Blogs from Pondicherry, India, Asia

Auroville is a beautiful place partly in Tamil Nadu & partly in Pondicherry, spread over acres and acres of land with lush greenery and is very close to nature. It is also a place that follows a unique blend of traditional living practices which are enjoyable in this modern world. Auroville has some tar roads, but mostly muddy roads. Many place of interest like farms, eateries are located in areas accessible by narrow red mud/sandy roads, so hiring a two wheeler, available aplenty there, is the most convenient mode of transport. Other modes include cycle and car. It is full of a variety of trees, plants, flowers and naturally, insects and worms too! minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J The roads are lined with cows, calves & goats. One of the most interesting ... read more

We are from Gujarat, Western part of India. Had been to Bengaluru, and planned a trip to Pondicherry/Puducherry because we had heard a lot about the Aurobindo Ashram and Auroville. Puducherry is about 360 Km from Begaluru and takes about 6 1/2 - 7 hrs by Taxi. These days, in India, if you take Taxi, be sure to add about 20-25% of the cost for Toll Tax and Interstate Road Tax. It is simply exorbitant. Why anybody goes to Puducherry? As a Tourist? To see Aurobindo Ashram? To see an Indian city with French colonial flavor? For its beaches? For Auroville? Well, Pudicherry is an Indian city like any other Indian city. You can see more 'foreign' colors in a small hamlet like Diu (Gujarat) or in Goa - ex Portuguese colonies. Aurobindo Ashram: Entry is ... read more

We are thoroughly enjoying finally having a relaxing holiday in India, where we are not constantly rushing from sight to sight. Today we drift slowly through the streets of the French quarter in Pondicherry. We start at the Botanical Gardens, which were probably once the Kew Gardens of their day but now look distinctly run down. They are certainly peaceful.... We look at all manner of trees with strange names – the bullet wood tree, the screw tree and the cannonball tree, for example. There is a solitary ‘greenhouse’ which is essentially a large tent housing a bunch of plants sold in every garden centre in England as pot plants. Next stop is the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ church, another good example of Indian Catholic style – bright colours and flashing lights around the pictures ... read more

HE SAID... We were leaving Mahabalipuram and heading south to Pondicherry. We woke at 6.30am and headed out to a local chai wallah (tea seller) at Mother Chai Shop for a morning chai. The chai (tea) stand was tiny and the street was empty, so we were happy to be there. While Ren befriended a local dog who was after pats and scraps, I watched the wallah interrupt making our chai to give a young street kid a piece of cake. The kid just walked up to the stand and pointed to the glass jar the cake was in. When the wallah gave it to him, he took it in both hands, put it to his lips and kissed it before munching into it. It was an incredible act of generosity, especially as the wallahcould barely ... read more

I have a long love story with India which started in 2014. I actually didn't want to go to India at the first place but I believe I was lucky to finally land there. My mother is completely in love with this country, maybe that's the reason why I never wanted to visit this place before as I heard so much about it that it was as if I knew the place already. I finally decided to go there I was thinking to myself that would be the opportunity to go there yourself and to get your own idea about the country, this might be the good time for a reunion. I had no experience at all in humanitarian but I just felt like trying. Sadly for me 90 percent of the work was related to ... read more