Besant Nagar Beach

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.