Gnanavel
In the evening of Friday, 3rd February, 2017, our good friend and brother, Aurovilian V Gnanavel of Matrimandir Nursery left his body due to a stroke caused by high blood pressure. The day before he was taken in serious condition to PIMS from where he was transported to the Ramachandra Medical College in Chennai. His wife, Geetha, and children, Madivanan and Kalaiyarasan, accompanied him. He was 53 years old.
Already in the seventies, Gnanavel came from Kottakarai to work as a very young boy in the Matrimandir Nursery, readily learning about plant life and attending Ilaignarkal school. After running his own nursery in Kottakarai for some time, his life became more intimately interwoven with the Matrimandir Nursery when he eventually came to live there in the early nineties, joining Auroville for good in 1992.
Colleagues knew him as a gentle, introvert family man, who loved his work, and was dedicated to the Matrimandir gardens. In those years, it was Gnanavel who quietly took up the management of the Nursery, having started there as a kid so long ago.
On Saturday 5th February, family and friends buried his remains at Adventure’s burial grounds.
May you rest in peace, Gnanavel, and thank you for your quiet presence, hesitant smile and calm dedication. Our warmest sympathy and strength go out to Geetha, Madi and Kalay.
OM~
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