Pondicherry - A Slice of Paradise

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this post being a continuation of the account of my trip to Pondicherry


Part 1

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Day 1 - Exploring the streets

The day began in a rather sleepy manner for us. Having arrived from a tiring overnight bus journey, most of us dropped off for a short nap the moment we got possession of our rooms. A hot shower and a delicious breakfast later we were on our way to explore the city. First stop was the Promenade beach. For those coming from Mumbai, a first glance of this beach might remind them of the Marine Drive. The Promenade beach is named so because of the 1.5 Km long esplanade that hugs the beach. An esplanade, as any dictionary will tell you, is a long, open, level area - mostly besides a water body - constructed for walking; or promenading. The other side of the esplanade joins the road. The refreshing thing about the Promenade is that the opposite side of the road isn't populated with tall commercial hotels and restaurants that seem to pop up at every sea face like weeds in a beautiful garden. There are a couple of guest houses present, but then they don't make a sore sight. Most of the stretch of the road consists of old derelict buildings (which somehow add to the charm of the Promenade rather than making it creepy), some government offices, and a memorial to Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar (and no, there are no reservations as to who can enter it). The Promenade itself is graced by the statues of Joseph François Dupleix, a Governor General of the French establishment in India, Mahatma Gandhi, and a War memorial. And as I write this log, I realize that it's quite ironic that one of the greatest apostles of peace is surrounded by two memorials depicting the very ideas which he opposed. As you can see in the photo of the esplanade, the esplanade is divided into 2 levels. The one hugging the road is made of concrete and the one hugging the sea and the rocks is made using sand. This walkway continues past the concrete esplanade to a dock and a light house. The dock is not used too frequently except by local fishermen.

Moving away from the Promenade, we walked further into the city. The remarkable thing about the city is that despite being such a popular tourist destination, it has managed to maintain the balance between modernization and old world charm. The outskirts of Pondicherry - the areas nearer to the beaches - still have all the old houses standing up. Like I mentioned before, some of them have even been renovated and converted into guest houses. There are still areas where you will find the cobbled streets surrounded by old Victorian type houses; the likes of which most of us read only in the classic English novels. Despite the strong presence of an era gone by, you can still find a Pizza Hut creeping in here and a CCD there, a lounge appearing almost inconspicuously besides a petrol pump and posh restaurant popping up like a wrinkle on a perfect face. I guess these eye sores are like old age, you just cannot avoid them forever. Again, the traces of the French impact are visible everywhere on the streets. Most streets are named in French, as are a lot of educational and artistic institutions, the Rue's and the Le's visible at almost every corner of the streets. We even managed to mistake a school for a jail. Now I am a terrible guide and have a notorious memory when it comes to remembering roads. But for some reason, I managed to remember almost all the roads and the paths that we traversed. The streets are well connected and easy to remember. Besides, our guest house owner had most graciously provided us with a map of the areas surrounding the guest house. Moving further into the city, we came upon 'The Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception' (called in French as 'The Eglise de Notre Dame de la Conception Immaculee'). Now I have already posted my fascination with churches in one of my earlier posts. This church that we saw was a beautifully built church in a spotless white and golden color. My friend tells me that this is the kind of architecture that is found in very old churches, and he being a better authority than me on churches, I choose to believe him. And, if that is true, then I guess all the churches that we saw in Pondicherry must belong to the old school of church architecture. I won't go into the details of the architecture, but will let the photos speak for themselves. The afternoon heat started getting to us after that, and we turned in for some delicious seafood lunch (in one of the eyesores that I mentioned earlier). Octobers in Pondicherry can be very hot. And the rains start around the same time. The best season to visit Pondicherry is between June to August. Having satiated our taste buds, we ended up going around for some more time. This little trip included a detour to a small but fantastic pastry shop. We left with our stomachs filled to capacity and our pockets considerably lighter.

The day ended with a long walk along the Promenade, some sightseeing along the Promenade, and finally enjoying some nice sea breeze on the rooftop of our guest house. The Roof. That was indeed one of the highlights of the trip. Our French host, in some burst of inspiration, had constructed a roof top kitchen, put some benches and covered the roof with thatched leaves to make it rain proof. What's more, we had a clear view of the Promenade from the roof. Sitting late into the night, listening to the waves crashing on to the rocks and discussing ways to get a permanent job in Pondicherry (from a Government job to the bellboy for our guest house, everything was discussed); for some reason that was one of the biggest highlight of our stay in Pondicherry.


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Further account of this trip continued in the next post.


Click here for snaps.
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