Trip to Pondicherry

I went and visited Pondicherry on the weekend. Stefano, the father of a friend of my girlfriend invited me to stay the night at his place in Auroville. It was a very interesting 2 days.

Firstly, finding a bus there was not as easy as popping on trans-info website and looking up the timetable, nor was it a case of going to Greyhound.in and booking a ticket. Those websites I did find didn't meet my "Secure Online Shopping" policy. Long story short, I had to catch a ride to the bus terminal on Friday and pay a guy 50 rupees to find me a seat on a bus and then pay for the seat. Don't get me wrong, the guy seemed like lastminute.com in human form, he had a pretty good idea who had seats left to where and the timetables for the 20-plus operators; his abilities were impressive. I ended up with a 260 rupee seat on an "A/C Semi-sleeper", a bus with air-conditioning and reclining seats.

The bus ride itself was uneventful, aside from the hundred or so close calls as it weaved through the traffic on the highway. This is an eighty kph version of how they drive in the city (i.e. lane markings are just for decoration, and the horn is used as a warning that you are coming through... right-of-way be damned).

They did play a movie on the bus, and they put on the English subtitles for me (without asking which was very courteous). The translation was fairly rough ("Be correct men, the rice let us talking!"), but not so bad I could not understand the plot at all (e.g. that bootleg copy of Harry Potter from China, that had english subtitles translated from the chinese subtitles). The reason I mention this is that there was a very disturbing "lost in translation" moment... the girl had a crush on the protagonist, and kept referring to him as her uncle!

When I got to Pondicherry, Stefano was waiting for me. We promptly set off on his scooter (without helmets!) and he showed me some of the sites and some shops. It was very crowded as it was Republic Day. My friend Muthu told me this is a favourite period for terrorist threats from various groups... which makes no sense as it comes across as them saying they would prefer the good ol' days of British Colonial rule!?! We had dinner at a joint called the "Promenade" which had a great buffet and lots of different sweets. Stefano's English is not the best, but we managed a conversation or two about various topics. He then took me to Auroville where he, Donata, two dogs and a cat live.

The next morning I got to see the garden where Stefano grows various herbs, fruits and vegetables. I had fresh Pawpaw for breakfast. We went for a ride around and Stefano took me to his friends place where I met Jaqueline, Danip and their daughter who looked exactly like my friend Isabella. I will have to find a photo when I get home of Isabella and send it to Stefano to show them, the resemblance was uncanny! They made us pancakes with a variety of preserves (including pear jam which is now my favourite), butter and passionfruit (which was yellow, unlike the normal purple at home) and it was all organic. In return I fixed the email on Jaqueline's Sony Ericsson P1 (it was Blackberry being silly!).

Stefano then took me to a jewellery shop where I bought some presents for Sylvia.

For lunch, Stefano made fresh gnocci with a pepper-cream sauce and a baked fish. It was delicious and not good for my BMI. :-)

Later Stefano took me to the visitor's centre for Auroville, where my suspicions about the town were confirmed... Auroville is a new-age mecca! I encourage you to look the place up on Wikipedia, honestly the way they have transformed the land over the past two decades is amazing. But I still find it funny how they all have mobile phones (with the required network coverage) in there sustainable living paradise.

After a some more shopping for gifts in Pondicherry I took a taxi back to Chennai (so I would have a seat belt).

N.B. the Indian's like to have various melodies play when they are reversing their car (instead of the usual warning tone on a truck). So be careful when out and about. When you hear "Fur Elise" playing, someone is getting a call or you are about to be run over.