1398 / 1424
1398
There was increasingly, in the collective climate, a shadowy flow of rumours and
suspicions and gossip, with the added element of apprehension or even fear, due to
the threat of visas being suspended for the Aurovilians of foreign origin.
I learnt that there was now an attempt to list down the residents of Auroville who
were known to be homosexuals; in one particular case, some anonymous letters
had, it seemed, resulted in that person not being allowed back into the country
after a visit abroad.
I had found, over the years, that this – homosexuality - was a topic that most
sharply revealed the narrow-mindedness and cowardly, hypocritical avoidance of
one’s “lower nature” to which most people succumbed in their half-deluded
eagerness to become “Aurovilians” – and the segregation I had seen at play in most
people’ minds and particularly in their subconscious expressions I found particularly
revolting. Yet there might well have been some abuse committed by some residents
of Auroville, or some of their guests and, in India, even though no one could
honestly pretend it did not exist, homosexuality was still legally considered as
criminal.
In my case I had provoked the ire of many people in the past for being obviously
bisexual; in the more recent years, as no woman seemed to be related to me in any
intimate way, I had entered the category of the reviled “homosexuals”; there had
been some wild guesses circulated about my practices and I had once been
summoned by the “Auroville Council” of the time to answer to some written “report”
they had received of my having homosexual activities under the Banyan tree;
although they had heard me out and offered some kind of apology, I had been
refused access to this “report”, and only told it had been sent by an Indian woman.
I never found out what exactly it was saying, or who was the author, and did not
really bother about it.
But now it was fairly certain that if such a list was actually drawn, my name would
be on it; that fact alone wouldn’t have troubled me, but it was the attitude behind
it, and the righteous justifications aiding it, that I could not accept; and I knew well
enough the kind of pain such hunt could give to those individuals who would fall
under its judgement.
I decided – probably one of my many imprudent and unwise decisions – to write to
the present Auroville Council:
*Regarding exclusivism, segregation and fear – An Open Letter to the
Auroville Council, by Divakar – February 12, 2004:
“Greetings,
It has several times now come to my notice that the present AV Council, through
some of its members, is drawing a list of ‘homosexuals’ in Auroville.
Why should such a thing happen among Aurovilians?
One cannot but be reminded of certain techniques to lay the ground for
‘purification’ through delation and self-serving informing.
Perhaps this intent may partly be in response to some loaded enquiry from ‘local
authorities’, fuelled by the obscure practice of anonymous letters; perhaps it is
meant as a warning, in a ‘brotherly manner’, to all concerned individuals?