AUROVILLE, INDIA

 

Excerpts from students blogging about their academic and field experience of sustainability

 

The Living Routes India program offers the out-of-the-classroom learning experience that I find most effective. Additionally, I think it is great that Living Routes provides programs that allow students to evaluate themselves as human beings on this planet. I consider humans to be another part of nature, not above the natural world, and I want to practice what I believe by living in a sustainable community. –Helen Sandy, Loyola University New Orleans (Spring 2010)

 

This is a collage of pictures to show how our group is becoming more like a community. We have now shared our "worldviews" and are becoming more comfortable with one another. -Rachel Ford (Spring 2006)

 

We have been presented with many different views about the Auroville community, but are reminded to always continue seeking out our own personal discoveries and not hold one person's thought as the ultimate truth. –Keri Johnson, University of Vermont (Spring 2006)

 

The immersion portion of the course has suited me well. I have been spending part of my time at a local cultural center in one of the surrounding villages, part time at an organic food processing unit, and part time working on inner personal discovery and transformation…All fourteen of us [are] spread out in different directions, focusing on different projects and learning different concepts to enrich our lives. –Madeleine Tuson-Turner, Lewis & Clark (Fall 2006)

 

It's hard to believe the program is only starting its third week. We've been incredibly busy learning about our new home in Auroville, India and beginning our academic work. Topics include: Group building: Sharing "Life Maps", "Base Group" sharings, Full group sharings, Community meetings, One-on-ones with faculty advisors, and seminars on Decision-making, Norms and agreements, and Non-violent communication

Auroville Orientation: Visitor's Center, Solar Kitchen (and learning about it's 14m solar collector), Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo, Matrimandir, Tour of Kuilyapaliam (our neighboring village)

Academics: Overview of Living Routes, Pedagogy, Courses, Assignments, Assessment, Intention setting and "Individual Learning Plans", "Sustainability in Action Research Projects and Presentations", and Seminars on Ecovillages, Systems thinking, and Cross-cultural understanding

Site Visits to Potential Service Learning Sites and Community Stays: Center for Scientific Research, Life Education Center, Solitude Farm, Buddha Garden, Kottakarai Organic Food Production Unit (KOFPU), Auroville Radio, WELL Paper, Upasana Design Studio, Verité Community, Thamarai School, Botanical Gardens, Revelation Reforestation Project, Sadhana Forest

Bioregional Explorations : to Mamallapuram (where we visited historic sites and watched an Indian Dance performance) and Pondicherry (where we visited the Sri Aurobindo Ashram and the local temple)

Wow! Having written it all down, now it's even harder to believe.  In addition, we volunteered at Auroville's first all-day "Litter-Free" event, started morning yoga and meditation practice, watched a Tamil movie, and - somehow - found a few days to relax…The students are wonderful (and healthy!) and it's a true privilege to be doing this work together! –Daniel Greenberg Faculty (Spring 2010)

I’m doing my service learning at WELL Paper…WELL stands for Women’s Empowerment through Local Livelihood…The ladies go through a workshop to learn business skills and how to make WELL products, which are sustainably made from recycled newspaper and natural glue. Then they start their own business units in the village where most of them live…All of the women are very welcoming and inclusive to... –Jamie Miller, University of Delaware (Spring 2009)

…a lot of the experience in India was seeing and trying to understand how another culture and people are handling the same stuff I do concerning globalization, industrialization, and of course just living as best we can. –Deborah Krug, University of Vermont (Spring 2007)

Not every day is easy, but all of the days come together to make a phenomenal experience.  I feel like I've learned more than I have in college so far, and I can't wait to soak more up in the upcoming weeks. –Molly Williams, University of Vermont (Spring 2010)

The joys of harvesting a days worth of eggplant, sweet peppers, okra, basil, sweet corn, and long bean in hand-made baskets is indescribable. One can come close to my overflowing well of bliss by tasting the love of this life in the meal I chopped, seasoned, and cooked to perfection, served on top of nutty grains of rice carried atop my head earlier in the season. –Emily Wheeler, Mount Holyoke (Spring 2007)

My service learning was with The Learning Community, which is a new and small school of 7 students ages 7-10.  Adorable!  The teachers are parents and other teachers who were interested in changing the present school systems.  The school uses Montessori tools in order to allow the children to learn what/when they need to.  It was amazing… –Molly Williams, University of Vermont (Spring 2010)

I have been sweating and playing in the dirt at the Solitude farm. Each day is full of new information and exciting insights to what I want to do at home…These women are amazing and inspiring. –Jessica Smith, UMass Amherst (Fall 2006)

 

(We) are doing our internship at a farm called Solitude. It’s a great place, the energy is on…I'm learning so much from everyone here. This is all so magnificent. It’s amazing to feel it all unfold itself. I am learning that one really needs to take responsibility for their state of being. –Casey Burger, SUNY Purchase School of Art & Design (Spring 2005)

I was struck by how quiet and peaceful it was in the forest and how richly diverse it is. To think that only some forty years ago, Auroville was deforested parched land and none of this existed! The regenerating capacity of the earth, when cared for, is incredible. –Priya Reddy Faculty (Fall 2009)

