It was one of those days, sunny, not too hot and just too irresistible to let it go to waste…so the 2 of us decided to make the trip to Pondicherry and beyond…Well, novices in the art of public transport, we boarded the bus from Koyumbedu (CMBT or whatever you’d like to call it), to all the philistines who might want to correct the spelling, I have 2 words ……Anyways, we digress, the bus made decent time getting out of the city and onwards to ECR, and beyond, leaving the city madness behind, and into the breeze and the open roads leading to freedom (any time away from this city is in fact that feeling, but then we are all trapped somewhere or the other, enough philosophizing).
Met a colleague from the office heading to Pondhicherry on the same bus for the only plausible reason that many make this holy trip for ---- the divine water. Well, I was going for a totally different reason, and we made good time landing there at 4 in the evening. A plum cake and a short auto ride later we were there at the rocky beach next to Vaithipukkam… Was able to capture a few shots of the evening sun with the Bay of Bengal lashing in front.
Don’t know if it’s the shallowness of the shore or the winds, or what, but the waves never seem to subside, and the breeze, well you just have to be there. I guess most of the beaches do bring out the same feeling, it just needs to be clean, and secluded, and couple that with the green water in the fast fading sunlight, you have an experience worth dying for.
Some of these pics are from V’s SLR, but I’m going to unashamedly stake claim to them all here. Kept clicking snaps there and simply enjoying the wind on my face till the sun finally bid us goodnight. We decided to take the walk from between the local dwellers along the coast up to the other side….the change in affluence is quite easily visible here, as we move from the poor shanties to the lavish guest houses and hotels to the other side. Passed by the ‘Sea Side Guest house’ I had visited 7 years back, though most of places now have the ‘sea side’ phrase in their names itself here. The only difference that you can see in the beach here is the paved walkway between the road and the rocky beach, and the number of street peddlers, selling the usual beach assortments.
Ah, did manage to visit the Aurobindo ashram near the marketplace. serene place, the tiled street outside, the orchids lining up the path inside the building, the flower arrangement on the Samadhi, the multitude of people sitting around the place, some prostate in front of it, others simply sitting there enjoying the peace. Stood there for a few minutes before venturing out into the marketplace on the parallel road. What a difference a few years makes, a few years back and this place was like a local small bazaar, none of the big brand name shops that had come up now, what a pity, urbanization does spoil a few things I guess. We also stopped at the temple with the elephant patting people on their heads with its trunks, being rewarded with a coin or some stuff to eat for its effort. Poor thing, wonder if it enjoys the captivity and the monotony of things in the city. Back at the seashore, the rumblings of the stomach overshadowed the ones from the seawaves, and we headed to Le Café. Not in the mood for a lavish French cuisine right now, we headed to the open air first floor and the buffet, give me some decent dal-roti any day with some salad I say. Not bad for a 100 bucks, after a long walk.
After calling it a day at 10 in the night, by which time there was no soul on the roads, hit the sack hard and did indeed sleep like a log. Overslept and just missed the sunrise by 20 minutes or so.
Anyways, was still there in time to get some interesting snaps of the waves splashing in the foreground, and the morning sun in the back. It would have come even better with an SLR though, but my point and shoot is enough cumbersome for me. Spent a good half hour enjoying the sun rise further, after which I headed to the pier beyond Le Café. A few people can be seen doing their morning yoga here and the rest, well, just happy tourists.
The pier is at a delightful setting I must say, close to where there’s a fishermen’s settlement. You can see most of the boats parked there, with the village folk sorting out their day’s catch from their nets. We decided to walk down and take a closer look, and ended up spending a considerable amount of time under the pier itself. Beautiful place, the waves keep on lashing the wooden pillars under the pier, and If you’re a bit adventurous like us, you’d venture out onto one of the limbs further over the water. I did, and did get drenched a lot, but the experience is truly worth it.
Time is always of the essence and it forced us to move on, drenched shoes in hand, walking back on the tiled footpath back to our abode. Not a big fan of hot water baths in south India, but this one was heaven. Hate to admit it, but it does get a bit chilly in the morning with the wind, and the bath just relaxes your entire body. Add to that the sumptuous breakfast Ved uncle gave us, and we were re-energised to go. Incidentally it turned out that Ved uncle had passed out of the same college I had , albeit 40 odd years back, quite a nice guy to talk to, and well, he did put us up for the night as well. The sweetened butter bread (yes, that’s exactly what it is!) from the Ashram that Ved uncle gets is, well, unlike any other I have tasted (he mentioned its specifically prepared in the Ashram bakery, not usually for sale).
The bus from Pondicherry to Chidamabram takes another about hour and a half, some 70 or so kilometers away, and we alighted at the Natraja Temple. Unfortunately, the temple was closed for the afternoon and the helpful people we met on the road (who were pleasantly surprised to meet some folks speaking Hindi) told us to visit it after 4 PM when it reopens. We chatted with them about Delhi weather for some time (Heh, the topic of weather always crops up in most of the conversations, doesn’t it?). Not wanting to waste time we headed to the local bus stand and after a wait of 20 minutes barded the crowded bus to Tharangambadi ( Tranquear is much easier to write, Henceforth…). The net mentioned it being 20 or so kilometers away, so the analysts did the math and decided to be back in time to visit the temple and board a bus back to Chennai (The best laid plans, eh!!!!!!) Not sure if the bus took a longer route or we checked wrong, it turned out to be a journey of more than thrice our estimate (I still don’t do stock picking!!!). So here we were gesturing to the conductor to let us know if we had reached and he would gesture back with his hands as well (censored). Finally we did alight at the small town that the Danes were residing in long back, and made our way through to the 1.5 kilometers to the fort on the beach. On the way you will see a distinct imprint of the Danish settlement left behind, with the Zion Churches, the structure of the buildings, and the shop named ‘Danish bakery’!
Some hurriedly eaten idli, dosas (!) at some small place, another excruciatingly long bus ride back, was finally back to home sweet home. Maybe next time a bit more research would help, but I guess I prefer the unknown more, what the hell.
