We venture forth into the countryside...

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The wonders of Pondicherry

We've been visiting museums and temples in the city of Pondicherry in Tamil Nadu. The city has a French influence, but there is no question that this is an Indian city. The noise, chaos, riotous color and contrasts are almost overwhelming!

It is not unusual to see three on a motorbike, or a woman dressed in a gorgeous sari riding a bicycle and talking on a cell phone.

Thousands of motorbikes, motor rickshaws, ox-carts, bicycles, trucks and buses are all clamoring to get where they are going. Our Tamil bus driver has amazingly good reflexes, but still, I don't have the nerve to sit in the front row of seats! How he manages to avoid hitting anything or going off the road remains a mystery.

We're eating a marvelous array of curries, rice, chapati, many times served on big banana leaves, in Tamil style.

We have journeyed far into the rural areas where the people have not encountered many tourists. They typically smile and wave, but sometimes stare in disbelief or amusement.

The highlight of the trip for me so far was our visit to a 400 year old banyan tree in a remote village, where there was a small temple erected. As we emerged from our little bus, we were greeted by a tiny old woman with long dred-locks, who was the keeper and guardian of the tree. She has lived under it for 36 years, always making sure that nobody cuts it or harms it.

I will have to wait to upload photos of this scene until next time. Our computer connections are incredibly difficult and slow so far.

Dr. Ann has had a wonderful time bird-watching in the mangroves. We took a rowboat ride in a small village through the mangroves and saw kingfishers, swallows, egrets, kites, and the ubiquitous crows.
This village had been inundated by the tsunami but the village has been rebuilt, and the fishermen are out again. There is a state-wide effort now to preserve the mangroves because the places where they had been left alone by humans were the areas that best survived the tsunami...

Until next time, varrakan! (Tamil for "aloha")...

Dr. Betsy

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