Dance performance at the Matrimandir amphitheater

Pondy has become so expensive! It used to be that a westerner could arrive in India poor and suddenly feel quite wealthy. Those days are gone, at least when it comes to the kinds of things tourists like to buy as gifts and mementos. Carved boxes, cast bronze Shivas, stone Ganeshas, silk-screened tapestries – all these distinctly Indian trinkets that used to be a steal are now fetching near-American retail prices...After seven hours in Pondy, the return to Auroville was a breath of cool fresh air. Even as our taxi entered Kuilapalayam, a Tamil village “in” Auroville that has grown significantly since I was last here, the vibe was distinctly calmer than that of surrounding India.

That evening we attended a dance performance at the Matrimandir amphitheater, an Aurovillian mélange of ballet and contemporary styles. I believe this was the first such performance in Auroville’s history to take place at that venue, which I have known only in the context of sunrise mediations and bonfires on the Mother’s birthday (February 21st), Auroville’s birthday (Feb 28th) and New Years. It was a really stunning place for such a show. The acoustics are eerie and wonderful, and the ever-present Matrimandir — its gold disks bathed in solar-powered floodlight — lent a certain majesty and significance to the whole affair. By teal Monday, February 26th, 2007