, what experiences this might bring with it, and how all of it fit in to the progress and evolution of each of us.
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Tuesday, 14 June 2011 (City Life) We talked with Paul Vincent, one of the - as WC and AVC named them - self appointed group of disgruntled and dissatisfied residents. Paul Vincent clearly explains why he's not satisfy with the process of nomination of new members of Working Committee and Auroville Council, whose present mandate is about to end on 22nd of June.
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Tuesday, 14 June 2011 (News)  Tomorrow it will be Sagittarius full moon, and on that night more than half the world will have the opportunity to watch one of the darkest Lunar eclipses. This will be the darkest lunar eclipse in almost 100 years as the centres of the Sun, the Earth and the Moon would nearly be on one straight line. For that and also other reasons many on the planet will use this time to meditate and work on specific regions. One might be purging the alter ego and the energies of control, manipulation and dominance; removing the fear of Fire, the fear of the Power of Light and the Fear of Union. The Moon is about change and she is often a trigger to set things in motion that have been "lounging in the wings" waiting for a call to action.
Auroville Council and Working Committee want to clarify that the so called "selection process for the renewal of AVC and WC through ballot", which was recently announced by a self appointed group, is not according to the process approved by the Residents' Assembly in 2007 and therefore is not recognized as valid. The AVC and the WC regret that division and confusion is being created and whether or not the feelings of dissatisfaction are legitimate, processes that have been approved by the larger community cannot be ignored. As announced by AVC in the News & Notes of 11/06/2011, a new Residents' Assembly Service will be formed after the two weeks feed back period and this new RA Service will undertake the steps required to implement whatever process the community as a whole endorses.
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Tuesday, 14 June 2011 (City Life) Follow up (of General Meeting from Wednesday 1st of June, follow up from 25th of May, 18th April...)on Tuesday 7th of June at SAWCHU was a clear expression from all participants that this is the time for action, because the mandate of Working Committee and Auroville Council is about to end on 22nd of June. For that reason the election process for new members of both should start, as well the new members of Resident Assembly Service should be elected, since its function is to facilitate meetings, and held communication between Working Committee, Auroville Council and residents.
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Wednesday, 08 June 2011 (News) L'Avenir d'Auroville communication platform informs us that the first stretch of the Vikas radial road has just be opened. The second stretch, up to Arati, is planned to open by mid-July. The stretch of the Crown Road, between Arka and Surrender, will be completed by the end of this month. L'Avenir is now planning to build another stretch of the Crown Road, from Kailash up to the Pour Tous Distribution Centre. The building of the road will start in July but the clearing for the road is planned to start by the middle of June. The presence of flowers at Matrimandir Gardens are meant to help build the Consciousness of the Gardens so as to be a tool for the growth of human consciousness - for those individuals who come to visit the Gardens and Matrimandir, and for the Earth as a whole. Matrimandir Garden Team asks all of us - guests and Aurovillians alike to stop picking up flowers in the Gardens.
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Tuesday, 07 June 2011 (City Life) Yesterday's follow up meeting of 25th of May, was actually the follow up of 18th of April, and will have a follow up next week on Tuesday 7th of June at the same place- SAWCHU, and time - at 5pm. The Working Committee(WC) and Auroville Council(AC) mandate is about to end on 22nd of June, and by then new names should be elected by the Resident Assembly Service(RAS). Unfortunately there is only one member left(Don) to provide this service. The task wont be easy. The General Meeting was held to choose an interim RAS, in order to start the election process. For the personal reasons some are in favor to keep the the present WC and AC for next six months, and some for the personal reason want to terminate or stick to the policy of two years mandate.
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Thursday, 02 June 2011 (News) In today's news we feature an excerpt of yesterday's follow up of last week General Meeting in SAWCHU. In more than two hours long follow up, with a little bit more than sixty participants, Residence Assembly voted on temporary members of RAS to start the process of electing proper body of RAS, which will work on process of electing Working Committee and Auroville Council members who's mandate will come to an end on 22nd of June. Thursday, 02 June 2011 (City Life) For this weeks update on the Transit Lounge, we accompanied potential users to a site visit of the Living House by architect Ajay. We have interviewed the architect, followed by feedback and comments from potential users on the construction and its features. The Living House, which is one of the new prototypes for the Transit Lounge/ Temporary Housing Project, is made from natural materials obtained from local villages/environment. Thus it comes with a low carbon footprint, while preserving local tradition and crafts. Ajay and his family have been living for more than 4 years in the house made from stone, mud, bamboo and a grass/ reed thatched roof, which should last 10-20 years. So far little to not maintenance was needed, as the long overhang protects most of the building from the strong monsoon rains. ... Read more Friday, 27 May 2011 |
