Difficulties
Political situation
A few people asked why the main official web site of Auroville does not list a link to Auroville Cultural Exchange. Here we quote the 2 responses (one official and another unofficial, which illustrates the political realities and lobbying in Auroville, and the intense competition among different groups for funding from various Auroville budgets) from the chief webmaster of www.auroville.org, Manoj:
Unofficial response: I was checking with people involved in the cultural activities and the Here is the official response: I am sorry to inform you that it is not possible to add a link to your site |
Manoj is also the administrator and censor of Auroville's Intranet (auroville.org.in), whose public opinion manipulation method ("Fool Moon" story) was exposed on the Intranet (the case involving the censoring of certain revelations of Paul Vincent, former Auroville Police Liason Officer). Ruslan D. also submitted an Intranet petition (which was immediately censored out) calling for open election of the Intranet's moderator, instead of having him appointed by the Auroville Council. As a result, Ruslan D.'s and Paul Vincent's Intranet accounts were cut to "read-only" access.
Even before the latest elections widely condemned by many Aurovilians as fraud, Auroville's main working group, Auroville Council, invited Ruslan D. for a discussion. The remaining Indian members of the Auroville Council objected against the "unauthorized " (apparantly, Mauna was the one who was suppose to "authorize" it) use of the word "Auroville" in "Auroville Cultural Exchange" and threatened a legal action. Ruslan D. welcomed the legal action and was amused. In response, he exposed the criminal activities of one of the Auroville Council's newly elected member. He also questioned the legitimacy of the then Auroville Council in view of the prior collective resignation of all of its non-Indian members over a racist conflict.
Below is a brief overview of the difficulties of working in Auroville, and the conflict between the subhuman and the low-grade human activities labelled as"cultural", and what the Mother and Sri Aurobindo understood by culture.
The necessity of building Natya Mandir in Auroville is partly due to the current situation in the only more-or-less suitable space for classical Indian dance: the Sri Aurobindo Auditorium.
- The inner workings of the Sri Aurobindo Auditorium - see how it is managed
- The current policy and the hype about making Auroville the world's cultural centre
The Bharat Nivas Co-ordination Group, particularly one of its French members who happens to be the manager of Aurofilm, argue that its "reason" for trying to charge the ACE 10 times more ( in addition to the electricity charges) than, for example, for Aurofilm's screening of the "Aurovilian" films such as "Shrek", "Fanfan La Tulipe" or "Les Diaboliques", is of the because somehow such classical Indian dance production has not been considered as "Aurovilian" despite the fact that the ACE, in addition to taking care of the organizational & logistical aspects, have
- adapted the original choreography of the classical Indian dance compositions to be presented at the Sri Aurobindo Auditorium
- participated in training the dancers
- developed the format of the classical Indian dance programmes, adapting it for the non-Indian audience
- translated the texts of the songs and provided their interpretations in the light of the Integral Yoga
- designed the lighting
History
In AV Today's issue of January 2005, Jill N. stated, "The Sri Aurobindo Auditorium in Bharat Nivas is too big and expensive. To rehearse there costs 1500 Rupees a month". Little did she know that the "special rent" offered to the Auroville Cultural Exchange was quite a bit higher than Rs.1500 a month: it was "a minimum of Rs.5000 per 2 hours", 10 times higher than for Aurofilm.
One may only wonder why the then SAA manager, when asked about what the SA Auditorium "contribution" rate was, wrote, "must meet to discuss before i can tell you anything like this by e-mail". The reason that such "sensitive matters" as the SAA "rent" could not be discussed in writing can be seen from the following telephone conversation between the SAA manager and Ruslan D. that took place in the summer of 2004:
| Ruslan D.: What is the minimum "contribution" amount now? (in Feb 2004 the amount was said to be Rs.5000) SAA Manager: Bad news. It has increased. Ruslan D.: Increased??? SAA Manager: Yes, increased. Now it is Rs.2000 a day. |
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You will understand why so few cultural events take place in the SAA when you come to understand why the SAA manager wrote on 13 Feb 2005 that the SA Auditorium was fully booked until 15 April (even for the time slot between 18.00 and 20.00).
A year later, Bharat Nivas Group, in a move to improve its public image, published an update on the contributions policy applied to all events held in SA Auditorium (except the usual discounts to AuroFilm). Here is the transcript of another inspiring conversation with a new SA Auditorium manager that shows the evolution of Auroville's consciousness within this period:
| Ruslan D.: I am happy to read now that we may choose not to use the generator and not to pay the huge generator fees, right? SAA Manager: No, I think you need to use the generator, so you must pay the fees. Ruslan D.: Can we bring our own generators? SAA Manager: No. Collecting the generator fee is the only way to pay the huge bill of Bharat Nivas's maintenance. Ruslan D.: Then why did you write in the news that using the generator is optional? SAA Manager: We do not need to ask you what to write and what not to write. |
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This table lets you compare the different policies and answer the question where the conditions for the development of the cultural life are the most conducive:
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The above table clearly explains the reason why the Auroville Cultural Exchange has so far been able to organise Bharatanatyam dance performances for Aurovilians in the SAWCHU building in Bharat Nivas, in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Theatre, Alliance Francaise (Pondicherry) and the Russian Cultural Centre (Chennai) instead of in the Sri Aurobindo Auditorium.
