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Dancing to the beats of Daler Mehndi (Day 2 of Riviera), suddenly one of my friends came up
with a proposal to a trip to Pondicherry (or ‘Pondi’-in our lingo). The trip was miraculously
unplanned. Nevertheless, adhering to my friend’s advice we marched off half asleep to
Vellore’s main bus stand at 4:00 in the morning.
The Journey: day 1
The bus was crowded. It was as if the population of an entire city crept inside the rickety
Partly asleep, somewhat bored, partially amazed on seeing my other friends getting
irritated by the increasing crowd, we just about managed to land in Pondi.
Finding an Accommodation & Getting Transport
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The auto rickshaws were ready as ever to burn a hole in our pockets but with some subtle arguments by a close friend of mine, we
managed to get an auto for Rs. 150 to reach the much said about beach, the Auro beach. Enroute to the auto for house we noticed
the city to be distinctively clean. We perched on “Muthu Guest House: walking distance to the Auro beach, better known as the
foreigners’ beach and managing to get 2 rooms for the 7 of us (at ` 380 each for a day).
Paradise Beach
The transport was found at bushy street where we managed 2 bikes (pulsar) at ` 300 and two Honda Activa for ` 250. The vendor was
reluctant to give us the bikes without all license card holders, but all thanks to our convincing ability.
(Although public transport can be used, we feared it could prove to be costlier in the longer run). After feeding our bikes with gasoline,
our motorcade started off to paradise beach with our sole armour being the Pondi map. After a long ride we had lunch. One thing I
must say that kingfisher was all too prominent in the union territory.
On reaching the site of action, we realized how aptly the beach was named. A boat ride was really interesting. Then we drove back to
the rock beach. Extensive use of GPS technology, now found in android phones is advised to make navigation easy.
The Rock Beach
The rock beach was fenced with rocks and waves bombed the perimeter of the rock splashing water around.Nevertheless, we headed
over the rocks to the very point where the waves were splashing on them to canvas the beautiful scenario in our cerebellums.
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Then the hunger pounded back again and our legs led us to the Le café .Amidst the cool sea breeze, our snacks felt
even more delicious. It’s one of the best places to hang out. Mumbaikars would find the rock beach very similar to
the marine drive.
Shopping
The shopping part was interesting, we roamed around the rock beach noticed that there were French goods, designer
stuff and apparel to take as souvenir.
The next best thing to happen was ‘Pizza Hut’ and after seeing that who can restrain? (At least we could not) The post
dinner stroll on the Rock beach was a splendid experience. Then we zoomed our bikes back (not advised) to our guest
house and slept to recharge our tired and energy drenched souls.
DAY 2
The ‘A’ Day - Auro Beach and Aurobindo Ashram
The sun was shining high when we woke up. We moved our butts and hurried ourselves to Auro beach only to have
plenty of fun in Bay of Bengal.
After checking out from the hotel, we went to the Aurobindo Ashram, which not only seemed pristine but preached
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serenity. A heavy brunch at a fast food outlet ‘CKS’ (which was somewhere around the spire) followed. Due to lack of
time time we could not see other places of interest viz. Pondicherry Museum, Commercial Street, Bharathi Park, Jain
temples.
Retreat to VIT
The exhaustion of the trip was catching onto us. So on the return trip we hired a taxi at `450 each (10 times the fare of
the bus). A pleasant and pleasing journey followed. Though our hearts were still in Pondi, but our souls were searching
for VIT.
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