…..There stands Francois Dupleix. Not too far away is Joan of Arc. It’s a trip down France as one crosses symmetrically aligned streets in puducherry. The Portuguese have been here. So have the Dutch.. The Danes. The English And the French. And here I am now…

 

Truly a place that is a must visit on any given day… As soon as I left from Chennai, I realized… this is it man, Pondicherry is certainly going to be one of the most remarkable places to visit in this #SriniOnTour… I remember Pondicherry, Auroville from our History and English textbooks way back in school. Always used to wonder after reading about the place, how the whole experience of living in a colonized place would be… How the place is diverse and yet united across the Bay of Bengal… How there are people of various nationalities that throng the place, yet are comfortable for it’s as if their own country…

 

As soon as I reached Pondicherry bus stand, I headed off to Rangapillai Street, not so far away from the Pondicherry beach (Beach Street) Thankfully @ttvijay said he’d help me out with the accomodations, otherwise it would have been a task to get one easily, especially since it’s season time and talking in tamil isn’t an art I’ve mastered, nor do I know fluent French yet… not that they would know french, but you know… So here I was finally… touchdown Pondicherry at last. After I settled down, I decided to take a look around and see what’s in store for me? Surprisingly, most of the places in Pondicherry, important ones… are really close to each other. So it’s kind of a good thing for you…especially if you rent a bike there… Yes, you can do that, just opposite to the Rangapillai street, you’ll get a lot of bikes for 200 bucks, which is farely cheap, considering in Goa, they just charge you whatever they feel like…

 

So one of the things I had made sure I’d do… is go and eat at the Appachi restaurant! Yes, that’s the legendary restaurant that dishes out Chettinad food… Man, and I should say, SPICY Chettinad Food… And I can tell you, having tasted it, there’s certainly a reason for me to go gaga about the place. The decor is also very homely, starting from the roof to interiors, it feels as if you are in someone’s house in a village of Chettinad. [Chettinad food, now is one of the many reasons why people get to know Chettinad. Chettinad food is essentially spicy, with a standard full meal consisting of cooked dhal, eggplant (brinjal) curry, drumstick sambar, ghee for flavouring rice, and sweet meats likepayasam and paal paniyaram. “Kara kolambu” is a highly regarded south Indian sambar. Chettinad delicacy:Aadi kummayam, its a mouth watering delicacy for the sweet toothed ones, made from pulses.] (Wikipedia)

 

The next day was tour de Pondicherry and Auroville. But before that I made sure that I get up really early in the morning and get some really, and I mean really great shots of the Sunrise to actually make a Sunrise collage… This time, the beach was really near the hotel I was staying at…So, no getting lost or confused about any stations… Parks or Park towns 😛

 

But as they say… In the world where Mr. Murphy exists, you have got to follow one thumb rule… ‘Expect the unexpected’ and viola… the clouds thronged the sky till the sun came up and spoiled my plans of getting myself a sunrise collage… Nonetheless, got some really brilliant shots and hope that my collage dream is fulfilled somewhere down the road…on #SriniOnTour.

 

Another thing about Pondicherry is the beauty of it’s French section of the town. In French Town the roads are flanked by colonial style buildings with long compound walls and statelygates, behind which life unfolds. The facades have often vertical columns and tall windows and are coloured cream, yellow and pink. (tourism.pondicherry.gov) The beauty still remains and strikes you charmingly in the face 🙂

 

Truly, staying in Pondicherry and especially riding around on the bike exploring the town, I really felt like giving time a break… And that is one of the reason why I’m one day behind my schedule on the trip… Anyways, I hope to catch up soon, but for now I’ll relax, unwind and just chill… What do you think?

 

P.S I will be writing another post completely on my experience in Auroville… Do wait for that one 🙂