It's been a while since I have written about the place that has been a close protector for a long time. Good places are like that, you either visit the place like it is your second home or you just bring the most exciting memories back to your den and survive through them. Pondicherry happens to be a place that throbs in my heart now and then. I try to recollect these beautiful memories in a difficult bus ride and wish that I go back soon.
The communication gets way easier if you have a vehicle on you. We figured that out quite fast. Getting a scooter in Pondicherry was easy. But, keeping it oiled up enough for long voyages was not. We got a scooter from a local garage for a very cheap price. It was a moment of total ease and relaxation for us as now we were able to go anywhere, we wanted to. The city as if luring was even more open for exploration, as if we came of age for that. We began our journey from the town beach. The name 'town beach' is a name given by the locals but the Promenade beach is the popular title. Here, our Mahatma Gandhiji stands on the Beach Road among four monumental pillars. This is where the cold, salty breeze greeted us with profound eagerness for the first time. The beach has welcomed thousands of pilgrims, merchants, warriors and kings of the past and it proudly declares the same.
The picturesque white town reminds one of the beautiful dreamy European luxuries from vintage movies. Till this day these are home to main french, dutch and english citizens of the town. Those beautiful monochrom houses and verandahs paired up with the mystic patterns of the leaves adorn the roads and paths of the city create a dreamland. The time we went there was in the middle of spring. Hence, beautiful flowers also welcomed us with smiling faces. In the morning there are beautiful flower patterns drawn ceremoniously outside each household, as if complimenting those in the trees. No matter what happens the previous day, this is the way to welcome the new day here in Pondichurry. We woke up quite late as that is a bad habit every corporate employee has hence, we could not have the honour of seeing this art being made. However, soon our host enlightened us about it. These are made with rice grains and are meant to feed birds! and are primarily done by the mothers of the house. Probably this is what real love looks like.
After visiting the town beach which was mainly filled with a family crowd, we were looking for a place to chill like the crazy youngsters as we were. Soon, we got a friend already residing there and making some space for us on another beach, just like one we were looking for. Today, after almost a year I cannot remember the name of the beach but I have some photographs of it. This is a place where a long river meets the sea, and a lake in between them as if introducing one to another. We landed there towards the evening hence it was all an orange dream for us.
The best thing that I liked about Pondicherry is the fact that the culture of the city is as beautiful and spicy as the natural vegetation. It is like they communicate with each other. One gets to see people from different countries of Europe having fun with deeply rooted Tamilians and they celebrate the concepts of sustainability, ecofriendly living and most importantly fraternity as one single unit. Perhaps, these were the qualities that brought Rishi Aurobindo and Mother to this land to create their ideal city. I will talk about this later in the next part.
