Auroville

A man by the name of Shri Aurobindo became well-known in Puducherry. He founded an ashram here. (to me he looks like an angry man)



A French woman known as 'the mother' associated with him. She began to provide the teachings when Aurobindo decided to retire from public life.



After he passed away, she decided 40 years ago to create Auroville, an utopic city.



This is the project they created to get the approval from the Indian government, but it has never been built.



Matrimandir, the central ufo-temple.



Astride. We first met in Paris through couchsurfing. I am hosted in her family in Puducherry. As local Indians, they explained me what all this has meant for them. For long, it actually looked like the apartheid they say. It was totally forbidden for local people to enter the ghetto, unless they would be working for Aurovillians.



On the right, local Tamil script. The concept is not bad, but the seed of the problem lies in what means "be the willing servitor of the Divine Consciousness". It's quite an awkward definition to decide whether one can live there or not. It finally turned to be totally sectarian and they almost accepted only western people giving all their fortune. They have created lots of hospitals and clinics but they don't share anything with local people, who are quite poor people. Conclusion : dreams of utopias are rotten from the base because they are totally selfish.




At least they have beautiful trees on their land