A Possible Cult and Feeling Like You're Somewhere Completely Different

Before finishing our day's journey and arriving in Pondicherry, we made a pit stop at Auroville. Auroville is something so completely different than anything else in the entire country and probably most of the world. This small township of 10km was created in 1968 to be a community for everyone in the world where there is no goal but to find human unity. It's a cross between a meditation retreat, a self-sustaining utopian society, and a cult. 

When we first arrived, I thought we'd stumbled across a small westernized art town as this place was very "first world". There were manicured lawns, solid structures with informational panels and art displays explaining the essence and goals of Auroville, a restaurant and vegan cafe, and outlying buildings for different areas of study. At first it appeared that we were in a hippie commune, but then we watched the introduction video. The video explained how Auroville was created out of a vision from Mother (Frenchwoman Mirra Alfassa) after learning the teachings of Sri Aurobindo. Auroville was made to be a "universal town where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony, above all creeds, all polities and all nationalities."

The center of Auroville was the Matrimandir. This was a large golden sphere in the center of twelve gardens (all representing different pillars of the beliefs of the community). The inside of the Matrimandir is stated to be pure white and free from adornments except for a clear crystal ball at the center where a perfect shaft of light is conducted down from the exterior to perfectly hit the top of the ball and shine. This is the heart of Auroville and "and a sign of the Devine's answer to man's  aspiration for perfection." Within the Matrimandir there is complete silence so that one can contemplate how to achieve higher levels of conscienceness. 

The panels tell of all the great projects that the town is working on (environmentally friendly earthen construction, education where the children chose their own paths, water purification, even some modern photography/video/sound classes, meditation, farming and self-sustaining living) all seem amazing and show this to be a cute, if not very eccentric new age community in the middle of Indo-china, but after watching the video and taking the one kilometer trek to visually see the Matrimandir, you get the feeling that there are cult like themes that run through the place. To be a true Aurovilleian one must relinquish all personal belongings, they must give up their individual faiths and beliefs and work towards a state of  "disinterestedness" (which is supposed to be a step towards true enlightenment). 

Some of the pillars of the community seem at odds with one another in that there are supposed to be no belief gods or religions, and that the place is supposed to be its own enclosed society, but it appears that the teachings of Mother and Sri Aurobindo are the blood of the community, and that there are large amounts of outside collaboration with larger entities. Overall this is a very interesting place with mixed messages. I think I was the only one that liked it even a little bit and didn't feel like I wanted to flee immediately as if they were going to start handing out the "cups of Kool-Aid" as you walked in the door.

An unexpected surprise that I found at Auroville was a Bronze Age (2500 BC) necropolis that was being excavated. The site is one of many in the area and is part of a 35 years project (now in its 16th year ). I saw the excavation as I was walking to the view point for the Matrimandir and decided to see if they'd let me wander around it for a minute. 

Turns out that the lead, and sole, archaeologist on the project, Gobi, was more than happy to show Em and I around and explain what they'd found. After I told him that I was a fellow archaeologist, Gobi was ecstatic and offered to take us to their storage and preservation rooms to see some of the finds. We got permission from Sanjay to detour and disappeared with Gobi for a bit to view the giant earthen jars that served as tombs for the Tamil people that were living in the area more than 3000 years ago. 

Gobi happily talked about his work and explained that he is the only archaeologist at Auroville and therefore does most of the work on his own. He only has two official helpers with the restoration work and some locals from the nearby village to help with the excavation. Even though the excavation is part of the Auroville project, Gobi laughs and says "these people aren't interested in this, they want to meditate." There was a minute or two where I thought it'd be awesome to join this wacky society, just so I could spend the next 20 years digging to my heart's content and essentially be the assistant director of the dig (seeing as I'd be the only other archaeologist there).

To the relief of most in our group we left the possible cult and headed to Pondicherry, also known as Puducherry (since 2006). Pondicherry is a town had normal Indian and Raja roots until it fell into French rule in 1674. The French added their own influence and style to the layout of the expansion of the town, along with their need for segregation from the masses due to ingrained biases and feelings of superiority. The result was the creation of White Town (the French side ) and Black Town (the Indian side). We were staying in Black Town, but went on a walking tour of White Town.

Have you ever gone somewhere and been convinced that you were actually somewhere else? Pondicherry was a little bit like that for me when I visited White Town. We took a rickshaw from Black Town to White Town and as we crossed the border, I was convinced that I'd arrived back in New Orleans. While the idea that New Orleans was magically transported to the middle of India seems a little far fetched, the idea that the French were just very consistent in their architectural vision is a little less fantastical. Here we found ourselves in the midst of wide tree lines avenues, with minimal cars and less trash than anywhere else in the country; large colonial style homes, cute little bistros, and good coffee. It was definitely a change, but a great one. 

We wandered the streets, snapping photos and talking about the differences between here and elsewhere. Along the edge of White Town was a promenade that bordered the ocean and one could find peace there if only the touts trying to sell their wares would leave you alone for five minutes. It truly was a different sort of place and leads me to believe that if I could stay in India long enough, I would see almost every culture and different type of town or living condition.

Pondicherry was a nice way station on our way back south.