In this undated picture, members of the community are seen hard at work to build the township of Auroville. Pic courtesy/Sri Aurobindo Ashram Archives

In February 1968, when 5,000 people thronged a desolate landscape, over 10 kilometres north of Pondicherry, now Puducherry, the excitement was palpable. Each one present there was carrying with them a dream - one that bore the promise of a new home where peace triumphed and learning never ended. Fifty years on, those ideals, once propounded by the spiritual collaborator of Sri Aurobindo, Blanche Rachel Mirra Alfassa, known to her followers as the Mother, live on in Auroville, the experimental complex she imagined for seekers of the world.