What can children do in the holidays? We talked with some of them at the Kindergarten...children attending the summer program. These programs are for children to enjoy during summer holidays, and maybe make some new friends. Teachers and volunteers offer programs especially enjoyable for small children; they can develop their own skills like swimming, learning different languages, singing, dancing, playing. Teachers are pleased to help the children, and keep them happy. At the same time they also learn a lot from the children, and grow with it. Read more

Yesterday afternoon TLC or Traveling Learning Community shared with the wider community what they have been doing throughout the school year. Afternoon was sunny and hot but children presented with joy, and lots of laughter pieces of history through historical figures in the play. Languages were presented, recited and sang poems, and the fun part was English grammar given to children through the cake testing. If last year was focused on Big Bang or the beginning of our home planet, this year they have "zoomed" in and focused on the insects. Read more

Many of us might not be aware that we got another school in Auroville for over a year already. In interesting interview with Anne, who hails from Mexico, and was educated since her early age trough Montessori schools until she became a teacher herself, and with Sangeetha we discover which are the benefits of Montessori education, and how it can be apply within the integral education. At the moment they run pre creche and kindergarden for over 60 children, mostly form the nearby villages, with eleven teachers and some volunteers. Read more

For his homeback after couple of years Rolf prepared concert on 21st of April at 8pm at Sri Aurobindo Auditorium, Bharat Nivas, Pavilion of Indian Culture in International Zone together with Matt on piano, Suresh on drums and Mishko on bass. Sooner or Later he named the concert which will be consisted of his compositions, and as such would be a highlight of his musical career. Going trough changes and transitions he also decided to change his area of work, and started to teach math at Transition School. Read more

This morning, everyone was invited to come to Aikiyam School in New Creation to participate in the unveiling of colorful Peace Flags painted by Tamil children from Auroville's surrounding villages. What does 'Peace' mean to the kids? How did they get motivated to express their understanding of Peace in an artistic way? Deborah from America, who has come to Auroville as a volunteer, has been working in Aikiyam School for two months and explains to us the project's background and the philosophy of her work. Read more

On Thursday, 48 Aurovilians and visitors came together to Sve-Dame, wanting to experience the benefits of laughter yoga. Fif, a certified laughter yoga teacher from Canada has come to Auroville to spread the art of laughter yoga. Together with Hamish, her husband, and Dariya, an Aurovillian, she wants to make people explore this unusual type of yoga. She’s giving us an interview about the philosophy behind laughter yoga, its history and benefits. What is laughter yoga good for? How do the participants feel about the session? Read more

The final presentation in the Unity Pavillion was that of the Lilaloka group. Lilaloka means "the Universe of Play". This group, at the moment consisting of mostly women, offers a development-through-play program for kids. It is complementary to regular education, and lets children decide the path their development follows. Through games, kids learn to make use of their talents. This new and original idea is presented and discussed by members of Auroville International. Read more

Classical guitar and violin recital by visiting artist Martin Pirktl on classical guitar and Ladislav on violin at Pitanga on Friday was again a special treat for music lovers. Martin started with five lute pieces from the Italian renaissance. Soft tones of renaissance were followed by energetic, and folkloric coloured piece of Atanas Ourkouzounov, contemporary Bulgarian composer. After we passed trough history with music by stops at certain ages with interesting pieces of Isaac Albeniz, Enrique Granado and Astor Piazzola. Read more

"If we have nothing to fear in life, we might give ourselves as much we can because we are on this Earth to love one another and to give of ourselves, and to share who we are in our center as much is possible to make this much better place to live.." says amongst many other things Ronald Rand in our interview. He came to Auroville for a short visit, and during his stay we will see his play LET IT BE ART!, and he is offering workshop "Art of Transformation" on Monday 26th and Tuesday 27th at SAWCHU, which should open us, give freedom to express. Read more

On Sunday 18th of December Thamari Center in Edayanchavdi Village will open its doors for 10am onward with a lively evening program at 6.30 pm on the rooftop. At Thamari Centre 24 children play in the morning and around 40 children of different ages participate in the after school program. In the Healing Center they will also launch a bilingual book "Blooming Thamarai" , photographic representation of the artistic and self discovery of children trough the project of doll making, Krupa was exploring body image and identity of children with it.

On 2nd and 3rd of December our town will be richer for a Shakespeare play The Tempest, put onstage by English volunteer Hazel, by Aikiyam School children. Children and the whole school are working with all their enthusiasm to rehearse and put the play onstage on time. As Hazel told us, they were working on it even before she came to Auroville, and now they work intensively on the correct English, correct intonation, tone, posing.. For them this is also part of an English class project, and for Hazel to work with this children is a special joy.

