|
Communities in alphabetic order
|
| |
|
| |
Petite Ferme
|
Housing
& Communities
|
| Name
of the community : |
Petite
Ferme |
| Number
of houses : |
10
houses |
| Number
of people : |
14
adults |
| Date
of creation : |
1985 |
| Guesthouse
: |
Yes |
| E-mail
contact : |
mical@auroville.org.in |
More details :
 There
is a core community plus four houses which have
also fall under the same name. The community mainly
uses solar power; there is a common kitchen and
a big sound room where concerts and sound workshops
are taking place from time to time.
There is no farming in this 'Petite Ferme' and hence
we're thinking about re-naming the place.
There are two keet houses
for guests as well as two rooms (one single 150.-
and one 250.- double ).
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
Pitchandikulam
|
Housing
& Communities
|
| Name
of the community : |
Pitchandikulam |
| Number
of houses : |
9
houses |
| Number
of people : |
8
adults and 2 children |
| Date
of creation : |
1973 |
| Guesthouse
: |
Yes |
| E-mail
contact : |
joss@auroville.org.in |
More details :
Pitchandikulam is an area
of 50 acres within Auroville's GreenBelt. Prior
to 1973, when Joss began protecting and implementing
processes of regeneration on this land, the area
was dry and desolate with only a few scattered palm
trees. Today it is a peaceful sanctuary of self-regenerating
forest with a wide diversity of flora and fauna.
Throughout the years, there
has been a strong emphasis on conservation of indigenous
plant species. These last years, there has been
a particular focus on medicinal plants and a team
of young botanists is working with us.
Apart from the 8 permanents
residents, 15 workers come daily to help with the
forest, the garden, the nursery and the seed bank.
In a sense, the Pitchandikulam
area is divided into two separate settlements. Apart
from the above described community, there is another
residential section with two houses whose Aurovilian
occupants work in entirely different fields.
>> more
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
Pony Farm
|
Housing
& Communities
|
| Name
of the community : |
Pony
Farm |
| Number
of houses : |
4
houses |
| Number
of people : |
6
adults and 2 children |
| Date
of creation : |
19 |
| Guesthouse
: |
Yes |
| E-mail
contact : |
nicolette@auroville.org.in |
More details :
The Pony Farm is a farm
with 19 ponies and horses, 3 cows, 7 dogs, some
cats and some chickens. We give riding classes and
do ride-outs. Our main activity is around horses,
but we also have some side activities like a vegetable
garden, fruit orchard, a little snack bar and a
small tailoring unit. We have a flower and plant
nursery and want to start a little poultry again
for the eggs.
We also have two guesthouses.
The price of the guesthouses is Rs 200 per night
per person. They are keet capsules (bamboo structured,
thatched huts) with small kitchen areas downstairs,
including a fridge and all cooking utensils.
We're young, live in a forest
area near to the Kottakarai village, and are quite
close with the animals.
Our community has a common
kitchen but no fixed 'cooking days' or things like
that. Anybody living or staying in the place for
a longer period of time is supposed to participate
in the work, - there are quite a few choices!
We have 8 people from the
village working with us on a permanent basis and
they help us with the day-to-day upkeep of the place,
although we also get a lot of help from people passing
through. We give riding classes to about 45 kids
from Auroville and to some children from Pondicherry.
We organise events and shows from time to time and
regularly have full moon rides and other horse related
activities.
We are open during the weekend but closed on Tuesdays.
If you want to know anything
more specific you can contact me at nicolette@auroville.org.in
>> more
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
Prarthna
|
Housing
& Communities
|
| Community
name : |
Prarthna |
| Number
of houses : |
2
apartment blocks with 5 apartments each, 1 youth house
with 6 rooms (WeDK), and 9 row houses, 3 of which
are under construction. |
| Number
of people : |
35 |
| Date
the community started : |
First
people moved in 1994 |
| Guesthouse
: |
1
space in Prarthna and 1 room in WeDK |
| E-mail
contact : |
arlette@auroville.org.in |
More details:
 The
Prarthna (meaning 'Prayer') settlement is very centrally
located: it's just a 10-minute walk to the Solar
Kitchen. Its residents are a cosmopolitan group,
with about 10 nationalities and 3 Indian States
represented. We know and like each other and hold
community meetings about once a month.
