Pondicherry: Then the French came

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We rose early to join a yoga class at the hotel. It was run by an Indian guy who spoke some German and so he said, had worked in China in hospitality. He set the class appropriate challenges incorporating chairs and wooden blocks into the practice so that people felt they were achieving enough. We did modified versions of upward and downward dog, warrior #2, shoulder stand incorporating a chair, He was actually quite helpful for me as he pointed out some leg muscles that we not carrying sufficient load. Jorg and Hans (now affectionately called Steinbeiser) were part of the practice and were particularly funny. Hans in particular was breathing inappropriately heavily and entertaining the teach and all. After the practice, Catherine and I went to a German bakery that we had seen the night before. Nice pastries and of course, eggs. The coffee wasn't bad either. Travellers spotted us at the front table and wanted our spare newspapers

We got the minibus at about 0900 but did not need to go far down the road to find a coffee franchise. The guy was on his own so the service was pretty slow. Expensive TV mounted on the wall played Indian pop music. There was lots of high rise development down along this coast.

We saw a rolled over local bus near the saltflats. It didn't look as though anyone had been seriously hurt. While aquaculture was not taking the place over there were a few prawn hatcheries along the road. Pondicherry (Puducherry) was not far down the road. We turned off towards Auroville and started seeing hippies and white people on older style push bikes immediately. We passed a statue of a diety disemboweling a demon on the way to this community that has committed itself to peace and universal benefits. Auroville was not how we expected a commune to look. I was thinking Nimbin?? Instead it was quite commerial and very organised. We parked the minibus in a carpark with perhaps 50 other vehicles. Walking into the visitors centre one was struck by the range of nationalities that had been attracted by the idea and vision of Auroville. The introductory video described the vision of the original Svi guru and his spiritual partner called 'the Mother'. DJ described how significant donor and local government money has been poured into the community, but it has tanked at several thousand permanent members. The centrepiece of the facility was the Matrimandir which was like a giant gold flatened golf ball. Inside there is apparently a library and meditation centre. One enters through a short double helix of stairs. Only the path back we read about the particular attributes of humans and how these were correlated to the properties of particular flowers.

We enjoyed a french coffee and an Indian samosa at a cafe made from a recycled shipping container - perhaps this is where the fad started. Nearby were posters put together by representatives of all the nations of the world telling a potted history of their countries and the unique contributions they have made to world heritage. Interestingly Australia was not among them. Each country also pledged to build some sort of pavilion to add to Auroville. Work on these seemed to be well behind schedule.

Our hotel was just outside the french quarter and was well equipped. After a short stop we walked as a group down into the french quarter. The transition from standard Indian city to ageing french colony was abrupt and lasted all of a block. We walked past a derelict factory that had been taken over as a gallery for an aspiring young photographer. The show was of huge back and white poster portraits of Indian children participating, willingly or otherwise, in religious festivals.The photos were truly stunning. Her name is Olya Morvan and her work is worth a look (www.pondyart.org). For me, the photos of a young muslim girl involved in the commemoration of the 10th day of Muharram were the most impactful. Somewhat unnervingly another photographer was taking photographs of us looking at photographs. This gallery was at the end of a long esplanade that was one boundary of the french quarter. We walked along it as a group until we found Gandhi's statue where we dispersed to look around. Several of the group had seen Rick Stein's India and knew a nice croissant could be bought here. We made a beeline for those bakeries and enjoyed caramel coffee, and sweet pastries. Very nice quality. Its not that we were fanging for these flavours, but they did make a nice change.

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Photos

Pondicherry waterfront
Including fairy floss seller