Solitude Farm would like to invites us for their MANGO day at Solitude on Saturday. A nice selection of organic mangos will be starting to get ripe by then and so we can make our pick. On Saturday there will be also a tour of the farm starting at 11am and after it lunch . At 9am, also this Saturday there will be the first of a number of informal training sessions that will take place on Saturdays covering their work in natural farming and permaculture, hoping to inspire people to get involved with Auroville farms or start their own gardens. This year their natural farming red rice, non-tilled and direct sown without the use of any machine, achieved a yield that was close to a good normal yield by conventional organic farming. The Tibetan Doctor will be visiting us on Saturday the 25th of June, For appointments call Kalsang at 2622401. The consultation will take place at Pavilion of Tibetan Culture at International zone. Read more

By creating an inclusive environment in which no borders hinder the empowerment of young personalities, Each One Teach One facilitate processes, which illuminates space for self-discovery. With Hip Hop artists and musicians around the world, Anne, Dj Phax and Co., focus on bringing people together by overcoming language barriers and connecting learners through the love and the power of music and dance. People of various ages, social and cultural backgrounds are brought together and given the opportunity to express their passion and talent via a peaceful and inspiring channel. Learning processes are interactive, embracing various personalities and needs, thus encouraging positive vibes for positive development. Realizing ones own potential and others internal wealth,... Read more

Planning, planning, planning. The time has come again for nine days exploration and discoveries in nature. On Tuesday the 11th of May at 12am, Thirty children and 12 adults of the second group of the Auroville Summer Camp will start their journey direction Kodaikanal. In this broadcast we have leader Jonah and Savnon from Deepanam School, telling you about what kids of the second group are awaiting in this years summer camp. Listen further and you will become part of the itinerary and discussions of the ten adults and activity leaders on preparation from mobile phones, clothes, expeditions,health, to sweets and snacks and much more. Read more

In the short interviews with parents of children who were visiting Mohanam Cultural Center Kindergarden this year Christine found out which is the main reason for parents to choose this one over traditional schools in the area. On Friday annual performance young children of kidnergarden prepared rich cultural performance about the activities they were working on throughout the year. As usual, parents, friends, neighbors were there loudly encouraging young children to be brave on the stage.

The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants which started in Geneva at the beginning of the week is about to end. Decisions regarding the Endosulfan pesticide ban are still pending. Njal, who has been raising awareness regarding Endosulfan's impact on the environment and health in Auroville/bio-region, revealed the arguments from the side of the chemical industries. Plus how it's difficult for farmers to understand the impact of Endosulfan. Njal hopes the 1000 signatures he gathered for the petition (sent to Geneva) against Endosulfan will result in a change for the best. Read more

The Tibetan Pavilion was packed on April Tuesday 26th in the evening as Turkish Sufi Musician and Sufi scholar, Latif Bolat, came to give a lecture on the journey of the mystics from Islam, the mystic Sufi tradition. It took him exactly one hour and a half to go through over 26 000 years of history and making it very clear to the audience on how Sufism was born and developed throughout the centuries and the world. Read more

Astad Deboo, not unknown to Auroville public, and one of the first modern dancers in India got an impressive life path behind him. But nothing gives him greater pleasure than working with children eager to learn movements and adopting his style and postures. At Sri Aurobindo Auditorium, Bharat Nivas, Pavilion of Indian Culture we had a chance to see an excellent performance of street children from Dehli, accompanied with unique, also contemporary music pieces of modern India. Read more

Le temps d'une soirée poésie (organisée par le Pavillon de France), devenez avec Croquette le célèbre Victor Hugo: "Victor Hugo est un géant qui occupe toute la scène et, avec Molière, peut être, et Voltaire, l'incarnation de la France dans ce qu'elle a de plus universel aux yeux d'un monde époustouflé par un mélange sans précédent de virtuosité et de puissance. Parce que le grotesque et le sublime ne cesse jamais chez lui de se côtoyer et de se répondre, la virtuosité se combine avec une puissance d'émotion où la souffrance et les larmes entrent comme du levain." Read more

Mohanam Sound Crew have just returned from folk theater festival in Thailand. With the members we talked about it, and they all told us that it was an unique experience for them. The festival, lead by Morodokmai Theater Group - they've been to Aruoville twice - was on premises of their well known and popular school for folk theater. As the Mohanam boys said, it was very intense time of learning, sharing, and bonding with groups from all over the world. Read more

Beauty in movement, and cleansing fire...simply magic. After many years, the fire family treated us to a beautiful performance of excellent choreography: Kalou and Aurevan accompanied by world music with fire and LED lights. All the performers were children, the youngest was only six. The Visitors' Centre was crowded, and the audience followed the performance with enthusiasm, sometimes holding their breath, to burst into big applause after the crucial moments...and in acts with fire, simply mesmerized by the power of it. Read more