Basically, it's a quite individualistic settlement,
but we're making an effort to become more community
oriented.
WeDK is a youth residency
in the Prarthna area where 6 young adults live together
as a small community (common living space, kitchen
and dining room, shared bathrooms). Once a week,
each of them in turn cooks a meal for dinner. It's
a very friendly atmosphere and the people living
in this building all know each other very well.
At a certain moment they decided to have an own
identity and searched for a name for their community
but couldn't find anything better than We Don't
Know (WeDK). The place is now known as WeDK, pronounce
WeeDeeKay, and the contact address is bobby@auroville.org.in
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
Prayatna
|
Housing
& Communities
|
| Community
name : |
Prayatna |
| Number
of houses : |
4
blocs (19 rooms) and a newcomer house |
| Number
of people : |
17
adults and 7 children |
| Date
the community started : |
1995 |
| Guesthouse
: |
Yes,
3 rooms |
| E-mail
contact : |
partha@auroville.org.in |
More details :
 We
have 3 rooms for guests, they have to share the
bathroom and toilet but it's clean and cheap: 60
rupees a day (twice less for students), including
laundry. We have a community kitchen where everyone
can cook his or her own meal, and we take lunch
in the Solar Kitchen.
(I think that Prayatna's situation is in need to
improve in the future because it has become a bit
of a black spot in Auroville. Some design mistakes
may have been made?)
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
Protection
|
Housing
& Communities
|
| Community
name : |
Protection |
| Number
of houses : |
2
houses and the Auroville Dental Centre |
| Number
of people : |
4
adults and 2 children |
| Date
the community started : |
End
of 70 ies |
| Guesthouse
: |
No |
| E-mail
contact : |
mani@auroville.org.in |
More details :
Protection is an old community.
We used to have a small common kitchen but this
was turned into a house after a while. Now two Indian
families live there. The Dental Clinic is situated
at the entrance of the settlement and you have to
go through a little path under the trees to find
the houses.
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
Quiet
|
Housing
& Communities
|
| Community
name : |
Quiet |
| Number
of houses : |
8
houses |
| Number
of people : |
9
adults and 2 children and 3 temporarily |
| Date
the community started : |
Several
times, continuously inhabited from`87 |
| Guesthouse
: |
3
rooms (separate from the Healing Center) |
| E-mail
contact : |
quiet@auroville.org.in |
More details :
'Quiet' mainly consists
of the Quiet Healing Center, and on the side there
are Aurovilians living on the land owned by Quiet/Auroville,
or leased by Auroville. They almost all are working
in the Healing Center.
There aren't really any common spaces as such. Whatever
one can call common space is all located in the
Quiet Healing Center. As most residents work there,
the Center also functions as their meeting place.
The Aurovilians living on
site, enjoy a wonderful, quiet place, completely
on the other side of the Healing Center. Near their
residences, one finds a palm garden at the beachside,
bordered by bougainvillea, in which also are located
2 small and 3 bigger capsules (leaf and bamboo huts),
toilets, showers and a simple kitchen to cook one's
meals. These serve as guest accommodation. Prices
for the guesthouse are 150 per person. Meals can
also be taken in the Healing Center. Reservations
through the Quiet-office only.
>> more
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
Repos
|
Housing
& Communities
|
| Community
name : |
Repos |
| Number
of houses : |
13
houses and a snack bar |
| Number
of people : |
10
residents and 2 watchmen |
| Date
the community started : |
1975 |
| Guesthouse
: |
Yes
(130 to 200 rupees per person) |
| E-mail
contact : |
bhaga@auroville.org.in |
More details :
Beach community
Repos is located on the beach. Mother gave it its
name, which means 'rest', so we try to provide a
restful, peaceful atmosphere, mainly for Aurovilians
and their guests. Due to the limited space and facilities
we cannot allow other people in, which is a difficult
task for various reasons. One is the ever increasing
popularity of the place in the surrounding villages
and cities, especially during the weekends, when
the beach is crowded with outside tourists. Within
the Repos settlement itself, it is lush and shady
from the many coconut trees that we have planted
here throughout the years..
