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FOR ALL / Pour Tous
Celebration 14.03.'02
Going Organic Together
Aug. 02
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This report is about Pour Tous (originally named
'FOR ALL/POUR TOUS), a wonderfully progressive establishment in Auroville
initiated in March 1972, based on Mother's original encouragement. The
work on this organisation, which still fully functions, began through
Aurovilian Clare Fanning, who shares here her story and a history of
the unit.
Supply for Aurovilians of the first hour
"I wrote this project in early 1972 at the
age of 23. After living for more than a year in Auroville, I had become
keenly aware of the need for an Aurovilian service dedicated to supplying
Aurovilians with what they needed in their various fields of activity,
so that they could be free to concentrate on the work to be done. I
very much wanted to see such a service established, as individuals having
to go to Pondicherry or Madras for supplies wasted much time. When,
on top of that, I read Mother's definition of 'money', I was determined
to put my energies into creating that financial protection around such
a supply service. Mother told us that money was the Divine's power in
the material world, but that it was, unfortunately, in the hands of
the vital forces. She added that it needed to be won back for the Divine.
So, it seemed clear to me that if Auroville was to be the materialisation
of a Divine Dream, the money to supply this Dream - without the internal
exchange of money - needed to be protected.
In those days Auroville did not have its own administration,
except in Pondicherry, where one would find, in the Auroville beach-office,
rows of large wooden desks devoted to admin matters upon entering. One
could see Aurovilians in lungis and kurtas waiting there to collect
sometimes large amounts of cash from this or that Fund in order to advance
the work. It was frustrating not to have an Aurovilian administration
in Auroville itself. When the administration of Auroville eventually
shifted to Auroville in 1976-7, it came to be localised behind the 'For
All / Pour Tous' building, where money and supplies were centralised.
Proper channel
My proposal letter to Mother was short and to the
point; I even went away to sit quietly and put into few words what was
the understanding in my head. The proposal said, "Mother, if one
day Auroville is to function fluently for need and demand without the
internal exchange of money, perhaps the time has come to create that
'proper channel'. We could begin in a temporary building and see how
things evolve." And in an additional note given at the same time,
not wanting to draw too much attention to that 'channel', I asked: "Mother,
if this is the work to do and money comes in for it, what should be
the name of the bank account?"
This is it! This is it!
In those days, all new ideas were presented to Mother
through Shyamsundar; so also this one. Having read the proposal and
follow-up note to Mother, Shyamsundar said that he had never seen her
so happy, and that she said excitedly while pointing her finger in a
tapping motion, "C'est ça! C'est ça! Donnez-moi une papier et
stylo !" ("This is it! This is it! Give me a paper and
pen!") She then wrote in large letters 'FOR ALL' and in smaller
letters 'Pour Tous'. (It may be worthwhile noting that, at the time,
Mother almost always signed her name as 'Mira' in cases pertaining to
Auroville projects. The original paper, glued into a rosewood symbol
of Auroville and signed by 'Mira', is presently available in the Auroville
Archives, and may one day find its return to the Financial Services.)
As to the further development of a project, Mother used to encourage
each Aurovilian to lead their project according to their own consciousness
and sincerity.
Prayer for bank account
Without the permission of the Sri Aurobindo Society,
which was in charge at the time of all Auroville accounts, I went to
the State Bank of India in Aspiration to open the 'FOR ALL / Pour Tous"
account. This was done together with Surbhi Patel, the first young Indian
girl to live in Auroville's boarding school, hereto encouraged by her
avant-guard grandfather Kalyanjibhai Metha, then speaker of the Lok
Sabha and a firm believer in Auroville. At 18, Surbhi had decided to
live in Auroville, and agreed to work with me.
Before going into the bank to co-sign the account,
the two of us said our prayer that it would, one day, radiate the Divine's
power so that the monies could be protected for Auroville's manifestation..
And so it started. It took about two years to build what became known
as the first 'Pour Tous' building adjacent to Kuilapalayam, neighbouring
the Aspiration settlement (where it presently still serves as the Aspiration
post office). FOR ALL / Pour Tous effectively opened for service on
February 28th 1974. The first service provided was only for food and
basic supplies. The place had a joyous atmosphere, with a small team
working in constant 'surrender' to provide the best possible customer
service. Surbhi played an integral part in the success of this work,
fully sharing the workload.
The system starts
So now there was a system in place! Accounts were
growing daily. For efficiency sake, everyone had to have their order
in by 6 pm, so that lists could be worked out for the next day's shopping
by bullock cart in Pondicherry. All accounts were 'on deposit' only;
there were no cash transactions across the counter. A small percentage
was taken to support the work, but prices were never raised above the
actual Pondy purchase price. Pour Tous was not conceived as a commercial
undertaking to make money, but as a service to help supply what was
needed at the best price. (Sometimes, our prices were even better than
the Ashram's, which simply occurred because the north-Indians doing
the shopping for the Ashram could never match Madhasudan's negotiating
skill as a Tamil Aurovilian in a Tamil market place!)
For all Aurovilians who had personal accounts, plus
work units and some community kitchens (in those days there was little
or no cooking in huts at home), monies were regularly deposited. For
Aurovilians under Prosperity (an automatic system whereby, upon receiving
Mother's approval to join Auroville, all Aurovilians could receive housing,
food, clothing, a bed & bedding with mosquito nets, and toiletry
items), I collected once a month their money for food maintenance from
one of those desks at the beach office in Pondy. I would also collect
for most of the community kitchens. All cash was then put into the 'FOR
ALL / Pour Tous' account in Auroville. Yusuf Patel, Auroville's own
chief accountant at that time, monthly audited our books. All the then
functioning work units committed themselves to contribute 10% of their
turnover after a year of operation. By year's end we had separate accounts
for every work unit, every community kitchen, and almost every Aurovilian.
I'm proud to say that we never had money unaccounted for, with the exception
of a one-time theft of 50 rupees. By the summer of 1975, knowing that
the organisation was well established and no longer depended upon my
presence, I could leave to complete my studies in France. Surbhi, Christine
Bernard, Jayalakshmi and accountant Ellumalai (from the adjacent village
of Kuilyapalayam), knew how to take care of everyone.
Pour Tous baskets and meetings
In 1976, the 'order' system changed into a uniform
basket delivery system, due to monetary restrictions, in which food
items that were bought from the monies available were equally distributed
among the residents, along with their share of Auroville-grown agricultural
produce. Meanwhile, Auroville started having weekly general meetings
which were called 'Pour Tous' meetings. These gatherings, which went
on under the 'Pour Tous' name for quite a few years, saw some heated
times that were not always characterised by wisdom, but rather by human
touches, specially when Auroville's legal identity came into question
and created serious divisions of opinion and strong emotions. Even so,
we reached a general agreement and stuck to it, namely, that the food
baskets would be sent to each and very Aurovilian regardless of his/her
ideas or (political) opinions. Those were turbulent years, until the
Supreme Court upheld the Executive Order of Parliament in 1982 and stated
that Auroville represented the highest ideal of India and that nothing
should 'thwart' it.
Present situation
After the first five years, the original Pour Tous
building became too small, and we moved to another building nearby.
As the services grew, so did the dimensions of accounting. A very sincere
and solid staff developed a complete and well functioning computerised
accounting system, and moved with it into a building next door.
During the subsequent years, the words 'Pour Tous'
have come to mean - in the minds of most people - the name of the 'store',
and 'Pour Tous account' the channel via which almost all transactions
within Auroville today are processed under its current 'Financial
Service'.
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