A Chennai - Pondicherry Getaway

It's only a little more than an hour's journey by flight to Chennai. The moment we landed, I navigated to our hotel which was a few blocks away from ECR, the highway connecting Chennai to Pondicherry. We stayed in Treebo.

Normally, for non-Tamilians, even if you can speak Tamil, it is extremely hard to get around in an auto in Chennai simply because of how they blatantly decide to charge astronomical amounts for short distances. However, I found out that Ola was reasonable and we stuck to (mostly) using Ola.

We checked in, had a quick breakfast, shower, and since we weren't tired after a short flight, we decided to instantly head out. I desperately wanted to head to Dakshin Chitra and buy some accessories. For those of you who don't know what DC is, it's a museum of sorts that houses antiques and artefacts from different cultures. They literally have life-size models of houses from various parts of South India. Hence, the name Dakshin Chitra.

We booked an Ola cab and about an hour later, we reached Dakshin Chitra. While it's almost always crowded, you can get away from the crowd by going in deeper. They have stalls of all kinds, selling small and colourful accessories. They even have typical village ladies sitting by houses and offering various services such as mehendi and cloth painting using wooden stamps. You get to take the hand kerchief once you paint it!

I even had my palm read by a sweet lady who said I would travel the world and see a lot of places! I was glad to hear that! The people there are extremely genuine about what they do. While certain services or products may seem a little over-priced, you don't feel the pinch only because everyone is polite and you feel satisfied at the end of the experience.

We booked another cab and headed back to Chennai as the sun began to set. We decided we would go to Besantnagar and walk along the beach side. The beach was crowded; it was to be expected since it was a weekend. Besantnagar's beach side road is one of the best I've seen in a place like Chennai. The beach itself is filled with stalls that sell vadas and bajjis to potato twisters and fries. The road is dotted with fancy cafes and artsy sit-outs. They don't seem very obvious at first, but a quick search on Zomato can show you some pretty cool places.

After a nice long walk on the beach, we decided to try out some games on the sand. They had stalls that challenged you with different tasks such as knocking down an entire arrangement of steel glasses with one throw of a ball. A kid laughed at my friend as his attempt of knocking them down failed even when he tried with a basketball. Hoping to regain some self respect, he tried his hand at shooting balloons with a rifle. He didn't miss a single shot. He proudly handed the gun to the lady expecting a reward and she said, "Nothing to win sir, it's only for fun." I hadn't laughed that much in a long time! I even ended up winning the throwing ball game and another game for him! I won a huge minion stuffed doll and loads of other small stationary items. Each game attempt costed us a maximum of Rs 20.

We decided to head back and eat a quick egg-dosa dinner because we had to check out the next morning and find our place in Pondicherry the next day. I was looking forward to our stay in Pondicherry since I'd found places for two nights on AirBnb. They looked extremely authentic, quaint, and unique ... something I always love.

We woke up late the next day.

Checked out hurriedly, booked another cab and headed to Pondicherry. It was already 12 and I was hungry. Our breakfast hadn't been great and I was hungry for something with more ... junk. On the ECR highway, there's a famous bakery that we stopped at and I had my fill of pasta, chicken puff, and a whole lot of other stuff!

Our first night's stay outside Chennai was supposed to be at Auroville, just outside Pondicherry, at this place called Eden of Zen. Our cab driver freaked out the moment we neared Pondicherry because he hadn't carried his original documents with him. We had to take an auto for about 8 km to reach Eden of Zen.

When we reached, we were greeted by about 5 dogs wagging their tails, each one trying to push the other way for the first pat. They all got patted equally while my friend carried our bags into the house. The host took us to our room and we soon realized that we had over-paid. The room was tiny, with one tiny window, no AC, and no bathroom. We had to use the common washroom which was smelling and it was super humid.

The next day, the climate was cool and it felt like the perfect moment to catch the sunrise on the beach. We hurriedly got out of bed, git on the scooter, and headed to the nearest road that led to the beach. We then walked along a compound wall lined with bougainvillea. It was one of the most beautiful unexpected paths leading to a beach.

We decided to keep the bike another day and took our bags with the bike to Pondicherry. We used the maps on our phones to find the place and believe me, even then it was hard. Nearly half an hour after circling around the same locality, we found it: a seemingly small and bright house tucked away into the heart of a Pondicherry market!

I instantly fell in love with the place! It was a typical Tamil house with space in the middle that was opened up to the skies. It had a small stairway that led up to the terrace. A lady helped us with our bags and showed us our room (with AC) and I loved my selection for our stay!

It included a kitchen that let us cook whatever we wanted. However, we went to all my favourite eateries in Pondicherry: La Pasta, Cafe Xtasi, Kamatchi Biriyani, Zooka Chocolate, and Villa Shanti. Later that evening, we met a foreign couple also staying in one of the rooms of the house. An Italian couple had come down to Pondicherry after visiting Madurai in all its religious activity to relax and unwind. They wanted to explore Pondi but had no idea where to start and where to go. I offered to help out by letting them tag along with us. They readily agreed.

We spoke late into the night and shared stories of each other's hometowns. Aramando and Suzanna were both originally from Venice and were living in Berlin to finish up their studies. It's only after talking to them did Aramando offer to make authentic pasta for me!

The next day, we headed out to Paradise beach, famous for its white sand and pristine waters. The sand was "white" hot! We could hardly stand for a few seconds in the sand. They loved how secluded the beach was and how the waters were actually clean.

Next, we headed to Auroville to visit the aashram and the other neighbouring areas.