Pondi Post!

                                       

                     View from the sea wall at the Promenade

My heart still bursts with joy when I think of my four-day long trip to Pondicherry. It was so amazing that I've spent nearly a month racking my brains to think of the most perfect way to write about it in this post so it may come close to describing how longingly I miss and look back at that time. Now, I've decided that looking for perfection in words doesn't really add any value to what was already a perfect experience, so I'm on free-flow from here on. I must first thank my awesome friend, Yameen, who also happens to be a fantastic blogger for pushing me to take this vacation and for making this a wonderful time for all of us by patiently taking lots of pictures and holding all our bags and purchases as we shopped.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Pondicherry didn't turn out to be anything like I'd thought it would be. Looking back, I realize that I ended up there without really any preparation or research about the kind of place it would be. It was all for the best. The train journey from Bangalore was comfortable and we were there quite early in the morning to start our day with a nice, piping hot verbal duel with an auto driver over fares to Auroville. Since our faces bore the invisible stamp "tourist", he decided to drop us about a kilometer away from our actual destination after overcharging us. The beautiful, pleasant walk to the Visitor's centre in the only bit of tamed greenery in Auroville made up for everything and we dragged our suitcases to reach a quaint little coffee shop at the Centre. There were two extra things on offer apart from the coffee, a magnificent view of tall green trees and Quiet - a steady, peaceful, morning time quiet that was only broken occasionally by the chirping birds. I solemnly swear, I did not copy this from an early century novel.    

 Auroville is mostly a  forest with all kinds of guest houses and small local settlements. Online, it is described as an experimental town where no religion or politics interferes in the life of its residents. The place itself is inhabited by people of many different nationalities, chiefly Indians and Italians. I think of it as a little handicrafts village trying to be a place for relaxation and meditation with the main attraction being a temple called the Matrimandir. I didn't take any pictures of the large golden-coloured globe in the middle of Auroville cause I wasn't really sold onto the idea. Pondicherry is Sri Aurobindo's town and I noticed the propensity of everyone and everything related to his organization to claim to not be interested in commerce or entertaining tourists but only genuine visitors to the ashram who wanted to take back things other than expensive handicrafts. They have some lovely stores selling beautiful handicrafts and also dresses, shoes, bags, beauty products etc. I am not being critical and I see nothing wrong in business. I bought plenty of things myself but you're either a business enterprise or you're not. It's a bit hypocritical to pretend you're not, when you're doing everything to attract shopping tourists, especially the foreign ones with the deeper pockets. Auroville has plenty of daytime entertainment. Notice, I say only daytime. The place shuts down at sunset and doesn't have any street lamps at night in most places. Even the eating places close early and if you're staying at Auroville as we did, you might go to bed without dinner, if you didn't prepare. Now for some more pictures.

Speaking of shopping, it was a good day for a hat.

We stayed at a lovely guest house called Afsana in Auroville, I have never seen a more beautiful, well-maintained guest house than this. We took a Japanese cottage that was encircled by a moat full of fishes and frogs and to our great surprise, one morning, even slender water snakes. The water was clear and we could see right through it at all the colorful creatures that swam in it all day long. The pictures will tell you everything.

 

Afsana does not have any lunch or dinner, so we set out that first morning walking in the mud paths at Auroville looking for a Ganesh Bakery, that we'd found on the map. This was the hardest bit of my entire trip because we got lost numerous times in the forest and I'm not a big fan of walking for hours in the sun...or the rain. Walking in the rain is overrated. We finally gave up this adventure and decided to call a taxi to drop us at the bakery. I must put in a word about the taxis at Auroville. The service is good and polite but fares for small distances of a kilometer or two are exorbitant. You can't really protest, it's not meant for 'tourists'. I assume that the management at Auroville thinks genuine visitors to the temple must prove their faith this way. Back to Ganesh Bakery, the food here was freshly made and I must put it on record that I had this amazing chocolate dosa.

                 Taken too late, but you see the brown goo oozing out of the dosa on the right?

As the clock strikes 1:00 am and I watch Ellie sleep, my resolve wavers and I've decided to make this a post in parts. Part II - Sri Aurobindo ashram - coming tomorrow.