We run a little snack bar
with fresh juices, cakes, sandwiches etc. which
opens every day except Mondays and rainy days. This
is essential for our many surfers in need of new
energy!! The middle-part of our long, narrow and
stretched-out community is meant to be the 'public'
area, the huts and houses of the residents are located
at either end.
Guest facility
We have 2 showers, 3 toilets and several water-pumps
for guests who wish to stay with us for some time.
We can host a maximum of 8 guests, the range of
price per person per day is from Rs 130 to 200.
It is a rather busy place when the weather is fine.
It can be a nice meeting-point for a chat, kids
can play around, beach-games can be played, and
of course one can swim or sun-bathe (but please
in decent clothing, because we should not forget
that we are in India).
The nearby village of PeryaMudaliyarchavady
suffers from the traffic passing through its premises
in order to get to Repos and, sometimes, from inappropriate
behaviour of tourists. We are working on finding
arrangements to avoid this.
Working as a team
We are all happy to say that the Repos residents
function very much as a team, everyone being responsible
for some part of the work to be done on a regular
basis to keep the beach facilities up and running
(for most of us this means work done on top of the
work we do for Auroville at large). Bhaga is generally
managing Repos; Claude cares for the lifeguards
and, being an excellent swimmer, he also oversees
the safety on the beach and in the sea; Andre helps
with technical matters and construction; Balakrishnan
serves in our 'Sun-Bliss' snack-bar; Pavitra leads
the life of a gifted artist, which is mainly at
night, but he's involved in the community-life too;
and Myriam is in charge of the guest house.
We also have the healthy habit to meet all together
as a community whenever there is a problem arising.
Although we are all very different, we usually manage
to arrive at an agreement. We tend to help each
other in the little daily life practical difficulties,
and we know we can count on each other in case of
more serious problems as well.
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
Ravena
|
Housing
& Communities
|
| Community
name : |
Ravena |
| Number
of houses : |
2
houses |
| Number
of people : |
3
adults + 2 youngsters |
| Date
the community started : |
1984 |
| Guesthouse
: |
No |
| E-mail
contact : |
No |
More details :
Ravena is a Greenbelt community
at the south end of Auroville. There are two houses
here - the one of Jaap,
who looks after the forest and works with the forest
group dedicated to environmental regeneration, and
lives there with his wife Ulla and their kids. And
there is Janaka's house and its studio.
People who come and visit should accept that Ravena
is situated in the forest - and we prefer our visitors
to come by foot or cycle rather than motor vehicle.
It is at the edge of the old
Forecomers' canyon - which has been largely regenerated
by dams, bunding and foresting. There are many birds
in the area.
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
Revelation
|
Housing
& Communities
|
| Name
of the community : |
Revelation |
| Number
of houses : |
7 |
| Number
of people : |
10
adults and 5 children |
| Date
of creation : |
1975 |
| Guesthouse
: |
No
official guest house (*) |
| E-mail
contact : |
patrickrv@auroville.org.in |
More details :
 This
is a 'green' community. There is a common kitchen.
We use solar power for pumping water and windmills.
There are 4 orchards and we cultivate vegetables
and are running a seed bank.
Revelation Farm is situated in the Mahalakshmi park
area, extending between the City and the GreenBelt.
Revelation is mainly a forest/park area with a small
farm (6 acres) in its centre. It is a model of rainwater
conservation work. We participate in the Indigenous
Evergreen Forest Revival Program. It has a long
history of productivity, combining dairy, poultry,
orchard, vegetable gardening, some dryland farming
and a forest preserve. The overall area is 10 acres
(red laterite soil), with a bore well and submersible
pump. The project is managed by Nathalie (French),
who is also involved in the forest work with her
husband Patrick. The Revelation orchard contains
a wide variety of fruit trees, which provide most
of the farm's steady income.
(*) As
for a guesthouse, we do not have a formal guesthouse
anymore. We can accommodate students or guests who
come to share in our work, or who work in other
'green' communities nearby where they cannot be
accommodated. We may charge, or not, depending on
the amount of involvement by that visitor. If we
charge something for accommodation it will be to
cover the expenditure involved (electricity, water,
food, etc). So in that sense one can't say that
we're having a guesthouse open for the public.
|
|
|
| |
|
