Pondicherry: A land of old-world charm

"It's the wrong bus! It's the wrong bus!" she screams. "The right bus is two streets away and leaving NOW!!!' She runs like a crazy woman to catch this bus two streets away. The bus which is supposed to take us away from this little melting pot of Indian and French culture. Away from this once French run colony with it's rustic villas, it's old world charm and uncrowded streets; away from Pondicherry.

About Pondicherry:

Pondicherry is a Union Territory of India. A former French colony with vestiges of its French inheritance still apparent in the architecture, language and food. The environment is reminiscent of a little French town and it is not for no good reason that Pondicherry is known as The French Riviera of the East

How to get there:

You could either take a train or bus to Pondicherry. Even here you have the 'comfortable' (like a bus could ever be comfortable!)Volvo buses or you could be adventurous and take a local bus, which involves a change of bus at Thiruvanamalai, the least expensive way to get there, I've been told. Of course you have the possible risk of having drunken men try to sleep on your lap. You have been warned.

Where to stay:

Once there, the first thing you do is find yourself a place to stay.
The little town caters to every budget from the government run guest houses which could cost you around Rs800 for a dormitory for six. The dormitories however, might not provide you with hot water or air conditioning (both of which you're likely to need, depending on the weather). Also, you might be required to be back by 10:00pm, after which they close their gates.

The more expensive hotels like Le Promenade and Le Dupleix could cost you between Rs 5000-7000 per night. Beautiful retreats with all the amenities that luxury hotels afford. Rates drop in the off season which is most of the year when it's either raining or horribly hot! But for three months, from December to February weather is just lovely.

Another option is to get on to the ECR road and take yourself to Auro beach where you can stay in a shack just off the beach. Of course you're looking at the bare minimum here. Comfort shouldn't be high on your list of priorities and carry Odomos. The price I'm sure, is negotiable.

What to do once you're there:

Eat.

You heard me right. Well of course there's the the beach and the Ashram out in Auroville and all those little shops on the way. Of course there's all that. But I go to Pondicherry for the food.

Satsanga on Labour Donnis Street is a good place if you're looking for French food which translates into less spices and a liberal sprinkling of herbs quite a change from our Indian cuisine. The food there is delicious if you ask me, the service however can be slow as the place is usually crowded. Relax, enjoy your drink. Don't forget you're on holiday and not in a hurry!

There are other places like La terrace which serves great pizza, L'Espace, Le Club, Rendezvous, Le Cafe and Baker Street also serve good continental food.

If you're looking for Indian food you have places like the Ashram Dining Room, Anugraha and Surabhi.
If you're looking to get a little dancing in while you're there, Asian House on Beach Boulevard (Also called Subhaia Salai) is an option. With it's visiting DJ's and bands it's a nice enough way to either dance the evening away or just settle down with your beer and enjoy the crowd.

For everyone else, there's both the beach at Pondicherry as well as Auro Beach which is on the way to Auroville, about 6 km from Pondicherry. At the Aurobindo Ashram in Auroville, you have a visitor's centre which gives you a history of the place as well as a few shops famous for their knits and blue pottery. There are many little shops on the way to Auroville along with places to stop and eat which makes the journey there easy and quite pleasant.

Some people might even choose to relax over a beer on the way to the ashram and skip the ashram entirely. If you're wondering who these 'some people' might be, you shouldn't. It's more likely than not your male counterpart. The boys we were travelling with, for example, collectively decided that keeping the best interests of all in mind, it would only be for the greater good if they relaxed over an aperitif while we girls carried on with our shopping. We could take our time we were informed and meet them back at the little restaurant they had decided upon. They weren't going anywhere. Not surprisingly, we never made it to the Ashram.

Getting lost in Pondicherry isn't easy - the place is that small. But some of us, yours truly being an adequate example, manage it.

So if you're anything like me and decided to take a little early morning stroll to by yourself and happen to get lost, this would be a good time to get a few pointers on the layout of the place.

I suppose you could describe Pondicherry as oval-shaped with a canal running through the center dividing the town into it's Black and White sides (Indian and French respectively). Keeping the canal as one marker and the beach as the other makes it easier to keep your bearings.

If all else fails, just ask someone. It might help if you speak either French or Tamil, the two most widely spoken languages there. But don't fret if you know neither, most people understand English as well.

Pondicherry does mainly consist of eating, strolls, bike or cycle rides to Auro beach and to Auroville, the shopping and the cheap booze (how could I neglect to mention that?)

But more than all of this, it's the place itself, just taking it in; the absence of crowds, the unclutteredness, the feeling of slowing down, that's what I really go to Pondicherry for.

Departure:

Two days after our lovely sojourn, our tickets indicated that it was time to leave, impervious to our protests.

The plan was to have a quick dinner check out and head to the bus stop. Of course nothing goes as planned and checking out proved to be taking longer than anticipated. We reach the bus stop, without a minute to spare, only to find that no one had bothered to look at the ticket and therefore realize that our onward and return journeys were with different travels which of course led to a minor commotion within our group!!! (Remember the girl I was telling you about at the start?)

We did get our bus eventually. It was on the same street, right in front of the wrong bus. Now all we had to do was locate our missing companion who had run off to God knows where. So a few wolf whistles and one phone call later, we were all safe on the bus and before we knew it we were back home arguing with the auto drivers about who was a better authority on the appropriate fare to take us to our respective houses.

It most certainly wasn't the meter!

Footnotes: Things to take along:

- ID
- A sun cap
- Extra money for booze
- Someone to look at the tickets