Beau Pondicherry!

A corner of India which is uniquely French.

“Let’s go somewhere!” Pondy? “YEAH! Let’s go! ”

So it began, a two-day vacation at the little city called Pondicherry.

Day 1: We found a place on Airbnb called Skandavan. It was a beautiful place off the city and en route to the much-revered Auroville.  The place belonged to an Indo-British couple who were very charming as hosts. They’d met in London, traveled extensively before settling in Pondi.
The overnight bus journey left us quite tired but we decided to head out to the city before taking a lil nap. At the city, there was nothing else we’d rather hire as a way of getting around than a yellow Vespa. Hell yeah, that’s what we did.
“Zipping through the unfamiliar streets of Pondy in a yellow Vespa” quipped my friend, when we took our first ride. Something about French architecture and a classic yellow moped gets you all tingly.
Ooh, another thing about Skandavan. They have an open shower… Yes, you read that right. I was skeptical at first, but a shower under the sky when the humidity is killing you? It’s rather brilliant, I must say.

Right. Combing the streets of Pondy, we ended up near the Governors house. One turn led us to a view I will not forget. Between quintessential french buildings, we saw the vast expanse of the mighty Bay of Bengal. That was quite a view! The beach road is very very well maintained and is always an amazing place to spend time at, regardless of the time of day. We then decided to take a walk.
So a stroll down White Town was followed by a mighty meal at Cafe Xtasi.Mhhh. The Four-Cheese Pizza, Popeye and Vegetariana are heavenly.
With that, we headed back to Skandavan to spend sometime exploring the place. The ‘butterfly-tree’ is very pretty to look at under the lights, and so is the fish pond.
Playing with Luna and Tara, the mutts, was very entertaining.

Day 2:
In what we decided would be a very calm day, we woke up quite early to catch the sunrise. The ride through the unlit muddy trail, through the grasslands was very exhilarating!
Our lil Vespa ate the miles as we made it to the Beach Road just in time. Munching on brownies and Walnut pies for breakfast, we resigned ourselves to sitting by the rocks and photographing the sunrise. The cool breeze and the general sense of that moment made the trip completely worth it.

Another stroll around the city made us realize how hungry we were. We headed back and devoured the left over pizza from last night. Pizza for breakfast. Mhh. Who would’ve thought?

Riding through the calm, serene and shade-y roads, we enjoyed every second of it.
Quite a number of pictures and videos later, we zeroed in on Greek Cafe for lunch.
Simple yet tasty food.
Another stop at a large book store was warranted. Like any book-shopping adventure, I couldn’t choose. I ended up buying a book which contained a large selection of poems. POETRY YO.

Live not in the future, nor the past
Live not to realize, nor to emphasize
Live not to speak, nor to listen
Live not for him, nor for her
Live. For yourself.

Yep, I wrote that. Yep, it’s rubbish.
Anyway, so Pondy.
We could’ve seen a few more places, we could’ve visited Auroville, but we didn’t. The entire point of this for us, was to wind down and relax. Which is what we did.

Bidding goodbye to Rekha and Michael(our hosts), we set out on our Vespa for our final ride. We stopped in the middle of the grasslands for a picture of the sunset.
The next couple of hours was spent by the beach. The most relaxing two hours.

I’d go back.

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Kerala – You beauty. {Solo trip #1}

The man who goes alone can start today; but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready.

As I waited for my bus, in the lounge, I couldn’t believe I was finally embarking on my first trip alone. Being an introvert, and an extremely shy guy, this felt tremendous. In my mind, I thought I felt eyes on me, judging me for being alone, but in reality, people didn’t care. I just blended in.

Now, back to the journey. The comfort of a multi-axle Volvo was not lost on me. “Sleep like a baby” was the tag-line on the bus, and it more or less was up-to the mark.

Day 1:

Reached Ernakulam at around 7 in the morning. Ernakulam felt like any other Indian City. I was told to be wary of the auto drivers who were known to fleece tourists, but the chap I landed was pretty cool. Reached the boat jetty to travel to Fort Kochi and the place was beautiful. The price of a ticket to travel to Fort Kochi was just Rs 4/-. The experience was refreshing. The mild hum of the jetty was actually, not joking here, quite relaxing. Couple that with the sight of an occasional cruise ship passing by and Flying fish skimming over the water (yes, that’s a thing!) .

