Pondicherry: A trip to remember

As we had nothing else to do in TM, we moved-on to Pondi and reached there by Sat noon. First priority was to book return tickets and boy did we end-up in a vicious circle...
Tips:
* Book your return journey in advance (obviously considering the fools we were)
* There is only one train which leaves from Pondi to BLR (Sat night 10PM) => Railways is a big NO
* SETC and Pondi booking centres are in the bus-stand (but you will never get a ticket for the next day)
* Karnataka buses are to be booked in a remote galli (near Navina theatre behind bus-stand). Note: The lady there only knows English and Malayalam!

* Autos: The normal way for a visitor; they don't have meters and 30/- is the minimum. Learn to bargain, else thou shall perish paying the auto-wallas

* Tax free: Pondi is a tax-free place and no taxes shall be paid on stuff like food, liquor, accomodation ... (cigerrate does have tax)

Back to our trip: slightly tense (as to how to get back), we got into Adithya lodge in Kaamaraj Salai (very good). The receptionist(!) assured to see if he can help us with the return-tickets. The room which we took was comfortable (Rs 850). We skipped the famous Velu Military hotel downstairs (will come-back later) and went-out.

Within a 100 steps is Hotel Jayaram (only veg); we ordered a full meal (Rs 90). It was in-fact FULL (a 7 course north indian meal). Taste was not that great.

The lodge guy helped us get 2 seats in a Qualis (we bugged the travels guy a lot; He even said stuff starting with chinna-pullai tana maadari)

We befriended the auto-walla with a WILLS ultra milds & set-out to Vinayagar koil(2km ahead in the same road). It is a good temple with a lot of people. We spotted a chinki and later offered some grass (garike yaar) to the in-house elephant. WE WERE NOT BLESSED BACK (may be because we talked loose things about chinki).

While passing-by, I saw this palatial building. Thinking it was a hotel/museum I ventured in. I was immediately quizzed and driven away by 2 policemen (even they were amazed). Later it was known that it was the Governer's residence! yep, Deepak gave a round of terrorist crap.

We walked onto the beach. It was in-fact aw-r-some. After some photo sessions we sat down to talk non-sense. The outcome: Deepak will create a beach in Gangavathi and I will open an ashram.
We ate Cotton candy (the pink coloured one; my favourite) with some adult humour.

We walked back all the way (I was cursing Deepak for my legs were paining). I wanted to buy a cap but somebody ruined the bargain. Then we went into a shop and had ROSE milk (first food/drink we liked in Pondi). I purchased special sweets for the folks in office (people told they will never forget the sweet; later) and walked back.

Deepak ordered some Appam stuff along with Fosters; but had a tough time finishing them. Btw we realized fosters came from a factory in Yeshwantpur (Imaagine: you pay tax for it in Yashwantpur, but not in Pondi - 500km away!)

-- Done for the day (Oh yes: You have to manually tune the TV to get kannada stations) --

[Sun 6:30AM] AuroVille Beach: We missed the sunrise
The beach is picturisque, clean and less populated. Deepak jumped-in and realized it was not actually shallow. I hired a life-jacket (Rs 30) and tried my luck. I was afloat for sure; but was floating away. Pretty soon I realized life-jacket was imbalancing me. I returned it and started out. I should say I enjoyed the waves thoroughly.
After an hour, we walked-out. Took photos (yep, you can see my curvacious body in the pics.., well it was fun; so who cares!). I removed all the sand from my infamous ADIDAS chaddi. We walked out satisfied.

Realization: No chicks, you miss half the fun (we did)

Plan was to go to Auroville (8km off the road). Deepak wanted to ride in rented bicycles and I resisted. To lure me he took me to this place for breakfast. The place turned-out to be a night-mare to me as there was absolutely no VEG food (not even soda as was presented in the menu).

It was 9AM and we reluctantly started back. Auto-wallas asked for 100 bucks but after a lot of wait we caught a crowded bus and reached Pondi paying 10/-. Conductor was shouting at the crowd, but who cares .. (Tip: amount of Time you wait for the bus = money you save; OK for jobless guys like us).

[Sun 10:30 AM] Aurobindo ashram:
The ashram is in the road behind the Vinayaka temple; we went in and things were quiet. People were sort of leaning on Aurobindo's tomb and me and Deepak did the same. Fact was we lacked the due seriousness and were following a pretty girl in front of us (sorry!). Then we sat there for a while (had a lesson on my restlessness).
We went into the library/book store. Deepak wanted to buy "Fear: Cause and Cure" (shows he is scared of Biju/Manager). I bought Secrets of Veda. We were puzzled by the photos of an elderly lady(foreigner) and concluded she should have been his wife. Nothing more to see, we left.

