ghumakkar.com

Pondicherry : Feb 24 - Feb 27 2007The lure of an inexpensive air ticket has its own vicitims. It all started from an advt. which claimed Rs 6 (thats about a 7th of a US Dollar) tickets to x destinations. So we logged in to www.airdeccan.net and after a while we had committed spending about 20 K for return ticket of myself, Smita (my wife), Pihu (my 2 year old daughter) and my bro and sis-in-laws, Aditya and Shaguna. The advt has worked for the airlines.

This was all done way back in October 2006 and the golden dates were Feb 24 - Feb 27 2007. As expected, Feb did come on time and after packing our bags and a little change in itinerary, courtsey cancellation of return flight, we were all set to go.

Day 1 - Feb 24 2007
Pondicherry is about 160 KM south of Chennai which is very well connected via air/rail/road and water. We started from Delhi at 1000 hrs and were in Chennai at about 1240 hrs. The best way to reach Pondy is to drive from Chennai. Infact that also happens to be the only way, no pun intended. An old friend (I mean he is still young at the time of writing this but we know each other for quite some time), Karthik Rangamani , has arranged for a cab. The plan was to take his dad’s Fiat Palio and drive on the now famous ECR (Eastern Coast Road) to Pondy. We had a good south Indian cofee and we started towards Pondy armed with a miniscule knowledge of tamil (native language of that region) and a detailed hand drawn map of “How to get out of Chennai and hit ECR”.

Mammallapuram or Mahabalipuram is about 45 Km away from Chennai and falls on the way to Pondy. Its a good idea to make a small stopover at Mammallapuram for this is place which taught stone sculptoring to India (or may be world). It was getting very hot since it was already 1600 hrs so we stopped for a while and moved on.

More info on Mammallapuram

http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/Culture/Archit/Mahaba.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahabalipuram

** You might be stopped by some gentleman ,usually well built and with lots of conviction, for some money in the garb of a pesudo-tax/toll-collector. Roll-up your windows and drive calmly. Look at them and tell them that you dont need it. Dont get afraid if you have to stop but dont take up a fight. If you get really stuck, then ghumakkar’s advice would be to pay 10/20 bucks and move ahead.

ECR is one road which is really hard to believe. It actually goes along the coast for most of its length. Imaging driving on a black tar which is accompanied by Bay-of-Bengal as the side lane. Sometimes the bay will take a detour and you would see a small fisherman hutment, some of them selling coconut water, and the bay will again appear like a great serpent. The road is very well laid and is toll-ed. Its also dotted with Hutch (mobile service provide) telephone kiosks for assistance against a flat tyre or a car breakdown.The other thing about ECR is backwaters which are not very
conspicuous but there would be times when you have water
on your left and on your right. At couple of places, you can actually see some sea-salt refining going on.
If you are not too shy, take a detour to one of the fisherman hutments and get real close to sea. You wont find many people. About two years back (Dec 25 2004), Tsunami affected this place, the rehabiliation can’t be missed.

It got dark by the time we reached Pondy and went straight to ‘Annamali International’. A very decent and highly inexepensive place to stay which is clean, has nice and polite staff and offers good room service. Ghumakkar recommends this hotel.

Where to Stay - Hotel Annamalai. Rs 1200 - 2000 for a double, includes b/fast. If you are adventurous then you might try Hotel Satsanga which offers stay. We didn’t see the rooms but it seemed to us that it would be a better fit for backpackers. If offers great food though and is close to sea.

Day 2 - Feb 25, 2007
We setout to Pondycherry museum which is close to Sea and
would be about 15 minutes drive from any where in Pondy.
It houses some of the real old stuff, including this 20 million
year old Fossil Wood.Its an old building with tall rooms and it avoids the usual tourist bustle by being a museum. It has a decent collection of old coins, cutlery, furniture and other such things buts its not one of those big places.

Right next to Museum is ;The Park; which is a must-go for the extra white structure it flaunts. The park is occupied by lots of locals doing all kind of things. It was getting warm in end of Feb and it was very relaxing to be amid tall trees.

Here’s how I and Smita look like.

One of the interesting thing in the park is this big ‘window chimes’ tied to tree brances. Each pendulum of the chime is about 4 odd feet. First time, we saw this big a chime.
Of course, no one goes to Pondy to see these chimes, seriously so dont spend hours looking for it.

One big important thing to note is that Pondy is just like another small town with crowded streets, liquor shops, road-side vendors, usual hustle-bustle, bad traffic and priated DVDs. Its not a mini France unless you veer towards the sea from the main city. As you drive through the maze, you will notice that suddenly the world has changed. Its really at a sudden point. The streets gets a little wider and much-much-more-cleaner, no street furniture (aka vendors vehicles and waste mounds), quiet surroundings, different building architecture and a relaxing calm which kills you as you discover it. This part of Pondy is what reminds one of French connection. The street names are in French and everything reminds of everything but India. Cherish this area by walking around, looking at buildings and getting a eye-full. Dont miss.

