Pondicherry --- Road trip

It was a weekend that I have been waiting to take for a long time …. A weekend just to chill and do nothing….
Well like they say nothing comes for free… or with out pain…
Unlike many of the holidays we decided this time that we will plan thing in advance. So started the planning phase, given the fact that we have only a weekend we decided to select a place not too far and is drivable …. After short listing couple of place be decided that Pondicherry would be a good option… so we called our travel agent to find out if there are any good place that he can suggest (with in an affordable price range). With the place decided and booked and all done I was a happy man and also managed to earn some Browne points from my wife … who was thrilled by the fact that she can shop for the weekend and also during the weekend…
Like I said nothing come for free or with out pain… the evening before our scheduled departure got to know that there is a Tamil Nadu bandh (strike) and every thing will be closed from 6am to 6 pm… (For all the planning that I did)... checked with the resort, aurovile travel agent if any thing will be affected… got the assurance that every thing will be ok and should not affect any thing...
Well decided to leave early in the morning (5:00 am) to beat the traffic and only to be stopped at the tamilnadu border and sent back (almost felt like refugees trying to cross the border) by a land cop who refused to speak any thing but Tamil, for they were not letting any traffic cross the border had to return back… all disheartened, not to mention an angry wife….

However, after a long week of grueling work we left for Pondicherry. This time around we ensured that there was no strike, no traffic jams and any possibility of being sent back.
All packed and car gassed up, we hit the road at 5:30 am the sun was not yet up and the high way was just getting up. As we cruised along the Hosur high way listing to Aishwarya’s song from Dhoom 2 it slowly started to sink that we were on a holiday … after an hour or so of driving Priya started feeling hungry (she is an early bird you see unlike me who can go with out food for hours as long as I get my required sleep). We started to look for a Darshani (more like a South Indianised version of a fast food) well after a desperate hunt and unsuccessful attempts to find out if there is a place around we found a small little road side place “Kannamma’s tiffanies. As the name suggest it was run by a very sweet lady “Kannaama”, who had this big welcoming smile on her face when we walked in. This place too has a history she says – "I have been here for the last 20 years, I have seen tashildars come and go up”. Having freaked on the Hot hot idly and Dosa we started on toward Pondicherry.

The drive to Pondicherry from Bangalore is approx 280 km via Krishnagiri . The road is good except for few bad patches along the way. One vehicle that will have a smooth ride...is the Cart .. you will find quite a few of them esp during the month of April - May with the harvest season.

Since we drove down we stopped at every possible place.
One such stop that we did was this field, with beautiful green harvest and a scare crow sticking out. We took the liberty of walking into the field and I started snapping out to glory not realizing that I had attracted the attention of the farmer. He saw us from a distance for some time wondering our fascination with the scare crow.
On talking to him I gathered that he I owns this piece of land that we had encroached on and his name was Kuppaswamy.

Tailing behind him was his daughter Meera. Who was so shy that she refused to stay still in one place and was constantly running behind her father for cover.
From there we head down to Gingi Fort which is about 60 km before Pondicherry. The Drive through this streach is beautiful....As you drive past the fort you can see it majestically standing on top of the Hill Krishna Giri. On digging further we realized that this fort has a rich history. It dates back before the Vijay Nagar Empire. I was originally built by the Nayaks of Gingi. Later ruled & fortified further by the Vijayanagar kings, the Moguls, the French & finally the English who destroyed the fort like every thing else in India.

We finally reached Pondicherry and decided to visit Aurovile before we head out to the resort. Aurovile is again a beautiful place to spend your time. It is famous for its architecture style. Every thing here has a very earthy feel to it, for they have consciously used only natural resources. One can totally freak out on two things shopping for all the shopoholics and second thing is the food (French cuisine).

Then we head down to the resort. It took us some time locate the place for it was located far away from the main road by the beach. In the evening we decided to head down into the city to enjoy a bit of the French architecture and French Flavor.
The area around Sri Aurobindo Ashram and the French Consulate is beautiful… one can walk around this place for hours together and the peace and quietness.
Not to far from the ashram is "Vysyal Street”, it is one of the oldest surviving streets in Pondicherry. This area is on the other side where the non Anglo – French settlers lived. (In other words Indians). The houses around this area still have the old Pondicherry feel, with central court yards & sit outs. Even to this day you find old people meeting up in the evenings to catch up on the local gossip.

All in All if you truly want tojust chill out Have a Beer by the Sea and hog till you and eat no more and just to unwind you know where to head....
more Snippets of Pondicherry through these Photos ……