Thursday offered a surprise to the community in the form of a unique experience: tribal music from the Pacific. The concert was announced sometime before lunch but was well attended at Unity Pavilion in the International Zone. 'Sing Sing' from Australia, Papua New Guinea, Australia, Fiji and Oceania plus Baul singer from Bengal as a musical gathering shook the ground and lifted everyone onto their feet. Ancient drum rhythms fused with old rock, electronic trans-melodies nearly hypnotised but surely transfixed the audience, connecting all. Read more

Yes, AurovilleRadio started with first streaming on Internet exactly eight years ago - on December 5th 2004. In this interview is Andrea reflecting on past events, how the radio was evolving, how many passionate and dedicated volunteers contributed for the project to become the reality... Despite the troubles and obstacles Optimism, and deep faith in The Dream is always present, and the passionate service for the community with the radio is going on. At the end of the day the thought to warm ones heart is appreciation of the listeners. Read more

Eco - music festival Lively Up Your Earth is due next year in the beginning of February. In comparison to last two years, Krishna and Andrea have decided to start with the organizational work way before than last years. In conversation with them we can hear how they see it, what and who is needed in order to provide such a pleasant, yet educational, and more than anything else fun event for all of us with emphasis on music and organic - permaculture farming. What can we expect this year?... maybe YOU can be and active part of it 

 

Whole day event of the Africa House-Pavilion of African Culture at Unity Pavilion in International Zone was dedicated to Ethiopia. After simple, yet very delicious, and spicy dinner cooked - supervised by Haimanot Alemu and Taher, community had a chance to learn a bit about Ethiopia. Vani on the behalf of AVI team which organized last year AVI Meeting in Addis Ababa shortly introduced the conference. Evening was concluded by one of Haimanot's film on personal relationships, and invitation to a Shakespeare's play 12th night (7.12. Bharat Nivas)

Whole day event of the Africa House - Pavilion of African Culture at Unity Pavilion in International Zone was dedicated to Ethiopia. And as the day has unfolded, aromatic morning of coffee was followed in the afternoon by the Taher's craft and Marc's coffee painting workshops, and to the delight of audience a Talent Show. Those less shy expressed themselves on the small stage of the Unity Pavilion along with African God and Goddess of Rain. No doubt that Haimanot , with Gerhard and Saraswati on flute has lulled all by tunes of evergreen songs Read more

Whole day event for the Africa House - Pavilion of African Culture in International Zone was dedicated to Ethiopa. Remembering on this country we cannot avoid coffee. The morning started with aromatic smell of it, burning incense and fresh pop corn - Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony. This was followed by interesting film with some facts and history on coffee. The event is one of the first events which will follow for 12.12.12 , and this one was first presentation on pavilions activities presented in Unity Pavilion in International Zone. Read more

On Saturday at Arka was the second meeting on affordable housing topic with a bit more than handful of participants. Two short presentations on possibilities in the range of affordable housing were shown by Gilles Boulanger and Krishan. In depth were discussed possible reasons for the pumped up prices of costs per square meter of either individual houses or flats. Out of all was given a practical option to start with the "pool" to collect finances for housing in order to foster the housing available for all, more align with Auroville spirit. Read more

As the year's end draws closer, closer and closer, Luigi in a short interview offers information on an event coming on 12-12-12... this 12-12-12 event will explore a 3-fold manifestation at the individual, collective and universal level. This auspicious number 12 is the symbol of manifestation. From the 12 qualities of the Mother'ssymbol, today's quality upon which to concentrate is ASPIRATION; for those unacquainted with the 'Intention' concept, since last week, each day one of the 12 qualities are kept in mind in an attempt to embody. Read more

For almost a decade, but surely with acceleration in last year or two, Auroville beach community Repos has been "eaten" away by the severe beach erosion. Bhaga shares with us some thoughts on it... Until recently no speciific action was taken from the official Auroville regarding the problem. Cyclone Relief Team instructed by Working Committee has started to help the community with clean up. This morning along with Satprem and volunteers they have continued with reinforcing the foundations of the house. Read more

Following are the minutes of yesterdays Values&Priorities Meeting on Success Team Meeting. The Action Teams - Participatory Planning, Affordable Housing, Entry, Economy, Violence and disobedience of the accepted rules in Auroville presented what actions has been taken at their team for the last two weeks. At the same time need for more action teams was expressed by participants, and those were added to the list. Since the presentations, and raised questions have taken most of the time there was no time left to work in the groups. Read more

