"It is the journey that matters..."

Wherever we went, we carried Auroville in our hearts. We travelled the world with  memories of our life in the keet house stowed away like some precious treasure within a secret corner of our being, sometimes sharing them with friends we made along the way. We never presented it as the most perfect place, for that it wasn't. But, it was always a place of possibilities...the hurdles were there, and so was their acknowledgement, and the search for solutions. We all knew that Auroville is an ongoing experiment with its ups and downs and its own organic evolution. All that changed a  few years ago when the Centre government decided to hijack the journey called Auroville, and turn it into a `project', where Aurovillians were expected to be 'team members' on a leash, coerced  to walk a straight line, obey...and submit. This implied scrutinizing every movement of its 3000 some residents who have congregated here from around the world pursuing a dream. Stricter budgeting and auditing of its many commercial units followed. A bureaucratic machinery was devised  to inspect and foresee  the functioning of the community, and spur the `project' towards completion under the aegis of this government. In order to execute the original city plan as envisioned by its founder Mirra Alfassa, known as The Mother, thousands of trees have been felled, houses  bulldozed, people expelled and in the process the very spirit of the place lies mutilated, charred and shrouded in fear. But, `they' are calling it progress and vigorously promoting the city as a hub for spiritual tourism. And suddenly, Aurovillians, aspirants from approximately 60 different countries, find themselves becoming part of a unique surveillance system which does not exist anywhere else in this country of 1.4 billion people. But,  the supporters of the government are rejoicing. 

Recently, by the power of its executive order, the governing body of Auroville has decided to rid  the community of some 100-acres of a 135-acre of thriving farm to make way for a new IIT (Indian Institute of technology)  `sustainability campus'. The farm known as Annapurna Farm is  not only certified organic, but also one of the oldest and the most productive of its kind. Over the years Annapurna has been able to build water-tanks which hold 50 million litres of runoff water, fulfilling 90 percent of its agricultural  requirement. This is a feat in itself since most farms in the area depend on borewells.  

Thankfully, some people are protesting. And, even though they are short on optimism, the fire needs to rage on against the injustices of rampant irrational progress.  However, in the comment section of the instagram reel shedding light on the plight of the community, it was disheartening to find many people supporting the government's decision to dislocate a well-established farm to make way for an IIT campus dedicated to the electric car revolution. "As an Indian, I think it is far more prestigious to have an IIT than a farm...we need to move on from an agricultural economy to one revolving around more  hi-tech sectors," a viewer wrote. Several others supported the comment. I guess,  as Indians, we are famished for prestige the way a drought-ridden region is, for rains. Tired of sitting on the laurels of 'our ancient civilisation', we crave for something which would sustain us through these chaotic times. If you were to ask me, I think `food' will sustain us longer than  national pride.