Back To Basics: Live The Simple Life By Volunteering At Auroville

Auroville, tucked away in a corner of south India, can give you a full experience of what it’s like to work on a forest farm as a volunteer and live your life in the wilderness, even if it’s only for a while.

Looking to take a break from your fast-paced life, or simply want to switch off and go back to the basics, then try volunteering at Auroville. Surrounded by forest communities, Auroville offers a milieu of options to stay in, in exchange for voluntary services. Some places offer lunch as well, which would include the absolutely delicious organic homegrown produce. But if you’re looking to work for your stay, then pick the Evergreen community. There’s no real essential requirement on work hours or how you spend your day, but surely you’re smart enough to know you should. You will most likely be staying in a wooden treehouse, and it’s a great time to get used to the sound of nature. 

Evergreen is full of passion fruit, spinach, cashew, mint, and other plantations, so you can help out in cultivation or work at the Tamarind Bakery, which is a part of the community with some basic baking skills. Content writing, designing, and carpentry are other departments you can pitch in at. Visit the Sadhana Forest, which deals with water conservation and afforestation (they also accept volunteers), and the famous Matri Mandir for meditation, for which you will have to make a booking in advance (in person only). Get an Auroville guest card, which works like a cash card, to avail all the facilities, since many places here don’t accept cash.