Where to eat : Rendezvous and Satsanga
We tried these two places and the they are worth it. Both the
places offer at least 20 pages of cuisines which range from Pasta
to butter chicken. These two places are also a good source of
information for activites happening in Pondy. They have a very
laid-back atmosphere so order will take a while to reach you and
no one seems to be in rush.

Anyone who visits Pondy must spend few hours in these two places over a long un-hurried meal. Also check out Adyar bakery for some muffins.

The other place which Ghumakkar advises to eat is the canteen at Auroville. More about auroville later.

No Beach - In the eve, we went to beach. Here comes the scoop. There is no beach in Pondy. Yeah, we mean it, there is no beach. What you have instead is a long, about a mile, concrete-slab elevated pathway along side sea. Over years, Pondy has lost the beach to sea. Every year sea eats some land. To stop it further, boulders have been put so as to stop the advancing sea.

And as at most of other tourist places, this place is really busy with people. Whether its morning or evening, there are as many people here as in Marine Drive in Mumbai. If you are looking for a secluded/quiet sea-side walk then this is not the place. Though there is another place which just fits the bill (Chunabaar Island) and where we went the very next day.

Day 3 - Feb 26 2007
We headed to a placed called “Chunnabar Island”. Its about 15 odd KM from the main city and is an island flanked between Bay of Bengal and Backwaters. You would need to take a boat (Rs 60 per person return) to be here.

There is a small shack selling Kingfisher 330 ml cans (Rs 50) and lots of other food items. If weather is with you then this is a funtastic place to chill. You have enough sun, an open sea, beer and very few curious onlookers. It has washrooms and few huts to relax and recharge.

If you are a large group you can book this place for private parties. dont miss.

We were back by lunch and after a quick drive, we were in city. We had lunch at Satsanga and then we were on streets doing window shopping. Pondy is known for leather stuff and HiDesign has a outlet here. If you like leather then dont go for the main showroom of HiDesign, which is very well done and sells anything and everthing, also runs a small cafe as well. Instead ask for the factory outlet of just leather goods of HiDesign. This shop is just round the corner and it has some real genuine un-expensive leather stuff. Give way to your temptations, you wont regret your buy. M. G. Road is the main artery aroud/on which all these shops are located.

After that, we went to Aurobindo Ashram. This place has a worship/homage point, has a library, you can also buy books and lots of flowers. You are supposed to keep quiet here. You may want to just sit and relax. Unless you are a great follower of Aurobindo Ghosh, this place is not for you. If you are one then this is indeed.

On Sundays, in the evening, M. G. Road doesn’t carry vehicles as it runs a flea market on that day. We did visit the market to see if its offering anything worthwhile. But nothing much here. Just like Anjuna (Goa) flea mkt and numerous other ones across India this one sells cheap cloths, household stuff, incense sticks etc.
Avoid.

It was a long and good day for us. We did go to the sea again, had tea and came back.
Time for some good liquor. The shop was called ‘Mr. Brandy Shop’. A very creative name for a wine shop. I intented to put a photo here and I thought that it was there on my phone and I dont seem to find it. May be next time I visit Pondy, I will shoot it again.

Day 4 - Feb 27 2007
Drive towards the ECR and once you get out of the city and cross the old furniture shops, look for a left exit. There is a small signage but better to ask someone to not miss it. Take this left and after a while you will discover that you are now in a countryside. Almost every shop will have Auroville in its name whether its Auroville Cafe, Auroville Juice corner, Auroville Saloon and so on. Keep driving. You would suddenly notice foriegners on Hero Hondas and mopeds and cycles. These people have made this place their home.
After about 8 Kms you would reach whats called Auroville Tourist Centre or something of that sort. Within the complex, there is a big hall which sort of has the information and the model of Auroville, there is a AV room. There is a mother’s temple,the entry to which is controlled. You would need to get a pass from their office (in the same complex) to visit the temple. And finally there is this eating joint. Do eat here, at least your last meal of the trip. They offer flower juices and fresh cooked food. I tried somthing which had Potatoes and eggs and salad and it came out really good.

Auroville in general is good and different place to hang-out. If you have time at hand then Ghumakkar would advise you to leave early from Hotel and try to be there for few hours.
From there we started and stopped at Mammallapuram. Dont take a guide from outside, there is a gentleman who can be found inside. Mammallapuram has more then what is typically on the sea side, called Sea Shore Temple, and if you do take a guide ensure that he takes to all the places. The going rates are Rs 100 - Rs 200 depending on what and how much you want to do.

Finally we were back at Chennai :)