Day 4 - Puducherry

I am in love with Auroville. Loads of ‘furriners’ around. The place where I am staying is Centre Guest House. Its somewhat in jungle land and is like miles inside Auroville. The distances inside Auroville quite simply amaze me. Have a lovely little room for myself – all green, red and cream with wooden ceiling beams.

Shared a cab with L who was going into Pondi. She is from Utrecht and is intending to stay in Auroville for two months. I asked her information about the city and about the Ashram. When I asked how long it would take at the Ashram, she said it depended on me. (This is leading somewhere so bear with me) I was like okay. I had visions of several acred lands – green, people doing meditation – the works. I went in and the people were polite to the point of being rude. I am sure they meant well but to me it reeked of the gatekeepers being too sure about the hidden treasure they guard if you get my drift.

People bowed their heads and you were herded around – told where and how you should sit. I reiterate, they probably meant well but for me the ‘Samadhi’ held no deep significance. I am not a very religious or spiritual person. I believe in the existence of God, angels and miracles but I felt a strange disconnect at the Ashram. My lack of understanding and knowledge about the place played a huge part in my feelings about the Ashram.

The rest of Pondicherry – well searing heat again so no further comment about that. I totally loved the French Quarter- quiet, peaceful and extremely pretty. Got some kickass fotus. The Tamil Quarter was pure Indian – noisy, chaotic and dirty. It’s interesting how the stereotypes have been hard sold to the tourist. Also this Rue took the cake!

Had lunch at Appachis – they are famous for their Chettinad cuisine. Awesome chicken eet was. Am salivating thinking about it. Yummy J

Kept drinking cold stuff every 30 minutes, the heat was so bad and I walked around Pondi instead of taking a rickshaw. Seeing this on the streets of Pondi made me think about T-Man :D

Did give up around 3.00 pm and got back to Auroville.

Snoozed for a bit, got up to have milky chai – literally more milk and no tea. Then read in the dining room notice board about ‘Ankur’ being screened at the Auditorium. Got damn excited about the thought of doing something in the evening (generally spent watching television in Mahabalipuram)

Spoke to G at the reception who told me that it was 5 minutes by cycle. So took a cycle and decided to do a dry run before I actually went for the movie. My ass hurt!! Red dirt roads and dust – luckily less sun as this was 5.15ish in the evening. Was loverly – cycled and cycled in the wrong direction J Realised bad and went the right way. The architecture at the Amphitheatre was quite simply stunning and the skies were gorgeous and blast it all – I hadn’t carried my camera. L But the memories stay in the head, c’est important non? No movie as the screening got cancelled but lovely sights. I kept hearing the strains of a guitar and it drove me nuts trying to figure out from where it was coming. Sort of figured that out and went my way back to my room.

Dinner done by 7.30 pm. Can you believe it?? In Bumbai, I would be drinking in some pub at this time. Tomorrow morning, I am going to spend cycling around Auroville and taking photos. Hopefully also recapture the magic of this evening on camera. Touch wood.