The current discriminatory policy at the Sri Aurobindo Auditorium forces the the Auroville Cultural Exchange to continue to organise such programmes for large Aurovilian audience in the free or low-cost large auditoriums, or else organise these for a very limited number of contributors in small auditoriums.
Although the Maroma incense made by the non-Aurovilian hands from the non-Aurovilian raw materials (which are not available in Auroville) is somehow considered to be an "Aurovilian product", the Bharat Nivas Maintenance Group's policy discriminated between the "100% Aurovilian production" and the programmes developed by Auroville Cultural Exchange where the artistes from the "outside world" participate.
The "small town mentality" restricting access for "outsider artistes" to the Aurovilian stage is partly due to the Aurovilian "dancers" lobbying: they are afraid that nobody would come to watch their own performances after their fellow Aurovilians have watched the high-quality non-Aurovilian performances. Aurovilians do not know that some of the visiting Indian dancers no longer want to come and give a performance in Auroville. They say that it is mostly because of the unfriendly attitude of the jealous Aurovilians dancers who do not welcome the superior non-Aurovilian dancers.
Curiously, the films shown by the "insider" Aurofilm in the Sri Aurobindo Auditorium are made far outside Auroville, yet considered as "pure Aurovilian production", and, thus Aurofilm has enjoyed a subsidised rate: Rs.400/evening instead of Rs.5000/evening. Why? Is it because these films are so inherent to the ideals of Auroville? Well, they are not only made far away from Auroville, but many of them are far away from Auroville's ideals too. One may only wonder if it is really so inspirational and worhy of Sri Aurobindo to screen films with descriptions like this: "A worrying atmosphere and gnawing anguish remains on this perfectly controlled film where reigns a black and despaired climate. The twisted plot of murder has since been copied many times. Not for children." ("LES DIABOLIQUES")
And one may wonder how "SHREK" can be conceivably related to Bharat Nivas or to Sri Aurobindo. Perhaps, it is indeed so highly relevant that it must be subsidised by the organizers of a classical Indian dance performance? While, in the "Aurofilm: mission statement" we read, "The screenings are held at the Sri Aurobindo Auditorium, on a temporary basis as this building has been conceived for conferences, seminars and the performing arts".
There is a plenty of evidence of the deteriorating relationship between "Auroville" and its neighbours, and of bad publicity. When invited to perform in Auroville, 30% of the classical Indian dancers in Pondicherry will try to find an excuse not to. In private, they would often say, "Auroville used to be perceived as a sacred place, and all the dancers were honoured to give their performances there. Nowadays the situation has changed".
So, how do the Tamil villagers perceive what is happening in Auroville? One example can clearly show how hypocritical the situation can be seen from their point of view. While Aurovilians proudly display the AV version of the Irumbai legend on www.auroville.org, the villagers are not easily fooled by such propaganda. Although most of Auroville's 5000 Tamil workers enjoy attending the classical Indian dance programmes in Auroville, how many of them went to watch the "screenings" of the films in the Sri Aurobindo Auditorium?
One may wonder if the Tamil villagers will start to respect their foreign neighbors more when they read something like "Synopsis: In France, the L 627 is an article of the public health Code that is related to drugs. Through fiction, the film is a lively and true to life chronicle denouncing the insufficient means the police gets to efficiently implement this article"? Or, perhaps, the families of naive Tamil villagers appreciate the "Adults only" films screened by Aurofilm? You may understand why at present one sees the city of retired pensioners instead of the proudly proclaimed "the city of the never-ageing youth" where most cultural programmes start after children go to bed.
Although Aurovilians like to repeat that "the Tamil culture which is one of the oldest in the world, has a unique role to play in the city of Auroville…", still certain influential Aurovilians continue to believe that "Fanfan La Tulipe" should be of more interest to us and more related to Auroville than Kaduveli Siddha, and that "Shrek" should appear as something almost divine… After a good bottle of wine, perhaps.
With the tendency to invite the non-Indian performers of the Indian classical dance from abroad, one wonders if there is a shortage of superior dancers in India. You may wonder why the modern rock-n-roll should be labelled as "classical Indian dance" just as the Pondicherry-made paneer is sometimes labelled as "French Cheddar Cheese". Due to the current "contribution" system, maybe the foreign dancers can easily afford the rent of Sri Aurobindo Auditorium, but what about the authenticity and quality of their performances?
This policy has formed the negative public attitude in Auroville towards the classical Indian dance. The poor quality of the dance performances has lead many people to believe that they have seen the classical Indian dance peformances that are real and authentic, while, in fact, they have seen some of the worst and the poorest quality performances that can ever be found.
It is interesting to note that the Auroville Cultural Exchange's posters of its classical Indian dance events were quickly removed from most places in Auroville. Is the quality of the "100% Aurovilian" performances so superior to the "non-Aurovilian" that Aurovilians simply do not wish to watch anyone else but themselves on the stage? When asked, most Aurovilians will tell you that they are "fed up" with Bharatanatyam and Odissi. Indeed if the performers' waistline is longer than their height, and when the children from Kuillapalayam can hardly demostrate more than a few steps, it is no wonder that half of the audience would leave after the first minutes of the performance, and the rest fall asleep.
