The skills of four young Aurovillian BharatNatyam students we would be able to see at Arangetram Performance at Sri Aurobindo Auditorium at Bharat Nivas tomorrow on 10th of September at 6pm. On Sunday morning at 10 am at Village Action at Irumbai road the Surrender AA group will celebrate the 3rd birthday with the talk on alcoholism. We talked with Jo about new service she's offering to the people who work at Town Hall. Tonight we can see a Spanish movie at Cinema Paradiso or we can join the sacred circle of ethnic chanting at Verite Hall. Read more

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Jazz, Blues, Country, Rock – Solo vocal, guitar and piano concert by Matthew "Shark" Shartsis, singer, musician and songwriter. Known to American music fans as "The Great White Shark", he has played over 100 concerts in the last five years, both as a solo performer and with his band; "General Jones", named for the general jones of life. Matthew is the organizer, manager and lead singer of General Jones, which plays his original songs and well-loved standards.Auroville Radio presents his performance to a packed audience in Pitanga, which kept him singing and playing for over 30 minutes longer than the scheduled time.www.myspace.com/agreatwhiteshark www.thegeneraljonesband.com Read more

Tuesday, 7th of September, and the weather in Auroville is just pleasantly partly cloudy. Tonight we can see an Italian movie Io, loro e lara(Me, them and Lara) at Cinema Paradiso, and tomorrow The Beautiful Truth. On Saturday at Gallery Square Cirlce at Kala Kendra at Bharat Nivas was inaugurated the exhibition of paintings by Shadow Brothers, and at Pitanga was a solo concert of Matthew “shark” Shartsis on piano an guitar. The events scheduled for the weekend promise us lively end of the week.

The Living Routes Program is featured in today's news in an interview with Abbey. Abbey has been working with American college students for several seasons, facilitating not only their alternative educational process but also introducing them to the wonders of Auroville. Don't forget there's a talk today at 5 PM at Multimedia Auditorium called 'Research on Beauty: A Perspective on the Life and Work of Roger Anger' presented by Anupama Kundoo, based on her recent book just released in Pune by B.V.Doshi for the Indian Council of Architecture.

Uma of Upasana and her team have been busy doing research on the silkworm, its cocoon and the incredible length of a single strand from that cocoon. The various processes that must be done before we have in our hands the textile the world knows as silk will be shown in the resultant book which is nearing completion; it presents the humble beginnings of silk and the various processes of how it becomes silk as the world knows it. The book 'Silk' will be completed in the next few months, available through Upasana.

Following on from the discussion series facilitated by the Auroville Council and Resident's Assemble Service earlier this year, the Council has invited all community members to a General Meeting to discuss the the benches and pathways beneath the Matrimandir banyan tree and how we make decisions as a community in Auroville. The meeting was held in SAWCHU on the 3rd of September. The discussion was vibrant and in some parts the emotional side came up. Anyway the interaction was conductive and some sort of results came up at the end. Jesse chaired the meeting. Here the 2 hours and 14 minutes recording of the full meeting.

Today's news features an excerpt from an interview with Uma of Upasana on Silk; research and the resultant book are nearing completion which presents the humble beginnings of silk and the various processes of how it becomes silk as the world knows it. The interview in its entirety can be heard next week. Also a reminder for a General Meeting at 5 PM today at SAWCHU, topics twofold: the ongoing discussion around Matrimandir's Banyan, those benches and pathways beneath it and, more dialogue on how we make decisions as a community in Auroville. The Council strongly urges all members of the community to be present and to participate; your input is valuable.

Not many visitors from Iran come to Auroville. We had a chance to met Dr. Bijan Vala, who told us that fate has brought him here, and he would like to get involved and be active mostly on the field of expressive arts such as music and theater. He sees Auroville as an example of good thoughts, which proved that dreams can turn into reality, and yet he's aware that in the process problems do arise. He likes the Love, The Dream, Matrimandir,... For him the beauty of Matrimandir is that there's nothing religious about it, everybody is left to his/her own thoughts. Read more

Today, 2nd of September you can see a French movie or sing at Verite Hall ethnic chants, and the Auroville Council reminding all to come to the general meeting tomorrow. The Auroville Green Practise launched their portal on 28th of August which is a web-based knowledge resource containing articles, audio and video clips as well as a directory of experts and units - all related to work being done at Auroville in areas of eco-restoration, water management, waste management, farming, architecture, renewable energy and environmental outreach activities. Auroville Green Practices Portal was developed with support from Stichting de Zaaier and now maintained by Auroville Consulting.Www.green.aurovilleportal.org

Tuesday, 31th of August, and northern hemisphere is saying slowly goodbye to the summer, but here around is sunny with some clouds, and comfortable temperature. Over then phone we spoke with Jaya about yesterday's meeting at Unity Pavilion of members of International Zone. Auroville Council is inviting all members to General Meeting on Firday, 3rd of Septemeber at SAWCHU about benches and pathways beneath the Matrimandir banyan tree, and about decision making process.

