My first sunset on my arrival at the guesthouse on Pondicherry beach.
1. Sit in a breezy café beside the beach and gawk at the blue waters of the
Bay of Bengal
The Park Guesthouse I am staying in is located at 1 Goubert Avenue, which is at the far end of the beach road overlooking the reclaimed beach of the French colonial town of Pondicherry. It has been standing there since The Mother and Sri Aurobindo have been in existence.
It was a picturesque view. Sometimes, I just sat there on the balcony on a little tatami mat and just stared at the turquoise blue waters of the beach not too far away.
With more than 40 rooms, Park Guesthouse has spacious single and double bedrooms, complete with hot and cold water, ceiling fans and for the 2nd to 3rd floor rooms, a spacious verandah where you can have your meditation and yoga every morning facing the sea. At 400 rupees a night for the sea-facing rooms, it is a bargain. Moreover, filtered water is given for free. Just bring your water bottle to the tap near the stairs in every level.
A great way to spend your early mornings is to have breakfast at the seaside café of the Guesthouse. With a masala tea, an omelette and your bread and toast, I would start writing away the whole morning with just the sound of the breakers in the beach just 4 meters away.
Having breakfast at the dining area, you have a great viw of the beach and the pier not so far away.
2. Take a stroll along “The Promenade”, the 1 ½ kilometer stretch of reclaimed beach along Goubert Avenue (Beach Road) in the seaside part of Pondicherry town. A daily pastime of most Pondy residents, particularly at the end of the day where the Indian sun lets up on its heat, the Promenade skirts past the 27-metre Old Lighthouse in the middle of that stretch of beach, as well as past a gigantic statue of Indian’s most revered national hero, the Mahatma Gandhi.
When you’re tired of walking, have a local ice cream at Arum Ice Cream House, just a few meters away from the Park Guesthouse and near the Pondicherry Tourism Office, or have afternoon tea at Le Café, a small café on the Promenade just right on the beach.
3. Walk like a Guru
Living and acting like an ascetic in India, particularly Pondicherry, is not a difficult thing to do. Pondicherry is famous worldwide for its Sri Aurobindo Ashram, so named after the poticial activitst turned poet and ascetic Sri Aurobindo, and his spiritual partner and co-founder, The Mother, a pretty French woman who was a young painter during her time. Together, they built Auroville, a self-contained community of more than 1,000 individuals who practise and adhere to the Integral Yoga of the Mind.
A visit to the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, located at Rue de la Marine (almost all of the street names here start with the word Rue, which means “street” in French) will give you a sight of mostly spiritual pilgrims and followers of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother, visiting the tomb of The Mother (they call it Samadhi), as wellas the living and working quarters of Sri Aurobindo himself. A bookstore onsite containing most of the master’s and The Mother’s books and writings is conveniently located for those who want to read more about this extraordinary pair.
Likewise, the city has its own slew of Hindu temples, the most popular of which are the Manakkula Vinayakar Temple on the street of the same name, and the Kalasthirvaram Temple on Mission Street. The Kalasthirvaram Temple has both the Hindu deities of Shiva and Vishnu represented in 1 temple.
4. Shop till you drop like a true-blue tourist
On my first trip to Pondy – as the locals lovingly call the town – in December 2005, there were only a handfull of shops that you could splurge your rupees on. Most of these shops are clustered along Mission Street, J. Nehru Street and in the junction of the Grand Bazaar. Most of the merchandise were taken from variou sparts of India and imported here.
Now, there are scores of shops selling Indian-style cotton and silks – kurtas, salwar khameezes, shawls, capri pants, bedlinens, semi-precious jewelry in silver and gold settings, cloth bags, etc.
Some of my favorite shops here are:
*Kalki – on 134 Mission Street. The high-end of Indian clothing manufactured mostly in Auroville’s myriad handicraft communities. Cehck the shawls of good quality silk dyed in the most amazing colors and ways, and hybrid cottons. The 1st floor has bags and other knick-knacks like scented soaps, aromatherapy oils and fragrant incense. The 2nd floor has clothes and rather premium-priced shawls and bags, as well as a knitted clothesline. Sale season happens in December. Prices range from 325 rupees for one of those fishnet shawls, 41-100 rupees for the aromatherapy oils, and 450-1,500 rupees for the clothing line.
* Suruchis – a few meters away from Kalki. More choices of Indian-style clothing. In the 33 degree heat, India’s handloom thin cottons are a perfect solution to combatting the heat.
* Vibe – on no. 6 Surcouf Street. Pondicherry’s one avant-garde take on the modern boutique. A mix of everything – clothes, books, paintings, interior design stuff like vases, incense, bags, etc. The ones that caught my eye are the highly embroidered with gold and silver thread kurtas and blouses which apparently came from Jaipur, and the gold-thread embroidered wall hangings from Coimbatore. Blouses are priced from 495 to about 1,000 rupees. The men’s line is very basic, with a few kurtas in tow.
* Auroville Store and Auroville Gift Shop
Two stores selling Auroville-made products. One store is on Rue Rangapoulle, a few meters away and not far from the Kalki Store. My favorite items in this branch are the silver jewelry embedded with semi-precious stones of turquoise, peridot, garnet, moonstone, etc.
The second store is on J. Nehru Street, near the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Daily Dining Hall, wherein I have my noon or evening meals. Great recycled papers of varying colors with block prints of Indian elephants and arabesque designs. These are handcrafted into gift paperbags, boxes, foders, etc.
