“Pondicherry” – Give time a break

     Sun, sand & French connection would otherwise seem the right description for this little union territory on the east cost of India.  But “Pondicherry” is a soulful experience; you would want to keep coming back to, just to give everything a break. Pondicherry or Puducherry has a variety of things for everyone and it’s you who gets to decide how you want to indulge and spoil yourself.

     If you surf the net for just about 5 mins you will have the complete list of tourist places to visit when in Pondicherry or Pondi (as it is more commonly known). So here is my shorthand list for you (not in any particular order)

1. Aurobindo ashram (In Pondicherry white town)

2. Auroville ( approx. 10 km and half an hour drive from the main Pondicherry town)

3. Promonede Beaches, the light house & Gandhi Statue (all within close proximity)

4. White town consisting of vintage French architectural houses (French part of the town)

5. Church– The Basilica of the sacred heart of Jesus

6. Vinyagar Ganesh Temple

7. Backwaters (in case you visit to Pondi as an alternative for Kerala backwaters)

8. Shopping on the streets of MG road

AN OLD BUILDING ON THE ROADS OF THE WHITE TOWN

       But if you are not a regular tourist going by the rules & itinerary and are in Pondi for the great escapade, then read on for my soulful experience of the place so you can finally pack your bags and take that long pending holiday you very well deserve.

       Our journey began in Bangalore. A group of five friends, one Zoomcar and Google maps by our side.

ON OUR WAY                         PONDI ENTRANCE

We started off in the wee hours of the morning & took the electronic city flyover towards Vellore. We reached Vellore as per the estimated time. Google maps was helping us so far. But here I want to mention about a village - Arcot(which we somehow missed) and had to take a long route to come back on track . So for the benefit of the dedicated google map users, this is a small caution here, if you are traveling from banaglore to Pondi ,  via vellore keep an eye on the road which takes a small right to take you to arcot .

       The journey seems like one of the lovely road trips on your bucket list following a picturesque route. Once you cross a village named tindivanam( somehow I remember this name clearly as it has a tinkling sound attached to it) you are just one step away from your destination.
        The first sight of Pondi gave us an impression that it is like any other crowded Indian town.But we were in for a sweet surprise, three days of awesomeness. And I would like to give most of the credit to the beautiful part of the white town we were now heading towards, where we had booked our stay at the “The Colonial Heritage”.

COLONIAL HERITAGE GUEST HOUSE

DAY 1:

       I would recommend this guest house to everybody, to experience the true essence of Pondi. This beautiful and treasured place is owned by a wonderful French lady named Sabine. The place has a magical positive vibe to it. From the modest entrance to the royal yet humble interiors , each thing seems to welcome you into a world of your own kinda peace. The fatigue of the journey suddenly disappeared as we were surrounded by lush green garden at the entrance of the hotel. The vibrant colors of the hotel furniture and tinted window panes gave it a lively look. We were amazed to have found such a cozy place right in the heart of the white town.

     We got two rooms for ourselves called the ‘Les Jumelles’(The Twins) each with a balcony view of the garden.It was afternoon by the time we finished admiring our rooms and getting ready just in time for lunch.

      The area around our hotel (called Rue Romain Rolland road) had many choices of restaurants and we picked “Hotel De L’orient” .It is a refined 18th- century mansion with a lovely courtyard restaurant serving delicious French cuisine. After a sumptuous lunch we went back to our guest house for a nice afternoon Nap and to get away from the scorching sun.

HOTEL DE L'ORIENT ENTRANCE

COURTYARD - HOTEL DE L'ORIENT

LA MAISON ROSE

      Later in the evening we headed towards the famous Promenade beach. The beach was at a walking distance from hotel. The place was crowded with people and yet the sound of the waves hitting the shore could be heard loud and clear. There are stones put on along the shore line. Somebody told us that they were laid there after the tsunami .Coming from Goa, beach doesn’t really excite me. But the late evening walk along the beach was really relaxing. Just a little ahead was the Lighthouse(closed during the evening hours) and the Gandhi statue(being 2nd of Oct that day it was flooded with garlands of flowers).

      We discovered a very good restaurant called ‘La Maison Rose’;a few miles away from the beach. This is a lovely courtyard style restaurant with amazing ambiance & serving some superb snacks . Their different types of sandwiches , shakes & drinks are a must try. We had a hibiscus flower extract drink there and to our surprise it tasted very nice. 

DAY 2

Our plan for the day 2 was to visit the much talked about Auroville village & Aurobindo ashram.

BREAKFAST SERVED IN A SUNKEN PATIO BESIDES THE LEAFY GARDEN - COLONIAL HERITAGE

        Auroville (city of dawn) is an experimental township, to promote unity of humanity - Once you arrive at the place and park your vehicle in the 
parking ground you will be lead to the center point of the area, which has a small museum and a book store where you can watch a video about Auroville(explaining the hows & whys).

AERIAL ROOTS OF THE OLD BANYAN

        You can take a shuttle to the place or use your legs and I prefer the second options as it takes you through a small natures ride.
Finally we reached the place. I was a bit disappointed here because they don’t allow you to see the Matramandir from inside or even from a very close distance. If you wanna see it probably you need to go in-person there a day in advance and do your booking.

EXTERIORS OF THE ASHRAM

There are many options for lunch within Aurovile premises with French & Italian cuisines.

VEGAN SANDWICH

          We chose the Dreamer’s café. The food was served very interestingly on lovely looking plates. The visual appeal is so good that you might want to sneak out one for yourself ;-)

      After the Aroville it was time for Aurobindo Ashram , which was very close from our guest house. The Ashram is well maintained with a very beautiful flower garden and provides some information about Aurobinda if you would be interested.

In the evening we went to MG road, which dint seem anything different from the commercial streets of Bangalore. Also visited the Church –Basilica of the sacred heart of Jesus- very near to the MG road. Visit to the church gave us all some inner peace and there after we treated ourselves to some delicious desserts at the famous dessert shop- Zuka.
We took a tricycle rickshaw ride, back to our guesthouse travelling through the busy roads of Pondi .

      For dinner we choose a quaint hotel “La Villa Shanthi” .White décor, wooden windows ,elegant furniture and long pillars with large sitting areas inside the courtyard and surrounding, gives it a palatial feel. You would love to go to this place to just sit down with a bottle of wine & order some amazing food and enjoy this beautiful place for dinner with your family or friends.

VILLA SHANTHI COURTYARD

VILLA SHANTHI

   It rained very heavily that night and the weather was like cherry on the cake for our amazing vacation .With the thunder storm the place seemed cool and heavenly (ironic I know) and the fresh smell of the wet mud surrounding the hotel added to the beauty of the place.

Next day morning with a heavy heart we had to bid goodbye to our lovely guest house and our ever so smiling and helpful owner ; adding this vacation to our most favorites memories.

P.S : 1. Place of stay – do choose something on Rue Romain Rolland road ( Colonial heritage recommended).Choice of a good Place to stay in Pondi is an important factor to experience Pondi.

2. Places to visit – don’t go by the big lists online. Just go wherever you feel like when in Pondi.

3. What to do – sit Back , relax & breathe in the refreshing air ..