A crazy month in Auroville !

Auroville is an experimental city located in the State of Tamil Nadu in the South of India.
Created in 1968 by Mira Alfassa, also called “the mother”, the aim of Auroville is to unit people, its vocation is about raising human consciousness and develop unity in its diversity, all without religious influence’s.
In 1988, Auroville obtained it own status from Indian Government.
Gathering today around 2500 inhabitants of over 50 nationalities . Auroville aims to be a research and experimentation’s area , whether environmental, cultural, societal or spiritual.
Basically ,a deserted and arid’s zone, Auroville is today a green city with its own economy and organization.

Difficult to summarize “what’s Auroville”, in few lines, so I invite you to go check on their website,to get better picture on what is happening in this unique autonomous city in the world: https://www.auroville.org/

fascinated by this concept, we decide to ride in the direction of Auroville, “the city of dawn”.

We will spend our first night on stand-by, by a field at Auroville entrance’s. Time to get all necessary authorizations to enter our convoys into the cite.
We present our trip and explain we would like to get involved through the Organization of an outdoor cinema,” sauce “ cooking, stupefied by our trip on progress, we open Auroville ‘s doors on March 11th.
Auroville is about many “pavilions”, each corresponding to a country or a continent. Depending on the Pavilion, the latter can offer cultural activities, accommodation facilities or even restoration with touch of their own culture.
We will land at the African Pavilion, this one being the most suitable to welcome a group like our.

The parking is large and pleasant,offering a nice angle with trees. This corner will be our!
We are full motived in organizing an event to share and exchange with locals and visitors of this unusual place.
Well aware that launching a free party as we know is not necessarily the most adapted thing at first, we propose to organize an open-air cinema to African Pavilion’s managers. This will be first shot on this trip, the date is raised for March 17. So a week to take our marque and create a camp ready to receive this open air cinema.

Getting into the game and the energy that Auroville spread. We’re 100% on creating a beautiful place where our guests will feel good.

It must be said that here life is sweet and pleasant. It floats an atmosphere of well-being and lightness, we feel immediately.
The environment is clean and pleasant. The beach is less than 10 minutes away.
We find pleasures we had no access for over 8 months: bakery with baguettes and croissants, cheeses, Ricard, showers every day…
We will rent mopeds for the cursed sum of 75 rupees a day (around 90cs euro) and return to adolescence! Nothing is more pleasant than moving two wheels on these beautiful roads,
la Dolce Vita ..

We succeed creating a beautiful cosy atmosphere for this first edition of open air cinema. People are also at the rendez-vous! The only inconveniant is we had few technical problems with movies projections , we would need a little training for future. However , exchanges were there. Many couldn’t stand we came from France by road and livng like that. Complete visit of trucks are part of the game and some leave even inspired.

The following week gives us more time to discover Auroville and Pundicherry, old French counter and big town close to Auroville.

It seems that you get the energy you spread , definitly true.
The desire to organize a free party within Auroville or in its surroundings comes . For that, we needed contacts, connecting with people who might know the place well and explaining Indian’s strings.
One evening at the camp by food time, we had a visitor. People coming to talk with us about our trip getting frequent since our arrival. Those come to offer us to organize a party on their side.
That’s how we got introduced to Magda and Francois. Connections on. We will spend time with them to get to know each other, it comes that we are on same level, we have something to do together!

This is how we land a few days later with our horde of dogs, our trucks and our motivation for a party at infinity comunity.
Auroville also understands communities or resident residents, each independent: transformation, success, protection, revelation, aspiration, youth camp, courage, dream,…
Magda’s community is called infinity. Lost in nature, autonomous in water and electricity, this place is a haven of peace.

 

We will have no difficulty to choose crime’s location! Unanimously, our choice goes for bamboo forest. Shady and vast, it is a bamboo dedale that elancent to the sky. Imagination is going full on. Amplifying this place through lights and decors is going to be real pleasure.

A new week of prepa is waiting for us. Communication with our new friends at infinity’s community goes by itself, we feel that this feast will take a sacred dimension.

Needing to rent lights, we will even have the chance to experiment an Indian sound and light renting company. Visit is worth the detour, between the technicians in tap, rentals of garlands and car-sono, it’s folklore!

Full on Organization, everybody on its own role, enjoying to be able to prepare a party a week ahead in such location. Afternoons are very hot, getting close to 40 degrees, we begin to know the trick.

We start the sound on Saturday, March 30th at the end of afternoon, Just time for last details and first participants arriving… It is a parking for the last atypical that begins to fill, an army of mopeds ligned on the way! Used to manage parking lots with trucks and cars access , we died laughing in front of the alignment of two wheels in the forest.

Dancefloor fills up quickly and the atmosphere is burning at the slightest cut. All right, mayonnaise’s coming up!
There are people from all nationalities, mainly from Auroville but also a lot of locals.
Not even a tension or a snagging will occur during these 24 hours at our great happiness.We feared some the eventual “derapage” with locals. Coming to India, finding a lot and organising a free party as we would have “at home” could be very dangerous. Indians can react quite badly on alcohol. Tensions rise very quickly.We have been well briefed by Magda who has already lived bad experience of the kind few years before. Organizing in Auroville and for the most, in a quite isolated place in the Woods gave us a lot of fears .

Some people who lived in Auroville for many years assure us that in memory they have never lived a party like this one. For others it will be a first techno experience. We are conscious and happy about the success of the evening. Dancefloor in morning at the sunrise is memorable with crazy energy and people dancing free.

HERE THE LINK TO THE VIDEO ABOUT THE PARTY >>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5DGMp7W97A

 

This Sambo was a real success.
It is now time to unbuild, recharge, this eternal ritual that is part of the journey.
Already three weeks we are in Auroville…. some of us will stay a whole month. Initially thinking to stay a week, time has gone crazyly speed here.

This month passed within Auroville was for us as air bubble in this trip. Somewhere we were able to stop thinking about road, papers, visas and where the art and organization of event was atthe center of our attentions.
It was a month when things flowed by themselves, a little insousciance became possible, an intense month in emotions with great encounters.
It is an accomplishment for us to have been able to bring our stone, certainly ephemere, to the edifice of Auroville.
This place where these people give their energy and their work has built a better world will inspire us for the future. And to our great happiness we will also have been inspiring for some.

But this remains a bubble and once out of these, return to reality is a bit tough. We start the road to Kerala and already, compromised of the road start again! 🙂