Radical Women, Marvelous Men

Julian Lines, 2001

Wendy and I went to visit Auroville for the first time in four years and happily coincided with Nilauro's visit. Actually, the whole visit was one long happy coincidence.

The general "up" or "wow" or "buoyant simultaneity" could be seen in the various personalities and dynamic work of recent visitors and their reaction to Auroville.

Julian Lines speaks at the Consecration Ceremony of the Americas Site of the International Zone.

While we were there we attended some very interesting presentations and met some great people. We experienced musician Ned Rothenberg, a free blowing jazz improviser on sax, and Shakuhachi, who was really enjoying Auroville and the collaboration with artists there and vice versa. We also went to see a troupe of Bauls fresh from the Kumba Mehla (lilting drums and plucks from the mendicant Krishna-intoxicated Bengalis). We met Jasmuheen, an Australian woman who claims to "live on light" as instructed by spirit guide Saint Germain (she purportedly takes only an occasional cup of tea and cake) and Margrit Kennedy, an architect and innovative economist and a member of the Lebensgarten community in Germany. She proposes an interest-free economy and a local currency - dubbed Auros.

That Auroville could invite, welcome and dialogue on so many fronts was a sure reflection on the vitality and overall well-being of the community.

I was thrilled, after enduring so many harsh encounters with buses and lories and motorcycles and mopeds polluting the air, to hear that Carsten was seriously pursuing an electric bike project - complete with recharging stations. I think it is wonderful that Auroville is forging ahead on this front (Jack Alexander and B Sullivan being the original pioneers on this front).

We found the work at Annapurna, an outlying farm, to be another "gem in the crown" of Auroville. In the long march towards food sustainability, Brooks Anderson and Franz are trying red rice and millet at Annapurna. Their efforts were especially heartening since it is so difficult to farm organically and deal consciously with water, especially in the face of so much poor use of water resources in the surrounding bioregion.

Many of our dreams for an American Pavilion in the International Zone were hovering in the air during Auroville's 33rd Birthday.

As part of the emerging International Zone, the "last frontier" of the town plan, areas corresponding to the continents have been designated (figure on next page). We consecrated the North/South American zone in anticipation of actually initiating some building there next year in a very exciting collaboration between Auroville and the University of Washington. Ashram trustees, Roger Anger (Auroville's Chief Architect), Mr. Balabaskar, the Secretary, Kireet Joshi, Chairman of the Governing Board, and Bernard Altar, the American Consul General from Madras, were all in attendance.

We sang and read poetry and had a spontaneous serenade from a group of architects from Chile. It was another step forward. It was a privilege to be there.