In the morning I came across a story about Auroville in the Guardian, Bulldozers, violence and politics crack an Indian dream of utopia
I wasn’t aware of what’s happening there – it’s a story that developed over the last month. It seems they that the Auroville Foundation (which is an arm of the state) sent a dynamic new secretary, who wants to get things done. Auroville is supposed to develop into a township of 50,000, but has actually been developing at a snails pace, despite enormous investment. The community members prefer to live in a forest setting and planted trees where, according to the approved town plan, there should be roads. It’s wonderful for the environment, in these times when trees in Tamil Nadu are few and far between, but it was not the original intention, and I think in this case the state’s position is somewhat justified and the tree huggers’ case more tenuous. Those who oppose development in the community will claim that they are not actually against development, and the Auroville Foundation will point out that they aren’t against the forests. Somehow they will need to meet in the middle. But having listened on YouTube to a part of the 3 hour assembly meeting from December, that’s going to be a challenge. Wow, it was strange this morning to find that Auroville had made the 3rd most popular article in the Guardian.
Residents’ Assembly meeting – Unity Pavilion, 20th Dec. 2021 by AurovilleRadio on YouTube
Early morning. Today is a continuation of the rainy weather we have been having. Yesterday I didn’t do very much. In the morning I was looking over the material I collected from interviewing my mother, several years ago, about her family and her reminiscences of childhood. I’m not sure what I will eventually do with this – there are about 9 pages.
In the afternoon I tried to watch the film Tenet, which I had known nothing about. It’s a science fiction action thriller; lots of style but no substance. I got about 2/3 through the movie before abandoning and deleting it. In the evening I watched part of an old Akira Kurosawa film, Throne of Blood, which is supposed to be based on Macbeth. I will continue it later.
Outside, the birds are up, chirping and singing in the cold and the rain. For them, the unexamined life is worth living, and they accept whatever comes to them. Life is to be lived.
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Texas scientists’ new Covid-19 vaccine is cheaper, easier to make and patent-free
“We need to break these paradigms that it’s only driven by economic impact factors or return of economic investment. We have to look at the return in public health.”