The past two days have been devoted to student seminars, and I am simply amazed at the talent, thoughtfulness and intelligence that is manifested through the collective mind of the group. I have so much respect for each and every person with whom I am living. –Deborah Krug, University of Vermont (Spring 2007)

I am doing my service learning with a new organization in Auroville called the Green Center... I collect data, and write different articles for the paper, which will be printed for the first time sometime in April, I believe….  I chose to work with the Green Center because I wanted to explore the idea of sustainability within Auroville. I enjoy learning from the different people I interview, because they each have such strong passions for different aspects of sustainability. It has really opened my eyes to different ways I can live more sustainably and the dedication it takes to stay committed to living a sustainable lifestyle… –Helen Sandy, Loyola New Orleans (Spring 2010)

Instead of simply theoretical models or textbook based study, we got a chance to experience how things are being done on the ground, and therefore to learn the unique and embodied lessons that emerge from actual implementation. After experiencing each of these presentations, I almost always heard someone say something along the lines of “Wow, cool. I could try that myself!” -Steyaert Faculty (Fall 2008)

After a semester- after a life- of inquiry, I’m grateful, but my incessant questions have shown me that there are no words, thoughts, or emotions that can satisfy the questions of the mind because the questions of the mind cannot be answered as they were asked.  You can speak to gurus, meditate on every hilltop, be able to scratch your back with your foot, but that’s not the end; it’s the beginning.  All of this only hints at what we all already know; we’re searching for something that is larger than any text ever written, any meditation practice, any philosophy, any asana, or even any dialogue. –Nick Asher, Western Kentucky University (Fall 2009)

There have been permaculture workshops, presentations, documentary showings, yoga classes, open stages, and great class discussions. I am a lot busier than I anticipated, but I am constantly impressed by how much I am experiencing. –Ben Jones, University of North Carolina Asheville (Spring 2010)

 

Our Service Learning: Patrick is working at Savaram, making musical instruments and teaching guitar. Emily and Aaron are living at Sadhana forest planting trees while also attending a 10-day Buddhist mediation retreat at Sadhana. Joe is living at Buddha garden an organic farm and working there in the mornings and spending the afternoons at Thamari. Andrew and Levi have been living and working at Fertile Farm, they haven't been farming but they have been making props for an Auroville children’s play that was last night and was amazing! Ian and I are living and working at Solitude permaculture farm were we spend our time playing in the dirt and learning about natural farming. –Jessica Smith, UMass Amherst (Fall 2006)

I have chosen to work with the only woman in Auroville who is doing raw foods. Her name is Anandi and she runs KOFPU – Kottakarri Organic Food Processing Unit. I am helping her along with a few other students to make raw foods and distribute and package other vegan-organic products around Auroville. –Gabriela Ranzi, Clark University (Spring 2010)

 

Since joining the Fall 2009 Living Routes semester in Auroville (India), my spiritual development has blossomed. Simply put, I have since learned that many of my previous philosophical thoughts could have been considered a part of my spirituality. My views on the importance of environmentalism and ecology, even in topics as seemingly foreign to ecology as economics, have become a part of my spirituality. My overall view on the environmentally and socially destructive nature of our modern industrial society has also been incorporated into my personal sense of spirituality. Another way of putting this is that “a human’s correct place within the natural world” has also become a part of my spirituality. –Jake Horgan, Evergreen State College (Fall 2009)

…I find myself thinking about a lot of things, all the time, and having great, challenging conversations with people. –Carleen Wilson, Oregon State University (Fall 2009)

 

When I think of myself at the beginning of the semester, struggling to commit to an Independent Learning Plan and committing to goals such as "getting out of my head and into my heart," I rejoice in the practical learning I received throughout the program. –Emily Wheeler, Mount Holyoke College (Spring 2007)

…if you want to be challenged in your assumptions, if you want to get a bigger picture of how our world is hurting and how you can be a part of the transformation; Auroville might just be the place for you, like it was for me.  –Rebecca Hume, Cornell University (Spring 2010)

Traveling in India has been such an intense - sometimes saddening and enraging - and other times totally blissful and exhilarating experience, but through each and every moment here I have learned a little more, grown a little more, become a little more open, and a little more strong and am grateful for every moment that has been given to me to experience this wild enchanting country. –Rachel Moore, Evergreen State College (Fall 2009)

 

I don't know whether it was the program that has brought this beautiful growth or if it was just the right -time, right place, with the right people and it was time for me to learn what I have learned here. –Brian Tobin, Clarkson University (Spring 2010)

We have come full-circle. The program is over tomorrow and there is a new feeling in air. Much has been experienced and learned and the time has come to take these things put them in your satchel and move on to share them with others and to create new meaning and memories. The time spent traveling around southern India was really amazing. –Gabriela Ranzi, Clark University (Spring 2010)

It is when you move beyond accepting new situations and to looking for the good in them that traveling is life changing and a true learning experience. –Emilyn Fox, University of Vermont (Spring 2010)