Auroville Theater Group will put on the stage of Sri Aurobindo Auditorium in Bharat Nivas, Pavilion of Indian Culture in International Zone in December Shakespeare's comedy 12nights. Featuring is an interview with Jill and visiting director Heimanot Alemu from Ethiopia. Heimanot known as an actor but presently working as communication consultant in advertising in Ethiopia, also an active member of AVI Ethiopia, has decided for 12 nights because he finds it very universal and humorous, to which he wants to add some "flavours" of the country. Read more

After months of discussing, and trying to make sense of what the community really value, and where do we want to go on collective level-which should be our priorities, yesterdays meeting brought lots of positivism. Despite rain shower the number of present residents was high, participants eager to start with the work. After short introduction by RAS members Jesse and Elvira, groups were around the tables with chosen topics - affordable housing, entry, participatory planning, economy, and violence in Auroville&disobedience of decisions. Read more

Solitude Farm with its Friday Vegan Sushi Dinner with live music is slowly consolidating tradition - the 7th one warmly welcomed Yemadas just returning from their trip. Yemadas - Anisha, Tiaguy and Namoh created earthly yet dreamy atmosphere of rhythms so close to the heart, and in a deep connection with our ancient traditions that it did not took long before the patrons started to sing along. Succulent vegan sushi prepared by Solitude Farm team and volunteers, and lighten fire near by contributed to the spirit of the evening. Read more

Yesterday the community caught a glimpse of all that was the Auroville Festival: City for Transformation, held at the India International Centre in New Dehli, from 14-21 September. Yesterday, most of the participants again expressed the great joy they had to be part of the festival, and as Aster Patel mentioned at the beginning, all throughout the event, from the day one of organizing until the closing tea ceremony, there was a tremendous feeling of grace. Video clips and images brought the festival back to life in front of our eyes. Read more

As it is tradition for the first term holidays, the children of Transition School and TLC spent two weeks rehearsing a play performed last Saturday at the Visitor's Centre: High Heels on the Old Town Tonight. People of the Old Town are producing bricks during the day, but their real life starts at night when the "High Heels" opens its doors. Passing visitors find a friction between owners of the club, imposing strict rules for admission, and carefree dancers, wishing to participate. Dr. Basketball requests from all to search for the solution. Read more

Genius Incorporated Production at the third session of The Quiz Show have brought us to the Grand Finale on Saturday night at Visitor Centre. Game already familiar as well to the players as to the audience, which actively participated in the course of the event, again connected all in a deep sense of community. And as Wazo commented at one point :"..we are one, one body, one love, one soul...", and oneness in laughter... Since that it was the last in the series of the Quiz Shows many prizes were given out, and many thanks have been said. Read more

After a long selection process by the Selection Committee, names of the new L'Avenir d'Auroville Town Development Council were announced to the community. At the General Meeting at Unity Pavilion in the International Zone residents had the chance to meet most of the new members. The introduction was set up to allow each of the residents to interact with the team, by asking questions to set precedence on certain issues. It was clear that residents request most of all clear communication and interaction from the new team. Read more

Values and Priorities meeting no.6 facilitated by Residents Assembly Service was set up for topic of planning, for all participants to discuss on near future since Auroville will celebrate its golden jubilee. How we want to proceed, and if there are any frictions in the community how to overcome them. Aim of this meeting was also to actively communicate with suggestions for the new L'AVenir d'Auroville/TDC 2012 2018 team. All agreed that we do not share, not communicate enough. Many in the community feel that we have gone astray from the path Read more

At the Auroville Festival - City for Transformation at India International Centre in New Delhi we have recorded the voices of young Delhi who turn our for the Sunday talk series and evening writers forum on day three of the Auroville Festival. The recordings include the curator of TEDx Delhi who came to try and convince some of the Auroville speakers to come back to Delhi to present at the TED talk event later this year. Read more

In this phone recording from Dehli from the Auroville Festival - City for Transformation at India International Centre we are featuring Sebastian and Sumeet with some after thoughts on the whole event, or at least the part which is behind us with the many different talks, round tables and discussions. As Sebastian emphasizes Auroville can communicate and should communicate with larger public and this festival has proven the capacity of being proactive in dialog. Sumeet sees a real value in the festival if there is a follow up. Read more

