Puducherry - The French influenced and laid back city

---

I had the privilege of visiting this place in early childhood days. Still now I remember some memories vividly.. like the visit to Aurobindo Ashram, and its various self -employment places where people got vocational training (making hankies, bedsheets, incense sticks and many more items). I remember meditating in its hall and my parents going like 'How can a child of 3 yrs can sit so quietly' :-).. many fond memories I have of this place. Now since my Sis-in-law is there, we almost visit the place once a year.

We went again in Summer (May,2011).. though it is not the best time to visit as it is hot and humid. This time we planned to visit Mahabalipuram and Chunnambar beach. The first day we just strolled around in cozy little roads with French style buildings on both the sides. The city is very easily accessible by walking else there are many shops providing bikes, cycles on rent. We had dinner at La Terrasse near the beach, its a lovely place to have food, very relaxed atmosphere. We ordered pizzas and I loved the thin crust pizza there.

Next day we went to Mahabalipuram which was at abount 1 hr 30 min distance from here. On the way we saw huge areas where salt farming was done. It was awesome to see white salt in middle of greenery. We visited the main cave spots and temples as all the temples are scattered around (there 4-5 of them). They are called as Pancha Rathas (5 chariots). Though it was pretty crowded and hot the breeze from the sea was soothing. The trip was good mainly visiting the old temples.

Then next day morning we just walked around the place and had breakfast at one nice restaurant run by Aurobindo ashram (The cottage) near the canal road. It served Indian style dishes and had an elaborate collection of bengali sweets. Then we paid visit to Ganesha temple. Here you can find an elephant standing in front of the temple and offering blessing to visitors with his trunk. Though it is trained for it but I feel sad to see it standing there everyday. Then we went to The Samadhi (Cremation place) of Shree Maa of Ashram which was nearby. People are normally seen meditating there and you have to maintain silence once inside. The atmosphere was so peaceful that you can even hear the sound of rustling of leaves on the ground and even your own breathing. After coming back from there we had lunch at one of many restaurants in Canal road.

In the evening we went to Chunnambar beach, which is about 20 mins drive (in auto) from near the Pondicherry beach. And I must say it was the icing on the cake in this whole trip. Not much people are aware of it, and its kind of like a hidden paradise, so it is rightly called 'Paradise beach' too. You have to take a motor boat ride of 15-20 mins in backwaters to reach the beach, and it is run by Govt. So we went at 3.30 pm and when we reached there to our joy we found the beach almost empty with only 20-30 people around. We spent nice time there playing in the water. There are changing room and huts available, so if you want to bath in the sea you can take an extra pair of clothes, which we didn't took and regretted very much. The sand was once white (though now also its clean) but I had heard about it so much, after reaching to my dismay I found the white sand in some places but its getting blacker due to pollution. At 5.30 the last boat pickup is there so we had to come back even though we didn't want to. There are some resorts also in the place which we saw from the boat. This is a must-visit place if you ever visit Puducherry and I am sure you won't regret it.

So this is all about our trip to the peaceful and vibrant Puducherry. Will be back with more blogs soon :-)

---