Pondicherry - A Slice of Paradise

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this post being a continuation of the previous two posts of my trip to Pondicherry

Part 1      Part 2

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Day 2 - The good and the best

We had three objectives lined up before us this day: the Auroville Township, the Aurobindo Ashram, and a beach. For transportation, you can get bikes on hire in Pondicherry for commutation around the city. Another option is to hire an auto rickshaw to take you around for the whole day for a pre-decided price. Normally, the guest house owners will have a few rickshaw wallas on their payroll who will take you around the city and outside and wait for you while you go around. A general lack of ability to maneuver a two-wheeler meant that we had to rely on the latter option.

A Prototype of the Auroville Township

Solar Food Oven

Auroville is supposed to be an 'experimental' township which aims at bringing people from different countries, religions, and cultures together to live in harmony. The basic requirements for a person to be an Aurovilian are that they have to renounce all religion and be ready to explore oneself (quite lofty I know). There are some more requirements which they have stated on their site. According to our guest house owner, it's a place that most foreigners with shady past seek after their own country becomes too hot for them to stay put. Whatever the truth may be, the place surely is a very good sanctuary for anyone trying to lead a peaceful life; provided you agree to follow their ideals. While I did not quite agree with what they had to offer in terms of philosophical enrichment, I certainly liked what they had done with the natural resources available to them. From water harvesting to waste management, Auroville has made effective use all the limited means available to them, something that we can follow instead of cribbing about global warming and the exhaustion of natural resources through wastefulness.

The Matrimandir

A Prototype of the
Inner Chamber of Matrimandir

The pride of Auroville is the Matrimandir, a standing about a 100 feet tall, Matrimandir, a Sanskrit word for Temple of the Mother, is a testament to human creativity and imagination. It is surrounded by 12 pedestals, made in such a way that the entire structure is supposed to resemble a lotus. The entire structure is surrounded by greenery and has a huge auditorium on one side. The Aurovilians like to call the Matrimandir as the center of the entire township, though the actual geographical centre is this behemoth and ancient Banyan tree.

The Banyan Tree

The Matrimandir itself is covered by golden disks which reflect the sunlight falling on them thus appearing quite radiant. There are four main pillars supporting the Matrimandir, each facing the four main directions of the compass, each pillar depicting the four aspects of the mother according to Sri Aurobindo Ghosh. The gigantic dome itself contains a meditation room, also known as the Inner Chamber, having 12 sides. This meditation room contains the largest optically perfect crystal globe. The solar rays are reflected by a mirror mechanism placed on the top of the dome onto this globe. With plans going on to build 12 gardens around the dome, separated by artificially constructed water bodies, Matrimandir sure will be a sight to behold once it reaches its final structure. The inner details of the dome are what I heard on a short video that is shown to visitors at the entrance of Auroville. Visitors are barred from entering the Matrimandir. The reason given that it is a place where you attain maximum concentration and that entry to visitors would only serve to disturb the overall atmosphere of the chamber. The rest of Auroville is replete with natural beauty and is a great sanctuary for anyone wishing to get away from 'it' all. As nerdy as it may sound, I must say that a few sections of the road leading to the Matrimandir were largely reminiscent of Lothlorien and Rivendell. Any LOTR fans out there might know of what I am talking about; as for the rest, I am sorry but this is the only context I could find to describe the beauty of the forest surrounding us.

After having taken in the sights of Auroville to our hearts' content, we commenced our homeward journey for we had one more very important, nay, the most important location to visit. John F. Kennedy once said, "We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch - we are going back from whence we came." I don't know whether we came from the sea or because God said 'Let there be light', but one thing I know for sure is that there are very few sights in the world which parallel the blue ocean stretching out beyond the horizon, swallowing the sun as it begins its downwards journey to signal the end of yet another day in our puny, insignificant lives. The serenity and the beauty that it offers is unparalleled in anywhere. If Auroville offered a great sanctuary from the daily tortures in our lives, a clean, blue-watered beach offers the ultimate retirement home, a place to bury all you troubles beneath the sand and letting them be washed away by the pure blue waters. I must confess that I have no idea about the name of the beach that we visited. Our aim was to visit the Paradise beach, one of the best, and most popular, beaches in Pondicherry. However, our rickshaw driver suggested this beach to us. It's situated near a small town which gives the beach its name (or is it the other way around?). Having parked our rickshaw, we made our way on the banks of a river joining the sea and is used by the local fishermen for fishing. Past some sand dunes lay the ocean (the Bay of Bengal we were told) in its full majestic glory. Now I have been to a lot of beaches in India, but the only place where I have seen clearer water than this beach is the Port Blair. The water actually had a shade of blue; only getting polluted when it reached the shallows and disturbed the sand. It is futile of me trying to describe the scenery in this already long post. A quick dip and a short walk later we were on our way home. The extra time spent at the beach meant that we were not able to make it to the Aurobindo ashram or any other tourist spots in Pondicherry; a fact which seemed to bother me the least after having accomplished what I came to Pondicherry for. Another long walk along the Promenade was followed by dinner and another fantastic evening spent on 'The Roof'.

Day 3 - Farewell to Paradise

And then it was time to go. But not before I had taken another walk on the docks and taken in the early morning sea air sitting on the rock lined on the Promenade. A short bus journey took us to Chennai from where a long bus journey brought us back to Bangalore. An invigorating weekend normally means that you end up going to work with a new zeal and enthusiasm. On the flip side though, if you don't have too much of work, then you actually end up thinking about the weekend and moroseness takes place of cheerfulness.

One last thing before signing off. The weekend we were in Pondicherry marked the beginning of Ganesh Chaturthi. Walking along the Promenade on the last day, I saw a few people immersing the statues of Lord Ganesha into the sea, as is the traditions. Now following traditions is a good thing, but when those traditions don't result into anything good, or rather if they result in some damage only, then its better not to follow them. I don't see the point of immersing the colored idols in the sea. If someone were to try and drown me in water, I would be upset with that person rather than blessing him for doing so. But to each his own, we live in a world where people are ready to slit each other's throats over something as trivial as religion, so I guess our water bodies filling up with idols painted with toxic wastes are the least of our problems.

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Click here for the snaps.