For the conclusion of "active" part of the Auroville Festival at India International Center, Dehli Aurelio, Anu and Marco share with us some glimpses, experiences. In all, the whole event was warmly received by broader public, with positive feedback and huge interest in projects of Auroville because they are bringing totally different attitude, different way to perceive the world by doing and that model has practical implications. Auroville it is something which has to grow in freedom, has to nurture its own autonomy with the responsibility Read more

Third and last day for talks and round tables of Auroville Festival-City for Transformation at Indian International Centre in New Dehli, and in this piece we are featuring Vimal. Vimal, graphic designer and author of the coffee table book "Creative Expressions" shares with us bits and pieces of his impressions on the festival. In the afternoon he will present his book along with Marco on Auroville Film Festival and Pierre Legrand with Writing in Colour.Morning talks were again very well received by audience, which actively interacted afterwards Read more

In this late night phone recording we are featuring Suryagandhi's impressions on the Auroville Festival - City for Transformation at India International Centre in New Dehli. As she has pointed out we still got lot to learn, and share. Since she is actively involved in the project of Integral Health, she will be talking on it tomorrow along with Dr.Sumeet Kumar and Dr.Jacques Verre. Suryagandhi, while working at the reception desk for the festival, also noticed that audience is very much interested in interaction on many levels. Read more

We feature Anu talking on her impressions of second day of the AV Festival - City for Transformation at the India International Centre in New Dehli, revealing some details on the event. She has noticed from audience lot of curiosity about all the different projects, further seen vibrant, vivid engagement with the topic through interesting discussions. Dr.Karan Singh who started and concluded the day in between mentioned that it is time that not only out world discover Auroville, but also for Auroville to discover that is the world out there Read more

The second day of Auroville Festival at India International Centre in Dehli has started with inaugural sessions on the covering theme Auroville City for Transformation,and Aster Patel shares with us some details in this phone recording at the spot. As she mentioned all speakers (Dr. Karan Singh, Smt, Ambika Soni, Dr. Kapila Vatsayayan, Srhi Sili Sorabjee and Mr, Shigeru Aoyagi) spoke of Auroville very warmly. The Auroville Round Table was extremely powerful since participants shared their own experiences in transforming process in AV. Read more

The Auroville Festival - City for Transformation in indian International Centre in New Dehli has finally opened its doors today after many months of careful preparations with welcoming address by Dr. Karan Singh. Bridget, Joss, Jyoti, Wendy and Deepti shares with us first impressions, first feeling of the whole event, which is very special for its size, complexity of addressing talks and round tables, and the largest number of art pieces out of Auroville at the same time. Read more

Visitor Centre last night was packed again with anticipating audience which participated all the way through ... even the drizzle of the rain in the beginning nor the fire on the electrical extension did not chase no one away. More, all added to the excitement of the show which was set similar way as the first one, but of course with new players on the competing teams. Both teams clearly expressed flexibility, sense of humor, lots of knowledge on many topics, and of course huge amount of creativity. Read more

Which are the signs of human unity in Auroville? "In my third visit to Auroville, I came to prepare the plan for my Master, about public policies under an evolutionary perspective. As Auroville aims at realizing human unity according to Sri Aurobindo’s vision, to me it seemed obvious to consider Auroville the right place to develop my research. Inspired by the question Arjuna asks to Krishna, and here I have to quote freely: when the Divine manifests on the earth, how He walks, how He sits, how He talks?" Read more

How can art and communication can contribute to human unity in Auroville? "For me it was a blessing to come to Auroville and find here planted seeds which are echo for my search. As a musician and multimedia producer I feel an enormous receptivity to art in the city of the future. My joy was even greater when I came to know that the aim of Auroville is to achieve human unity. In this context how art and communication can contribute to it?" Andrea, Nuria and Aryamani interviewed by Sebastian. Read more

Between 14th to 21st of September in Dehli at the India International Centre, Auroville will held its festival for the first time with the official title and leading theme - City for Transformation. In continuation of interview with the core team - Aster Patel, Anu, Bridget and Sebastian(who is missing at this one) we have dwelled a bit deeper on the significance of the sharing the diversity of aspects, projects, ideas that embody Auroville life as a living experience.Presence of eminent guest will also have impact of its own at the occasion. Read more