An Officer's Diary: Getting to Know Auroville C.K. Gariyali (ChennaiOnline) by rjon on Wed 11 Oct 2006 04:19 PM PDT Permanent Link Oct 12, 2006 ThuViya - Purattasi Down Memory Lane: An Officer's Diary Getting to know Auroville 1983
In 1983 when I took over as the District Collector of South Arcot District, great tension existed between Shri Aurobindo Society which runs the Ashram in Pondicherry and its own creation ‘Auroville’, situated in neighbouring South Arcot District.
One of my early roles was to diffuse this tension so that everybody could get on with the business of doing constructive work for which they came to Auroville.
Within Auroville two groups had been formed. One pro-Ashram and another pro-Auroville. The pro-Auroville group wanted to cut the umbilical cord with the mother institution and administer its activities independently as its constitution envisaged.
On the other hand Ashram was reluctant to give up control over the International City with its extensive land and other resources. Hence, it was supporting a pro-Ashram group within Auroville. The situation had become so bad that both the groups were frequently clashing. The matter had progressed from fist fighting, to beating, to assault, to damaging of valuable properties. Several criminal cases were registered on both sides. All constructive activity had come to a halt even before it began.
At the same time there was an idealistic group within Auroville who wanted to arrive at a solution and try to achieve the ideals laid down by the ‘Mother of Pondicherry’ who had conceptualised Auroville.
I also had an idealistic view of the Ashram and Auroville and the actual state of affairs came as a rude shock to me. There were over twenty criminal cases pending in different courts in South Arcot. Aurovillians had to literally attend the courts every day. There was enormous waste of time and energy. They were not allowed to leave the country due to pending criminal proceedings. They could also not engage in any developmental activity for which they had come leaving their own countries.
The problems were deep seated and required a lot of disentangling by various bodies including Government of India. In the circumstances the best help I could give was to obtain an assurance of good behaviour and a consensus to find the solutions to problems by peaceful means. On this basis I was willing to drop all the cases which each group had registered against the other; and help them to get on with their lives and work.
It was a calculated risk but it worked. Had it failed I would have been held responsible for dropping the criminal cases against people undeservingly.
I had the full co-operation of Mr. Ozha, a retired IP (Indian Police) officer who had just been appointed the administrator of Auroville by the Government of India. He did a lot to normalise the situation in Auroville. To young and passionate youth, he acted as an affectionate and restraining father. He often put his foot down apart from maintaining the democratic nature of the Auroville administration.
In this way I came close to a lot of idealistic young men and women. Many of them later participated in the community development programme for South Arcot District.
Auroville had the best of human resources. It had architects and computer engineers, horticulturists, agronomists, soil specialists, irrigation engineers, doctors, teachers, craftsmen and women and so on. Tremendous work was done by them for conserving the soil and for constructing low cost check dams. They grew hybrid mangoes and other fruit varieties.
They promoted gobar gas and other non-conventional sources of energy, experimented with low cost housing. They taught weaving, furniture making, leather work, jewellery making and knitting to the villagers. They even assembled computers with the help of uneducated youth. The variety of activity was immense. It ranged from breeding horses to running health care programmes and schools.
I tried to channelise their energy to the neighbouring village in Markanam block. A lot of appropriate technologies were transferred to other parts of the district.
We also granted a lot of assistance under trycem programme (training for employment to village youth) to Auroville to train rural youth. Nearly all of them found employment in the workshops of Auroville itself. Many of them have now become Aurovillians and are an integral part of the International City. In addition Auroville was officially made an agency for promotion of Gobar gas in the district. Many soil conservation and minor irrigation projects in the district were granted to Auroville for execution.
I was immensely impressed by a Frenchman called André who ran a workshop called ‘New Creations’. He taught crafts to village youth. Later he got involved in teaching traditional sculpture, and wood carving to the village youth. Master craftsmen were invited from Kallakurichi to come and live in Auroville. André developed an excellent ‘School of Arts and Crafts’. For the first time crafts were taught to the children of non-sthapathy (non-sculptor) families including dalit children.
Even today ‘New-Creations’ is a very important institution of Auroville. André later married a young Tamil woman from a neighbouring village who used to work in New Creations. During a recent visit I met the family. Now they have two daughters and have been living happily all along.
I also saw that Auroville was lush and green with mango and other fruit trees. The ‘Temple of Mother’ (Matri Mandir) was almost complete. The whole place looked delightful and most of the quarrels seemed to have been forgotten.
Some years ago an inscription was found on the wall of an ancient temple in Auroville saying something like this: ‘Once upon a time this dry and arid place was a tropical forest. It would again become lush and green when people from different parts of the world will come here and work together’. I am sure ‘Mother’ would have known about this inscription when she conceptualised Auroville.
