Auroville Day 3

Our wake up call for this morning was 5:30 AM, unfortunately that didn't work out as planned. Almost every single room slept past their alarm, now that wouldn't have been a problem on any other day except that we were supposed to start work at 6:15 at the Buddha Garden.

We ended up arriving at 6:30ish and went straight to work. One groups went to weed out the gardens, another went to dig holes and my group helped out with cleaning and removing basil and basella spinach from the stalks, which was then distributed to the various restaurants in Auroville. It was so fragrant, and my hands ended up smelling like basil for the rest of the day. We were working with other volunteers who stay on the farm in wood and palm thatch pods. I was talking to this Australian man who said he was here because his partner was doing an anthropological study on Auroville for her PhD. I asked what her main objective/question was that she wanted to get answered and he said she started off with one but since living within the community every question was ripped apart, sewn back together as well as new ones being added constantly.

 It would be amazing if I could volunteer here. I would be getting practical experience with sub-tropical agriculture which would be a great asset in the future. I would also be able to meet some awesome like-minded people and get a feel for Auroville. Most people said they started off by staying one month, then three, then six months and then commit to the full volunteer year. I could go back to Canada, get my agriculture diploma and come back with some very useful knowledge. They were growing corn, beans, pumpkins, basil, cashews, bananas, papayas, basella. After we had finished a volunteer took me over to their integrated chickens to feed them the leftover basil and basella.

They call them "integrated" because their main purpose is to recycle their garden waste (as their food) and produce high nutrient, organic fertilizer. The few eggs they do produce are a by-product, but not the main objective. Everything works within this cycle, where waste isn't waste because it can be put back into the environment with positive effects. We got a tour of the full gardens, we saw their solar panels, the chicken coop of course, the green house, the raised beds and their experimental garden. Around 9 am we went to the main house to eat a breakfast of fresh papaya, banana, bread and jam as well as an amazing lemongrass tea. We said our goodbyes and thank yous and headed to Town Hall.

When I got there with a few other students none of the chaperon's or the rest of the group was there... and they weren't answering their phones. We waited patiently until they arrived with muffins and chocolate rolls! They went to a bakery and didn't tell us. The muffins were amazing however, so they were quickly forgiven.
We made our way up to the top floor to meet with Auroville's city planner Gill. He talked about the future of Auroville, as well as they past. He showed us the changes this city has gone through from the late sixties all the way up to now (Gill himself being there from the early seventies).

There were models of the city all over the place as well as maps outlining what was officially the property of Auroville. There are four main sections; residential, industrial, cultural and international. These four sections represent four petals of a flower, which was the original design done by The Mother. The design of the Matrimandir (meditation centre) came up as well. It is representative of a lotus with twelve surrounding 'petals' with another twelve surrounding those. I really hope I will be able to go inside before I leave. It looks like such a peaceful place, as well as emitting very positive vibes. It is essentially the centre of Aurovile, almost like a sun, and how everything circles around it.
Auroville eventually hopes to have a population of around 50,000, even though this is a lot of people he seemed confident about this number and that it would work to the benefit of the city. I asked about the politics/government of Auroville and he replied with "Divine Anarchy", it is a very interesting concept. Anarchy only works if everyone can agree to live within a community with an absent government. They do however have to abide by the laws of Tamil Nadu and India as a whole, but there is no mayor or "municipal" government. If Auroville can do it, it just serves as a model for other communities that this is possible. The way we live and interact with others can be changed, not only on a governmental level but also emotional and economically. He said something that really struck a chord with me, "Do you want to have more, or be more." A small statement with a huge impact. Maybe we all say 'be more', of course, because that is what we think we should say, but is it really reflective of our lifestyle, actions, words and thoughts? I think humans like to project this perfect image of themselves to the outside world and somewhere down the line we end up believing our own lies. We must soul search and be truly honest to ourselves be revealed the answers. When we admit our flaws that is when we can address them and change for the better. He was a very interesting man and a wonderful alternative perspective on Auroville. "It's not just hippies working at the grass roots level. It's hippies working on the top floor office too." They are making something happen, and that is very admirable. Auroville stretches so far and encompasses many different places, ideas and socially responsible people doing socially responsible projects. One of them being Aurospirul, their very own Spirulina farm.

Spirulina is a blue-green algae shaped like a perfect spiral coil, it is also considered one of the oldest inhabitants on earth, appearing 3.6 billion years ago. It very well may be the healthiest food supplement on the planet. It is a whopping 65% complete protein (rare in non-animal sources). It contains HUGE amounts of Vitamin A/Beta Carotene, Vitamin D, K, B12 (also rare in non-animal sources), B1 and B2. It contains 80% of your daily value of iron, 25% DV of Manganese, 21% DV Chromium, it also contains selenium, magnesium and calcium. In other words this is one SUPER FOOD, and it also helps to build up your immune system. At the farm there were pools of algae, and we tried dried spirulina (yummy and crunchy), powdered spirulina with lemon juice (so good I'm going to start doing this when I get home) and fresh spirulina... that one was definitely an acquired taste.

We also headed to Auroville's Solar Kitchen. They have a huge bowl shaped solar catcher that collects and converts the sun's heat to steam. They then use the steam to cook hundreds of meals everyday. It was amazing to see the incredible technology behind a project like this.





Next stop was the canyon range that cuts through Auroville. Within these canyons check dams have been built to stop the rains from washing top soil into the ocean as well as returning the rain water to the underground aquifers. The ground water is what Auroville relies on, and it has been their aggressive water conservation that has turned a dry desert into a lush forest.