[Sun 11:15 AM] The Church:
Pondi has 2 churches (a smaller French church near French town and this big one in front of Railway station). We went into the bigger one. It was good, bright, people allowed us to take photos. We both prayed to Jesus to get wives with sites (if not apartments).

I tried reading a verse or two of the holy bible and it was like a poem

[Sun 11:30 AM] Boating:
This place is again in the outskirts (100/- in auto). We went in and opted for Long ride (150/- for two). Idea is that they ferry us through the back-waters into a small island & drop there. You can stay as long as you want and come-back once you are done.
Note: There is a good beach (with change rooms) and shops selling food on the beach. Two single guys that we were got bored in about an hour and came back.
Deepak had heard about Hotel Seagull in this place and ventured in. The place though rich in menu has nothing much to offer and is not clean (not recommended).

We decided to go back to Hotel. Again waited long for a bus; the conductor this time was quiet but was acting gay!

[Sun 2PM] SurGuru Hotel:
Deepak revealed that he has a friend (Anju: Of French origin with a German citizenship). He called her up and she obliged to take us to Auroville. I didnot want to come between *good* friends for obvious reasons.. but still we started off.
We met her (very homely!) at CasaBlanca (Hey it has Pizza Corner). She greeted us with a smile and took us to SurGuru hotel in Missionary street (Highly recommended). It is a vegan hotel with delicious meal (50/-). I came to know that Anju speaks good Kannada.

[Sun 3PM] AuroVille:
Auroville is a meditation centre constructed in collaboration with people from 122 countries. It is UNESCO approved for something (PS: THE Place to spot foreigners).

Anju called-up an auto and we rode off to Auroville (long drive). Auroville has a meditation centre open from 4 to 6PM (you require PASSes to gain entry). Otherwise there is nothing much (you can walk for a mile and get the glimpse of the structure).

We bought some chocolates, fragrance sticks and incese stick holders; left back to Pondi.

[Sun 5PM] French town .et .al:
Anju has a botique opposite to French consullate. This is the place to see (thanks to Anju). She walked us by those french ville and to the beach. Police band was playing (not sure what!). We went into Le Cafe It serves beverages (not good in quality) but the ambiance makes-up for all the -ves.
We sat there for more than an hour enjoying the breeze. Then finally made-up our mind and started strolling along the beach, till suddenly DEEPAK SPOTTED No. 5. It was unbelievable co-incidence; so his prayers paid-off.

Nothing much happened as she walked away quickly. I started laughing. A puzzled Anju asked me what is No. 5 and we explained the complicated theory of Jitendra's numbering schemes. She joined the laughter club.

Our stroll ended near Nehru road and we waved her good-bye.

Anju is one of the sweet, most practical person I have come across in recent times. Good luck to her and kudos to her spirits.

We got back in an auto and landed in the lodge.

[Sun 8PM] Deepak's non-veg encounter and the equally horrible drive back home:
Deepak decided to eat Non-veg (atleast to save his face in front of Javeed). We went to the Velu Military hotel down there. My dinner was a bowl of soup and a masala papad. I asked Deepak to get his Pampret fry (not available); finally he had to settle for some second-class fish fry.
He followed it up with a Prawn curry (I felt it was not great either from his expressions).

We boarded the Qualis (PY-01; ** 0080). We ended-up as a pair of cramped back benchers (no other option). The driver drove as though he was in auto-bahn and we had a tough time in the cab.

Finally we arrived at Madivala junction at 4AM and Deepak started shouting in Kannada (true kannadiga that he is) Everyone was shoked, but the trip was over ...

Take away: Pondi is a GREAT place, best of the ambiance, inhibited by some gem of people (Anju, receptionist, The old auto driver, Guard at the Church ...). I plan to go back some time!!!

PICS here

Thiruvannamalai trek(walk actually)

So, it all started with a lot of planning (he he). We shifted from North (Amritsar) to South (Thiruvannamalai-TM) in a day or so...

I was to bear the punishment by coming back on Ugadi (Happy Ugadi everyone). I did a lot of RnD about TM and each person whom I talked to gave a different picture; finally called-up Deepak and we started from my Jaynagar villa at 7PM (. on time).