Savez-vous qu'il est possible changer le premier bisous de nos parents ? Ce premier bisous est, selon Ioana Morange, (chercheur, auteur entre autres de : « Alchimie Cellulaire - Le Droit De Naître Du Nouveau ») inscrit dans nos cellules. Il est la première des quatre étapes que constitue notre naissance. Ioana propose de renouer avec ces quatre étapes, à travers un stage qu'elle animera à Auroville du 18 février au 6 mars. Read more

" First significant new generation of children arrival to the Earth in the end of 1980. They are come to help as to be ready for the great change. They are different. The new generation kids have a destiny to bring love to humanity. They use main tool in there life it is truth. Our task is not to brake them by rules but to work together and to rise up consciousness on the world. If we really take care of our kids we generally have to change the education system, that will help them to choose the right path in our 3D reality. ” - Galina Plotnikova

Music lovers of traditional Indian Carnatic Music were pleased to here David Reck on vina, Gordon Korstange on bamboo flute and Umayalpuram Mali on Mridangam on Saturday night at Sri Aurobindo amphitheater at Bharat Nivas in the Pavilion of Indian Culture. Well known trio were playing ragas of famous musician-saint Tyagaraja, of Kothavasal Venkatrama Iyer, Muttusami Dikshitar and Vyasaraya. Carnatic music is based upon a repertoire of thousands of songs, each of which has been passed down orally trough chains of master musicians from centuries ago to the present. Read more

It should start with each one of us to try to work on and to solve the problem of ecological imbalance, which can drive us to catastrophe. Geshe Pema Dorjee finally came to Auroville, and blessed us with his talk on the Buddhist view on the environment. His lecture was interesting, witty, and right to the point on the source of ecological problems that we're facing right now. It's desire and greed; he sees this as the main factor and source of ecological problems which started so long ago, and have now overgrown to the proportion that extinction faces the human race, including all living species. Perhaps the solution is simply to become content with what we have, vs. greediness.... Read more

Perumal, part of Auroville Radio Team left two years ago to Paris to study media and communication when the opportunity was given to him in the form of scholarship. Every step is huge for him, he confides us in a short interview, but years back he decided that he really want to achieve a proper education, so for him isn't that important where he will sleep(first year he slept every three nights on different locations) but want to finish the study. This toss he came with his university - American University in Paris - students, and he's in charge of the logistic. This group of students came to do the practicum, and to realize the projects on the field of communication, and other subjects in four weeks. Read more

Time of Christmas, and magic of light it wouldn't be perfect without the magic of the theater, fairy tales, and of course the puppet theater. Kristina and Julian brought to us the Goldilocks, classical fairy tale about three bears and naughty Goldilocks. But in their story Goldilocks turns out also to be very friendly and the little bear more open. The whole story is presented with beautiful prop set, scenery, and beautiful, hand made little puppets - marionettes, which they come to live under Kristina's skillful hands. On Tuesday's evening show children as well all the adults "felt” into the story, into the magic of puppet theater, ...maybe remembering the childhood and long forgotten stories. Read more

For two days - tonight and tomorrow - at Sri Aurobindo Auditorium at Bharat Nivas film lovers will come on their expense by festival of short films of students form Sri Aurobindo Centre for Arts and Communication. Before screening of films each night will be panel discussion about short films and digital media, what to keep in mind to keep the film short, and other related topics. On both nights will be a chance to see 25 the best short films from 2007 and 2008, of which two of them - Printed Rainbow and the Little Terrorist - won many awards. Read more

In interesting conversation with Priya, the teacher of science at Deepanam School, Kristina and Julian reveal to us parts of their life connected with love for puppets, puppet theater, and children. For Kristina, it seems, that puppet theater was inevitable choice since also her parents are involved in this art, and because she spent her childhood next to one. In multilayer plasticity of puppet theater she does find herself, and her own ways to express herself, as well to grow spiritually. Still, in all she does, she follows her heart, from the choice of the story, she will put on the stage, to the final, and artistic touches of the prompt at the play, to which beauty is the keynote. Read more

Once again Udavi School students, teachers and close friends got together to celebrate Christmas and usher in the presence of light with new hopes and dreams on the 24th of December, under the banyan in the school compound. The program started with welcoming the guests and lighting candles under the Christmas tree by guests, teachers and students. This was followed by the students singing French and English Christmas songs conducted by Dominique. In the end there was a distribution of gifts by Bhithi-di and Sanjeev. Read more