Welcome to Auroville

I know that most people that have heard from Auroville and have done some research about it pretty much know all about it’s philosophy... but how many of them can really picture the actual city - or should I say village- that is Auroville.

So for those people who have never been here and just read the Sri Aurobindo or the Mother’s theories, essays and other books; for those who intensively googled it or looked it up on Wikipedia to have a clearer idea of this project-town here is, a word-picture for you.

First of all let me just say that this is written from the point of view of a new-comer and that this description (and also judgement) can change as I spend more time here and as I get more familiar with this overwhelming new environment. 

What you probably don’t know about Auroville is that its not exactly a city... nor can I call it a village or a town. Auroville is mostly a forest, its streets are paths drawn in the sand and its buildings are hardly recognizable because they are well hidden in between parts of the forest. Also Auroville itself isn’t just ONE town or village or whatever you may want to call it. Sure there is a certain “Auroville city area” but for the most part it’s a melting pot of a lot of indian villages. It’s organized in two concentric circles. The inner one (the city area) contains the public buildings, residential area (for aurovillians only) and some attractions for the tourists (visitor center, some guest houses, and some food joints). In the center of the city area (so the center of the inner circle) you find the Matrimandir: big golden ball with a HUGE garden and an inner meditation hall. The outer circle is called the green belt: that is where you find villages and slightly bigger towns. I live in a village called Edayan Chavadi which is really at the limit of the inner circle. Its doesn’t contain anything really worth seeing, its mostly huts, little shops and a temple. And that is also where the kids from my school live. More on the outside of the circle (actually not even in Auroville itself) is a town called Kuyliapallyam and if you want my new-comer opinion this place is a thousand times more interesting than the Auroville city area. That is where most of the young volunteers or tourists who feel rejected by the aurvillians (which is totally understandable feeling) come. There are shops, cafés, restaurants, guest houses, supermarkets... there is pretty much everything you need to make a volunteer looking for new experiences (or tourists) happy. 

For now that is all I have to say about Auroville (the city).