Auroville is located in south India, a few kilometres inland from the Coromandel Coast, approx 150 kms south of Chennai (previously Madras) and 10 kms north of the town of Puducherry. It boasts a row of prospering shops lining the road, and several newly built or renovated little temples, colourful with brightly painted icons of Kali, Ganesh and Durga. With the lifting of restrictions on foreign trade, western goods are found in increasing abundance in India, including in Kuilapalayam. There are a few lakes around Auroville, Kaliveli Tank and the lake at Lake Estate being the main ones. Freshwater bodies within Auroville are found in ponds, and in the small dam in Aurodam. Large craters, ponds fill during the monsoons, and serve as watering holes for animals, bathing and washing places for villagers, and containments to hold water until it can seep back into the aquifer. when the water level has sunk, the Kuilapalayam tank clothes itself in hundreds of exquisite lotuses growing from its muddy depths a breathing taking sight.

Pros:

• Well Planned Area
• Good cafes and restaurants which provide Indian and French cuisine
• Matrimandir the meditation centre is one of the best places to meditate

Cons:

• The roads are narrow
• The greenery invites a number of insects which is annoying
• The work around the green belt is yet to be completed