..and then there was auroville

just a few kilometers from pondicherry was auroville, an odd little city we'd heard about, mainly for its architecture.

since it was relatively close, we thought we would just rent some scooters and zip through the six (or maybe 10.. we never really got a straight answer) kilometers and be back in no time. well, after a few wobbly test runs up and down a quiet street we decided maybe the indian highway wasn't the best place to debut our scooter skills. we settled for regular old bicycles and headed out onto the open (congested) road.

all that for stop?

for a while everything was good. the city traffic cleared out.. we passed furniture workshops and open fields.. we even got a glimpse of the beautiful blue bay. then we hit kilometer five and i thought 'how much more of this?!' luckily my legs came back and i got a hearty second wind. it was about then that we were informed that auroville was, in fact, behind us. we had gone about 5 kilometers too far. whoops.

thatched huts on the path to the water

back we went, in search of a break somewhere before making the turn to auroville, provided we could find it. naturally, we thought of the sea, glittering and blue, tempting us in the 90 degree heat. we hauled our bikes through meters of sand only to find an impassible stretch of water. we forged ahead and made our way to a rather deserted 'resort' area that had apparently been damaged by the recent cyclone. did i mention there had been a cyclone? we changed into our suits in a crude sort of outhouse and took a short dip in the water as fully-clothed and underpants-ed locals looked on.
it was weird. still - bay of bengal: check.

pretty exhausted from biking and daunted at the thought of the 'up and down' road to auroville we bargained for an auto to take us the rest of the way, leaving our bikes locked on the side of the road. this ended up being a very wise decision, as the road to auroville (perhaps metaphorically?) was bumpy. along the way we passed signs for places named things like 'Surrender' and 'Certitude'. yeah, it's that kind of place..

when we finally got to the visitors center we were meant to watch a 10 minute video before getting our passes. we politely (succintly? curtly) declined and luckily they didn't put up a fuss. all the literature surrounding us talked about thing like the Divine Consciousness and seemed to like capitalizing Random Words. after our long day of bike riding, we weren't having it. we spent what turned out to be a rather long walk to view the famed temple (mantri mandir, officially) complaining - completely disregarding the signs for silence, and perhaps in a burst of karma, my dying sandal finally gave out. eventually, though, we made it to the viewing point.

and what was our reward for this long journey?

there she is

that's right. a giant gold golf ball. yes, this was the closest we could get to it. and no, we couldn't go inside. those passes had to be got the day before. incidentally, it's supposed to be quite an experience. all white inside.

we made our way back to the auto just before our pre-negotiated hour cutoff. then it was a rather painless bike ride the five or so kilometers back to pondicherry. thank goodness for a relaxing dinner of fantastic french food.

pretty little pondicherry

i've always been sort of intrigued by pondicherry. initially because it had such a cute name. i mean, pondicherry? it sounds adorable. then when i found out about its major french influence, i was sold. having now spent several months in india almost entirely pastry and non-amul cheese -less, i was hopeful for some authentic food if nothing else.

pondicherry did not disappoint! a charming little town, it boasts both lingering french influences and actual french people - thanks to the prominent ex-pat community. each street has two names, one french and the other vaguely tamil or perhaps the name of a person (confusing for the mailman, i'm sure). the city is divided into sections - french, tamil, muslim etc and bifurcated by a canal that has surely seen better days.

petit déj, anyone?

we stayed at a quaint little guest house (le rêve bleu.. charmant, non?) that seems to be popular with the french set - evidenced by the scene of baguette-tearing and cigarette-chain smoking we came down to in the morning. the french proprietess steered us towards the best bakery in town, baker street (english/sherlock holmes theme but thoroughly french) where we indulged in a breakfast of macarons (basil and vanilla olive oil) and croissants of the regular and almond variety (the latter was the best). french pastries at indian pastry prices? a rare find indeed.

properly stuffed, it was off to explore the city. we rented bikes and cycled around town, meandering here and there and stopping to take very similar pictures about every 30 meters. we made it out to the sea (which we later learned was a bay) and pedaled our way along the shoreline. at some point we stopped along the water at a cafe named, aptly, le café, where we had a lovely breeze and may have even been in the background of a (very cheesy) tamil music video.

colors of pondy

after some more wandering we made our way to a nondescript place farther down the beach for a quick drink as the sun was setting. on the way we stopped to see 'the elephant' who visits the temple each day to bless whoever wants to offer money or fruit. for a few rupees you can experience the warm breath of an elephant as its trunk brushes over your head. for dinner we met a friend of a friend for a rather nice meal - mostly south indian food (think rice and coconuts) with a fancy touch. i had the chicken chetinad - a local preparation - and we shared other seafood and curry dishes as well. delightful!

which kind of sums up pondicherry actually. it was a delight, and we left quite full.

journey to the end of the world

it was tough to cut short my time in varkala - between the warm sunny beaches, cheap and plentiful ayurvedic massages and abundant seafood, i'm sure i could have stayed for several days. but it was not to be. i had places to see in my remaining days in kerala. although actually my next destination lay outside the state itself.

kanyakumari is not a big tourist destination for foreigners. but as for indians, well you can probably find nationals from all over the country here. i think there must be something romantic about being at the very tip of the country, being exactly where the giant nation comes down to one single point. it's this dramatic notion, i suppose, that has led to the tradition of people watching the sunrise. (it's said that from here you can both watch the sun rise and set over the same waters - though in actual practice one has to travel a bit to achieve this.) so, as any good tourist, i dutifully roused myself at 5.30 and made my way down to the water, wandering through winding streets of fishermen's homes.

there were already people gathered to get a spot along the sea wall for the sunrise. as with any gathering of people in this country, there were of course people trying to sell things. 'chai coffee' 'seashells' 'postcards pictures'. the skies were just starting to get light but i passed the time watching the spectacle of indian men clambering down over the rocks to get their pictures taken while being splashed by the sporadic waves.

the morning did end up being a wonderful one - well worth waking up and roaming around bleary-eyed and un-showered. there was something about being one of the first to see the sun come up over all of india that just felt somehow meaningful. then there was the added bonus of the beautiful golden early morning sunlight. i delighted in wandering among all the colorful boats with their ropes, nets and paint peeling in that wonderful way that's just so photographable. at the same time fishermen were busy untangling their nets, hauling in their first catches of the day and setting out to sea.

i think my pictures from this morning capture the scene much better than my words can so i'll just leave it at that and give you this photo-log instead.

first view of the harbor before dawn

water before the sunrise

crashing waves

there it is!

orange glow of the sun over the arabian sea

fishing nets all bundled

studies in texture.. rope wood and sand

kanyakumari in the distance

colors

good place to perch

the golden light really makes these colors pop

first catch of the day

seaworthy vessel

high saturation

into the sun

the eyes have it.. by a nose

fishermen preparing their boats

fishing net or seaweed?

photo?

boats in the rising sun

rows of boats

a colorful harbor

walking out on the rocks, looking back at the harbor

the very tip of india