Today's news features an interview with Uma of Upasana as she shares an experience she's just had with an astrologer who maps charts via the use of colour and design, as a woven textile...she holds the first one up, it's based on the birth date of Auroville, its predominant colour is red...the second piece is based on the birthday of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, with blue running through as the main theme. Also in the news an announcement for tomorrow, Tuesday August 31st another Pranayama Workshop at SAWCHU.

Auroville's three day workshop 'Green Practices' ended on the 28th of August. During this intensive experience 30 speakers from Auroville and almost 50 participants explored the meaning of Green Practice here in the City of Dawn. On the final day after the final session, Alan of Auroville Today moderated a 45 minute interaction between the participants and a panel, composed of Latha of l'Avenir d'Auroville, Durganand Balsavar, architect and urban planner from Chennai, Sumant Kachru of JHM Hotels from Surat and Dave Wallack, IFMR in Chennai. Here's the recording of that session. The full Green Practice workshop recording will be published in the next few days on both www.auroco.org and AurovilleRadio websites.

Today's news features the topic of water, the commodity that we cannot do without, that we thoughtlessly squander, that is at the source of life and at times the destroyer of life. Announcements include a talk on Tibet's waters, the need and desire for those waters for a growing and thirsty China. Also there is mention of the Seminar on Sustainability in the second day of its 3-day duration here in Auroville, being recorded by AurovilleRadio.

What is actually hip hop? In the conversation with Drupad at Youth Center we talked about that. Many times is wrongly mistaken by gangsta rapping but basically is hip hop defined by five key stylistic elements rapping , DJing andscratching, sampling , beatboxing and dancing. They're saying that Hip hop began in the South Bronx of New York City in the 1970s. And we found out what that got to do with the Youth Center. Read more

Today the three day seminar Auroville Green Practice is starting, and is meant for external participants to hear Auroville speakers on many different areas from forestry, water management, environmental issues, renewable energy...Our team is making all the best to publish as soon would be possible the major peaks of the seminar. Beside that we can see a movie in the evening in Cinema paradiso at Town Hall or at sunset we can listen to “Savitri” at Amphitheater at Matrimandir or we can join the ethnic chanting at Verite at 7pm with Ana, Tiago and friends

Today's news bring us an interview with Marcelo Cardoso, an executive from one of Brazilians biggest company called Natura ( you can see more details on their English web page: http://www2.natura.net/NaturaMundi/src/index.asp). He shares with us his connection with Sri Aurobindo and Mother's teaching and also explain us a bit of what is going to be the main objective of the talking he is going to give to the community on Thursday the 26th, at 17h at SAWCHU. Also we have Italic Calligraphic workshop with Antarjyoti, Yoga Nidra with Aloka and the Auroville Green Practices Seminar, a 3 days event that are going to bring together different aspects of Auroville's life and sustainable way of living.

Tuesday, 24th of August and in the area still feels like monsoon time is here. This morning meeting of L'Avenir d'Auroville with new ideas and designs, which developed in a lively discussion will be publish on net in next days. Tonight you can see an Italian movie Due Partitie, and tomorrow afternoon in the Town Hall is meeting for all who would like to do something useful for the community and for the safety of us all, and are healthy and physically fit, are patient and always cool, responsible and reliable, can respond adequately in a crisis situation, and would like to join the team of volunteers to address the security issues in the area.

For football fans and others this year World Cup held in South Africa was special from many different aspects. In Auroville we decided to watch some of the matches together on the La Terrace - Solar Kitchen. On one of those nights we recorded part of the atmosphere and in interviews with some of the audience Chloé found out that the most important thing that night wasn't really the game itself, but the whole thing, being together, experienced it with millions from all around, to add some energy on, as somebody named it, this particular federating event. This year the World Cup was socially unifying thing, one of the kind.

In today's news an interview with Rosalba is the feature; she talks about her work in the Residents' Service, the portal through which everyone must pass presenting their passports and visas, with their questions and problems around them. Announcements include the creation of a flower game with two sets of sixty-four flower cards, each with a comment of the Mother and, the Green Group looks to protect the future of the Green Belt by facilitating the purchase of land by friends of Auroville.

