Auroville

So, I spent a month in Auroville. 1 week in march, when I attended a "Earth & bamboo" construction workshop, and 3 weeks until yesterday, during which I attended an intensive course on bioclimatic design with earth (both times speaking about the material, "soil", "mud".

But still, I don't know how to talk about Auroville. Maybe here more than anywhere else, one has to experience it for some time. Please do go there on your next trip...
It's much more than a bunch of nostalgic hippies living in "almost gated" communities :) More also than a fun camp for retired people who enjoy riding their mopeds without a helmet :)
And not a cult either, even though the founders' pictures are to be found everywhere.

It's a place where one can think, meditate, find quietness.
The Matrimandir, the spacecraft-like spiritual center of Auroville, is even designed for this sole purpose. And this is an impressive architectural experience, enhanced by the fact it's not the work of one company, one contractor under one guy's orders, but much more of a collective realisation. It took so much will and collective work to come to completion that one can only be impressed.

Auroville is also a place where you can still feel that if you want to do something, try something, there's room for that.
I am not going to describe all the farming activity, the reforestation projects, the researches on renewable energy and sustainable life that are taking place in Auroville. Once again, one has to come to experience it and have an idea for himself about what this place intended for human unity is, and can be.Read more