Two Days at Auroville!

I don’t really know how many times have we visited Auroville! Every time we go there, we talk about spending a weekend there and visiting the Matrimandir! It had been quite some time we were planning this, but it was only last week it materialized, when I got a Saturday off! This academic year has been very tight till now, with almost all the Saturdays as full working days. It had been a really good weekend at the Auroville, specially because I got a chance to just leave everything behind and have a few hours of mental peace.

Matrimandir

Auroville is a global village where people from allover the world live. It is the vision of the Mother, a place where people from allover the world can live in harmony. In Mother's words, " Auroville wants to be a universal town where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace, progressive harmony, above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities. The purpose of Auroville is to realise human unity."

We have been fascinated by this place ever since we read articles by people who have visited and are staying in Auroville. In our previous visits, we had just seen the Matrimandir from the viewpoint. Not all the visitors are allowed inside the Matrimandir, which is the real centre of Auroville. It is not a place of worship, it is a place for personal concentration. This time, Dhanesh wanted to visit the Matrimandir too! 

Auroville has numerous guesthouses and each one is unique in its own way. We stayed at “Athithigriha”, a guest house which is austere, elegant and simple, be it the facilities or food.This is one of the best, made on Indian styling. Auroville does not see itelf as a tourist spot and does not promote itself as such. But, it welcomes all visitors. For those looking for a break, it is a great place. Wonderful buildings, numerous farms, dense woods, bicycle tracks, friendly and interesting people.

'Athithigriha'

We also enjoyed the company of an old couple from Israel! It was really great sharing their views about India and Auroville in particular.

Savitri Bhavan

The first day, we just drove around, and made visits to Savitri Bhavan, the Solar Kitchen, Bharat Nivas, the shopping mall etc. The next day, Dhanesh had to go for ‘concentration’, I could not go bcoz, they don’t allow small kids inside the Matrimandir! Gauri and me decided to go to the view point! But when he saw Megha (a girl who also stayed at Athithigriha), he refused to come along, finally we landed at visitors' centre again. There is also a cafeteria and some boutiques at the visitors' centre, with things that are highly priced. 

Visitors' Centre

After so many awful weekends, it was just fine, and now I am looking forward to the day when I can make it to the Matrimandir!