We the students of Class 7, were to embark on a journey to a very important city, the city of Dawn – Auroville. We were thrilled to know that our Vice Principal, was accompanying us for this excursion and she would cover a significant portion of our curriculum through this excursion.

We reached Auroville via Chennai where we visited the Crocodile Bank and saw different varieties of reptiles. Our accommodation had been organised at Udhavi School in Auroville, where we received excellent hospitality throughout our stay. The visit to Auroville Visitors' Centre helped us in gaining knowledge about Auroville and the Matri mandir. The city of Dawn, or Auroville, was founded by The Mother as she thought that there should be a place on earth where all of humanity could live together irrespective of caste, creed or money.

We saw and learnt about different medicinal plants, cacti, butterflies, etc. in the Botanical Gardens. We loved working in the organic farms at Buddha Gardens. We collected soil samples in some of the places we visited and tested its pH level. Finally the day we were waiting for came - we visited the Matri mandir, which stood shining in the sun, draped with discs of gold. The inside chamber was even more mesmerizing.

The heliostat placed on the top reflects a ray of light down into the crystal ball at the centre - a sight which one can never forget. The radiance left us speechless and spell bound.

Another memorable visit was the Solar Kitchen building where we had a sumptuous lunch cooked using solar energy.

The sound of hundreds of musical instruments at Swaram, a musical studio was fascinating. At Auroville Bamboo Centre we observed production and marketing of bamboo craft for the welfare of local and international communities.

The visit to Auro Beach was cool and refreshing. Upasana was our last point of visit where we observed a mission to create conscious sustainable fashion taking care of environment cost.

With overflowing emotions and enriching experiences we returned on October 06, 2016 to Kolkata.

Naman Madhur and Sharanya Bhattacharya