The prophesy in the inscription has come true. Today Auroville has representatives from almost all parts of the world. It is truly an ‘International City’. The ‘Mother’s’ dream has come true. More Articles Re-published on Oct 5th, 2006 Posted to: Main Page .. India AUROVILLE .. Av news & press
One of my early roles was to diffuse this tension so that everybody could get on with the business of doing constructive work for which they came to Auroville.
Within Auroville two groups had been formed. One pro-Ashram and another pro-Auroville. The pro-Auroville group wanted to cut the umbilical cord with the mother institution and administer its activities independently as its constitution envisaged.
On the other hand Ashram was reluctant to give up control over the International City with its extensive land and other resources. Hence, it was supporting a pro-Ashram group within Auroville. The situation had become so bad that both the groups were frequently clashing. The matter had progressed from fist fighting, to beating, to assault, to damaging of valuable properties. Several criminal cases were registered on both sides. All constructive activity had come to a halt even before it began.
At the same time there was an idealistic group within Auroville who wanted to arrive at a solution and try to achieve the ideals laid down by the ‘Mother of Pondicherry’ who had conceptualised Auroville.
I also had an idealistic view of the Ashram and Auroville and the actual state of affairs came as a rude shock to me. There were over twenty criminal cases pending in different courts in South Arcot. Aurovillians had to literally attend the courts every day. There was enormous waste of time and energy. They were not allowed to leave the country due to pending criminal proceedings. They could also not engage in any developmental activity for which they had come leaving their own countries.
The problems were deep seated and required a lot of disentangling by various bodies including Government of India. In the circumstances the best help I could give was to obtain an assurance of good behaviour and a consensus to find the solutions to problems by peaceful means. On this basis I was willing to drop all the cases which each group had registered against the other; and help them to get on with their lives and work.
It was a calculated risk but it worked. Had it failed I would have been held responsible for dropping the criminal cases against people undeservingly.
I had the full co-operation of Mr. Ozha, a retired IP (Indian Police) officer who had just been appointed the administrator of Auroville by the Government of India. He did a lot to normalise the situation in Auroville. To young and passionate youth, he acted as an affectionate and restraining father. He often put his foot down apart from maintaining the democratic nature of the Auroville administration.
In this way I came close to a lot of idealistic young men and women. Many of them later participated in the community development programme for South Arcot District.
Auroville had the best of human resources. It had architects and computer engineers, horticulturists, agronomists, soil specialists, irrigation engineers, doctors, teachers, craftsmen and women and so on. Tremendous work was done by them for conserving the soil and for constructing low cost check dams. They grew hybrid mangoes and other fruit varieties.
They promoted gobar gas and other non-conventional sources of energy, experimented with low cost housing. They taught weaving, furniture making, leather work, jewellery making and knitting to the villagers. They even assembled computers with the help of uneducated youth. The variety of activity was immense. It ranged from breeding horses to running health care programmes and schools.
I tried to channelise their energy to the neighbouring village in Markanam block. A lot of appropriate technologies were transferred to other parts of the district.
We also granted a lot of assistance under trycem programme (training for employment to village youth) to Auroville to train rural youth. Nearly all of them found employment in the workshops of Auroville itself. Many of them have now become Aurovillians and are an integral part of the International City. In addition Auroville was officially made an agency for promotion of Gobar gas in the district. Many soil conservation and minor irrigation projects in the district were granted to Auroville for execution.
I was immensely impressed by a Frenchman called André who ran a workshop called ‘New Creations’. He taught crafts to village youth. Later he got involved in teaching traditional sculpture, and wood carving to the village youth. Master craftsmen were invited from Kallakurichi to come and live in Auroville. André developed an excellent ‘School of Arts and Crafts’. For the first time crafts were taught to the children of non-sthapathy (non-sculptor) families including dalit children.
Even today ‘New-Creations’ is a very important institution of Auroville. André later married a young Tamil woman from a neighbouring village who used to work in New Creations. During a recent visit I met the family. Now they have two daughters and have been living happily all along.
I also saw that Auroville was lush and green with mango and other fruit trees. The ‘Temple of Mother’ (Matri Mandir) was almost complete. The whole place looked delightful and most of the quarrels seemed to have been forgotten.
Some years ago an inscription was found on the wall of an ancient temple in Auroville saying something like this: ‘Once upon a time this dry and arid place was a tropical forest. It would again become lush and green when people from different parts of the world will come here and work together’. I am sure ‘Mother’ would have known about this inscription when she conceptualised Auroville.
The prophesy in the inscription has come true. Today Auroville has representatives from almost all parts of the world. It is truly an ‘International City’. The ‘Mother’s’ dream has come true. More Articles Re-published on Oct 5th, 2006 Posted to: Main Page .. India AUROVILLE .. Av news & press
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