I’m a sucker for beaches. I always love spending time there. Before I even checked into my hotel at Fort Kochi, I strolled to the beach. The beach was pretty empty at around 8 in the morning. I most probably couldn’t have done this traveling with a group of friends. Let’s check in first bro.

Post checking in, breaaaakfaaasssst. At the famous Kashi Art Cafe. Tomato and Cheese omelet served with slices of Watermelon, slices of toast and a huge dollop of Butter. This was unbelievably brilliant. Oh, I did forget to mention the scrumptious chocolate cake. (Hey,this counts as breakfast too!) Chocolate cake for breakfast? Bro, are you crazy?

The humidity coupled with the 33 deg C reading did make it a bit uncomfortable to be out, so i decided to take a nap. Woke up at 2, didn’t feel hungry so decided to take a walk. Saw the famous Santacruz Basilicca and St Xaviers Church. Noteworthy they are and visit, you must. (See what I did there?). Noww, lunccccchh. I strolled into Upstairs, an Italian restaurant, and had me-self a pizza. Great one too! Olives, cheese and capers. Post the late lunch, went back to the room and took another nap. Making my own itinerary, remember?  Want to sleep again? Bro, why did we even come here then?

Now, the magical part. Sunset at Fort Kochi. I reckon this is something one must do if they’re in this part of the world. Watch the sunset at the Fort Kochi Beach. The Chinese Fishing Nets are a sight to behold! It’s just stunningly beautiful. The calmness of the beach, the swarm of travelers just soaking in the sight, and the multitude of languages in the air makes this a magical experience. In case I didn’t mention this before, Fort Kochi is also sometimes known as ‘Mini Europe’ due to the fact that the vast majority of travelers are from Europe. Anyway, sitting on the shore, looking at the sun, and just being with yourself. Cool, the sun’s gone down, let’s do something else. What is even there to see here now?

Strolling back to the hotel, I noticed this small shop selling traditional articles and a few souvenir. I stopped by and bought a couple of things for a friend and had this lovely conversation with a fellow traveler from Australia. There was just something about her which was fascinating. She left with a friend after a bit and I left too.

On reaching my hotel, the receptionist suggested I go on a 7 hour boat cruise the next day. I gladly agreed, because the Backwaters of Kerala are famed and I wanted to experience them. 7 hours on a boat just drifting? Let’s take the 3 hours package broo.

With the night drawing to a close, I couldn’t help but think about the girl from the shop.

Day 2:

Headed to the rooftop for breakfast where I met Loma and Daniel. Loma was a banker from London, but was of French Descent and Daniel was from Brussels. Both of them had apparently met at Vietnam and found out that they shared the same love for traveling, and were traveling through India together. They told me they’d be joining me on the boat cruise.

The van arranged to transport us to the boarding point arrived and I was surprised(well, not really) to find out that I was the only Indian on board, and the rest were foreign travelers!

After an hour long journey, we finally made it to the boarding point where we got onto a house-boat of sorts. It was here when I actually looked at my fellow travelers. She was sitting right in front of me. She smiled at me and introduced herself. Her name was Emily, and her friends’ Claire. During the cruise, we didn’t talk much. Everybody was busy admiring the beauty of Kerala. The backwaters were pristine! It was so peaceful and so calm! The banks were littered with trees and you could see an occasional boat filled with produce passing by. 3 hours of bliss followed. We then stopped for a traditional Kerala meal which was pretty good. No wait, it was insanely good.

Post lunch, it was an open boat cruise. The boats were 10 meters in length but hardly a meter in width. I was seated next to Emily, yaay! We were shown the canals near the Perumpalam Island. Everybody was blown away by the beauty of it all.

With this, the boat cruise came to an end. We were dropped off near the beach, when I invited Emily and Claire to accompany me to Kashi. We had the crazzzzzy chocolate cake and then, I remembered, my time in Fort Kochi was coming to an end. I was leaving that night. 2 days passed by extremely quickly.

Regrets? Only one: Should’ve stayed for a bit longer.

Takebacks? Quite a few. Sitting by the beach, traveling, walking through the markets made me learn more about my myself. It gave me the space and time to think about a certain few pressing issues on my mind. I also witnessed the beauty of Kerala, which is spectacular.

If you ever get a chance to go to Kerala, do not think twice. It’s beautiful 🙂

 

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Thanks for reading. Do drop a comment to let me know what you thought about this 🙂

-A