Best of the lot are the incense sticks of sandalwoo, and some Indian scent- packaged in very interesting flat cardboard sachets, and lovely as gifts.
* FabIndia
Located on #59 Rue Suffren Street, FabIndia is one of India’s
fashion icons. A purveyor of the finest cottons and silk items, FabIndia uses the art of indigo block and tie-dyeing to create fabulous brightly colored patterned blouses, salwar khameezes, kurtas, capri pants, pantaloons, shawls and even bed and table linens, as well as curtains. Price range starts from the very reasonable 190 rupees for a simple blouse to 900+ rupees for a double bed bedlinen. A fabulous line of shawls made from the finest Indian silks are also available.
5. Take a leisurely walk through Pondy’s history
What a great way to view the French colonial history of the town. Drop by Raj Nivas, the historical residence of the French governors of Pondocherry. Or pay a vist to the Pondicherry Museum next door with its ancient artifacts of Arikamedu, the Greco-Roman trading port established some 2,200 years ago just north of Pondicherry. Or just walk through the quaint picturesque streets of the French quarter of Pondicherry (all street names start with the word “Rue”).
The Hotel Dupleix - a smart little new hotel that once was the residence of the French Governors of Pondicherry. A very nice boutique hotel - worth recommending!
6. Take a French language course at Alliance Francaise or have a cup of masala tea in the garden of the French café at the grounds of the Alliance Francaise at Rue Dumas
Interesting building. Wish the guards could speak English too!
While waiting for the electricity to return at the nearest internet café, I had the acquaintance of Vikram, a young, handsome Indian teenager from Jaipur, who was studying a French language course at the Alliance Francaise. It was during those long 2-hour blackouts in Pondicherry, so it was a respite to be chatting with someone who knows the terrain.
I asked Vikram why he chose to learn French in Pondicherry. He told me that the environment was perfect to learn the language, as most of the old-timers and residents of the town could still speak French, and the course costs were not as high as going outside of India, or even in the more plush cities like Mumbai or elsewhere.
Plus, how could anyone beat the prospect of learning la lingua franca in an 18th century French colonial mansion, with native French teachers to boot? And Saturday or Sunday afternoons would not be complete without taking “high tea” at the Alliance Francaise café.
7. Go visit some old, “heritage” hotels like the Hotel de l’ Orient on 17 Rue Romain Rolland or Le Dupleix on #5 Rue de la Caserne
A quaint hotel, with a great little garden and big high-ceilinged rooms with four-poster beds. Reminds you of days long gone by.
Formerly the French Department of Education, the Hotel d’ Orient has been refurbished since by the Neemrana Hotels Group and converted into a pastel sandstone orange and white hotel with all the quaintness of an 18th century French colonial mansion (with inner garden courtyard and 2nd storey high-ceilinged rooms with overhead fans, gigantic four-poster beds and a verandah. Prices range from a reasonable 2,500 rupees for the single bed rooms to 5,500 rupees for the luxury suites. Breakfast at 100-180 rupees.
On the other hand, Le Dupleix on 5 Rue de la Caserne is a historic 18th century French colonial mansion, home of the former French Governor Joseph Francois Dupleix. Renovated with the original and oldest wooden doors of the Governor’s residence in Pondicherry, 14 well-appointed rooms are decorated with a blend of antique French colonial architectural pieces and that of the more contemporary arts of India.
8. Visit the Cluny Embroidery Centre on Rue Romain Rolland
Managed by the nuns of Cluny Convent, this embroidery centre has been in existence in Pondicherry since 50 years ago. The purpose of the center is to teach young Indian girls the art of French embroidery. As of last visit, the center is looking for a generous patron to refurbish the historic building and make sure that the girls there manage to continue their training and eventual livelihood.
Architecture in the French Quarter reminds me of the French Quarter in Hanoi. Very beautiful and picturesque indeed!
9. Visit the Pondicherry Tourist Information Office at 40 Goubert Avenue
Where you can have detailed information of the ancient town of Pondicherry (established sometime in 1760 or earlier), plus a few free maps and information for guided heritage tours or daily tours that don’t cost that much.
10. Explore the towns near to Pondicherry
Pondicherry is so well-connected to other interesting towns in the Tamil Nadu area of Southern India. Visit Mamallapuram (about 98 kms north of Pondy) and see its famous Shore Temple, one of 7 temples built during the Pallava period of Southern India, in the 7th century. The rest of the temples are already underwater.
Or go to Chidambaram, where the famous four-sided Chidambaram temple, with its 1,000-pillar hall, pays obeisance to the Lord Shiva. The Chidambaram Temple is a tribute to the Lord Shiva in its form of the “Cosmic Dancer”, under the Ananda Tandava pose (one leg raised above the other leg, 2 arms on each side and a round halo of flames behind him).
My favorite pastime is to wake up at 5:30 am, sit on my balcony on my tatami mat, and meditate and do my yoga there. Pure bliss!
Tags: Arikamedu, aromatherapy oils, Auroville, Auroville Gift Shop, bedlinen, blogging in Pondicherry, capri pants, FabIndia, incense, indian handicrafts, indigo dyeing, Kalki, kurtas, Mission Street, Park Guesthouse, Pondicherry, salwar khameez, semi-precious jewelry, shawl, Sri Aurobindo, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Suruchis, The Mother, tie-dyeing, Tourism in Pondicherry, travel, travel and lifestyle
