Pondicherry

Vijaya had been planning our trip to Pondicherry all week. He put together a MS Project schedule that outlined each activity down to the minute. The big items on the agenda were:

Mahabalipuram, Auroville, Paradise Beach for a catamaran ride, and Botanical gardens in Pondy. Almost nothing went according to plan.

We got a late start because of the rain. It rained all day Friday and was raining Saturday morning when we left. Rain is uncommon this time of year in Chennai. Many areas in Chennai, including my area, have no storm drainage system, so water fills the streets, which narrows the driving lanes and causes traffic congestion and delayed our start. Our plans included a stop at Mahabalipurum to complete some gift shopping that I had started two weeks earlier. That was the most successful event of the day. Read my earlier blogs on Mahabalipuram. Before I go on, I need to mention that Vijaya is single and hunting for a bride. Traditionally, marriages in India are arranged by the parents, but Vijaya wants to help his parents out in any way he can, so he is advertising. Aman, pictured later, is also single and in the hunt, but he was less enthusiastic about getting his picture taken.

The drive to Pondicherry went smoothly, with only one minor incident. Vijaya drove. He drove very safely since he has no insurance. However, he did come very close to running over a dog. Like cattle, dogs roam freely. Vijaya is trying to cut back on the number of dogs he kills with his car. He has developed a reputation at work as the "dog slayer". This of course is all unintentional. He holds to the Hindu philosophy of not harming any other living thing. For that reason, he is a vegetarian and doesn't even eat eggs. (Plants don't count as living things.)

Once we got past Mahabalipurum, the country side opened to reveal rice fields. I was nice to be out of the city. We forgot to bring water, so we stopped along the way to purchase coconuts. "Young coconuts are sold with the top cut off and a straw inserted to make a refreshing drink."

Auroville is an experiment for celebrating unity in diversity. "It is a universal town where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities. The purpose of Auroville is to realise human unity." The structure pictured here is a place for meditation, I think. However, due to the rain, they were not letting anyone inside. We couldn't even get close.

Our next stop was Paradise beach, where Vijaya had planned a 2 hour catamaran cruise. However, due to the low pressure system that caused the rain, the catamarans were not running. Instead we took a 5 minute ride on a speed boat in the
Chunnambar backwaters.

If your looking for my pictures of the Botanical gardens, you'll be disappointed, just like we were. Due to the rain (which had stopped hours earlier), the botanical gardens were closed, which left us ample time to spend on the beach in Pondy.

Even though nothing went as planned, it was still an enjoyable day spent with good company.

The biggest adventure was yet to come. Pondicherry is 150 km from Chennai. Appox. a 3 hour drive depending on traffic. The drive at night is just plain scary. On coming traffic rarely bothers to dim their lights, the roads are not marked as well as in the US, so at night it is difficult to see the center line, not that Indian drivers pay any attention to traffic lanes. Most slower moving trucks and rickshaws do not have lights in the rear, so it would be very easy to run into the back of one. Then there's the people walking along the side of the road, and the cows and dogs wondering in the middle of the road. All of which expect the drivers to avoid them. There were several close calls on the way home. The lives of two more dogs were spared.