On a rainy Saturday evening Shri Soham Munim and Shri Debashish Dass performed an Indian classical concert at the Sri Aurobindo auditorium in Bharat Nivas. Shri Soham Munim was on that stage two years before when he played in a more progressive fusion concert. In this concert he played Hindustani Ragas on his sitar maintaining the classical art in its essence, and, also at the same time using a contemporary feel in his musical expressions. Shri Soham Munim was accompanied by Shri Debashish Dass on tabla. Read more

How Auroville sounds... to me, to you ? This sound is just to express my fully and deep gratitude towards my Auroville's friends et ce quelque chose de si particulier ici à Auroville que j'aime tant. One may recognize the 15th august dawn fire, the famous Dalai Lama's question, the Matrimandir inner chamber silence, monsoon and more. Just listen and experience how beautiful sounds Auroville.

Today's news features an interview with Anand, one of a team of 3 who risk life and limb scaling the heights of Matrimandir on a daily basis, rounding the sphere to continuously clean the discs. Enjoy as well the voices in the background of a few merry tea drinkers. Also in the news a few announcements: a sitar recital by Shri Soham Munim tomorrow, an opportunity to hear about a Happiness Index and, something about Tomatis Ear-Re-education and Listening Therapy.

Dr. Peter Choate of Calgary, Alberta in Canada gave a week of his time and expertise facilitating a week-long seminar to those involved in Auroville's Child Protection Services. He points out the vital importance of creating a transparent secure platform in which both the abused and the abusers will finally confront and communicate with one another, having a conversation on how they feel about these secret practices surrounded with fear.

Peaceful Thursday with a possibility to either see a movie Le Concert or join ethinc chanting at Verite Hall. The same way approaching weekend before full moon on Tuesday offers mostly entertainment in movies, from excellent Indian movie at Bharat Nivas – Do Bigha Zamin (Two Acres of Land) by Bimal Roy to award winning documentary at Eco Film Club At Sadhana Forest by Andy Bichlbaum, Mike Bonanno and Kury Engfehr - The Yes Men fix the World... In this news we also feature a short interview with Glen (Forest Group) about meeting at Youth Center between forest groups and planners of the town, which was recorded trough the phone.

SmallSteps is an initiative funded by Upasana design studio, against the use of plastic bags. The core philosophy at Upasana is to design for social development. Through small steps Upasana has given employment opportunity to more than 200 woman from villages in and around Auroville. These woman help in making cloth bags which are a good substitute to plastic. The USP of these bags are that they are compact and portable. By hooking them on to bags, belts, key rings, etc one is constantly reminded to say no to plastic. Read more

On a beautiful day in New Creation, Srini shares with us the work and projects of the “journey” that has been for him Yatra Multimedia. Through education, pedagogy and a great deal of hard work, Yatra offers to Auroville and to the surrounding villages awareness movies for children. Srini's life-long passion for visual arts is livened up by his great sense of humor, characteristic of his movies which have won awards at the 2009 Auroville Film Festival. The Auroville visual arts scene is flourishing according to Srini, and he stresses the importance of youth to reach greater cultural achievements. Read more

Last week we had an interview with Jonah, from the Forest Group. Following the subject, today's interview with Renu shows us the importance of having planing and green groups working together. The full meeting you can listen to here at AurovillleRadio (program name: Planning in the Forest). On activities we have: Tamil Heritage Centre offers weekly literary lecture on 'Manimegalai' on every Thursday from 4.30 P.M. to 6.00 P.M. at Ialignarkal Education Centre. And a warmly see you soon to our friend Chloe!

Connecting Inner Power with Global Change. An approach to organizations/systems based on fractals and Sri Aurobindo. A talk with audio-visuals in Town Hall Conference Hall, was held on Monday, 16 August. Pravir Malik is a successful business consultant in the US, and he’s also taught in the Ashram School. He presented the work he’s doing with fractals and their assisting with solving organizational and system problems. Check out his website: www.aurosoorya.com, which covers much of what he’s described in his book Connecting Inner Power with Global Change.

As part of inclusive planning and development exercise, the Green Group, the Forest Group the Farm Group and l'Avenir d'Auroville held a joint meeting to discuss issues relating to water, environment and forest and how that impacts planning and development. The meeting was hosted by Nikolai at the Youth Center. The discussion touched many topics regarding the development of the city. This meeting was first of the kind between the planners of the city and the persons taking care of most of the green. A very positive step. Read more

Tuesday, 17th of August, and in Auroville is partly cloudy but still very pleasant, and with many things to do. The same we way we can hear the constant hammering of the workers of nearby project of Inspiration, road...L'Avenir of Auroville and Forest Group had a meeting this morning. What are the opening hours of Matrimandir, and which movie we can see tonight? AT 4.30 pm at Visitor Center at bookshop of Auroville Papers there will be a release of coloring book Bauhinia, A Tree who Wanted to be an Orchid, with the drawings and text by Marie and the graphic design by Leonard, and printed paper specially made by Auroville Papers.