[Fri 7PM] The gruelling journey:
I will just write the DO's (that we didn't) while traveling to TN in a TN bus (no harsh feelings please):

* Check where to get-into the bus - Lack of information forced to board bus in Bapujinagar and we got a tour of whole bangalore (lucky it was a holiday)

* Be sure what you wish for - We were maha-thrilled looked at 2 TVs in the bus and the Vijaykanth movie they played started our nightmare

* Carry voice-cancellation headphones, if you have - Tamizhs are crazy about their music, but more so on imposing them on sleepy ears of the poor souls.
We checked, requested, Deepak even raised his voice (in Hindi) about reducing the volume atleast; but both Conductor and Driver totally snubbed us-off

* Carry food - the place where our bus stopped was neither hygenic nor encouraging a byte

* Sleep where you can and when you can - I guess this is true for all night journeys


[Sat 1AM] In Thiruvannamalai: We landed at around 1AM; first thing that scared us (literally) was the gopuram.
Again some tips in finding a place to stay:
* Be patient (where I lag) - Be ready to bargain for another 5 min or walk those extra yards to reduce
the harassment
* Carry mosquito coils and a thin bed-sheet - it helps
* Stay near the temple - accessibility

We ended up in a room paying 400 for the night and took a nap amongst cruel mosquitos; and decided to go for Girivalam @ 4AM (2 hour sleep)


[Sat 4AM] Girivalam:
About: It is a 14km walk around the Arunachala mountain sorrounded by Panchalingam (w.r.to. panchabhutas) supposdely inhibited by Siddhas and sadhus. Historically if you do a round you free yourself from another janma (hence EMIs associated with); but Deepak's version is much more encouraging:

• You walk for 14 miles - you will get married in a year
• You walk barefoot - 2 months discounted (marriage in 10 months)
• You walk everyday - you will get married ASAP (first in the wish list kinds)

Coming back, we started bit late (4:45AM) with a bottle of water. The only mantra seem to be Girivalam'kk yeppadi poradh? We were wondering in the city and Deepak was coming-up with a similar scheme for some hill near Gangavathi... We again asked our Girivalam question to a Sadhu looking guy and guess what he charged for the consultation this time (!!!)

We crossed by a quiet Ramana Maharshi ashram and headed right into the Bangalore road we came in hours before! Turns you take a diversion inwards from this road (about 3km from start) and continue your journey.
We did come across numerous sadhus and noticed we were almost alone till suddenly these 2 men overtook us (let them be Lungi and his friend). We were taken-back by their pace. Deepak started advicing me about how I should stop sweating and be cool ...etc (crap).

We decided to take a break @6 and continued; saw a couple go into an ashram and followed. There was a huge shiva lingam and we took photos.

Deepak started to envison Shiva in the arunachala mountain (always in our perview) but all I could see were clouds; we continued into sunrise passing by a village. I was tired and was trying my luck walking barefoot now. I needed a break (6:15 already) and Deepak continued pushing me (upadeshas were coming in full-force); till we suddenly spotted lungi and his friend...

I had heard enough of Deepak and decided to overtake the guys before I drink water (sounds strange, but moment was such); I almost started jogging while smiling Deepak followed and the moment finally arrived!!! I celebrated it like a 100m winner and we went to drink tender-coconuts to cherish to ocassion

I started seeing morphed shiva form in the hill while Deepak realized we are just 5km away.

We restarted on the footpath this time and Deepak was barefoot (with socks; odd ain't?); Anyway we were pretty comfortable now and I was picking-up pace over Deepak. We entered the city outskirts and I asked where would this girivalam end?

Deepak came up with this hypothesis "When you see a full Shiva's face in the hill"; alas, this never happened and we were walking in the city now.

It was 7:20 and we were done with it and headed back to the lodge. (Note: Deepak's HSBC card never worked in TM; not sure it was a shaapa on Deepak or all HSBC card holders).

[Sat 8:30AM] The TEMBLE:
Enough has been already blogged about it so I'll be brief here. Temple complex is HUUUUGE (25 acres) with lot of temples and a big kalyani inside. Photography is allowed in the complex but not in the main temples.
4 temples is what we visited; Vinayagar, Arunachalam, Devi and Paathala lingam.
There is a 20rs special entry it is worth it.

The sculpture is humongous in scale and aw-r-some (from Deepak's dictionary). It was not at all crowded and we could go near sanctum-santorium with ease. 2 tips here:
* Elderly people watchout for it is a huge temple complex with steps in between (can get scortching during day)
* The inside is slightly ill-ventilated so a steam-bath is gauranteed

[Sat 10AM] The remaining:
We were out and found a place to eat nearby; me being experimentative ordered POORI,but could finish only half of it while Deepak laughed at my plight and dug into his idlis (Tip: Experimentation with food in unknown territory can be deceitful). We went back, decided to leave as it was getting hotter.

So, at 11:30 we were off to Pondi after a successful visit ... (om namah shivaya)