Far from the Madding Crowd!

At long last I have something to blog about. I took a break from the monotony of :
1Shopping
2.packing
3.Check list
4.repeat ad nauseum,

for a one day trip to Pondicherry.Mu Mum my sister and I. A last minute addition was our dog.(He jumped into the car and refused to get out!)So we took his doggy bowl,and lunch and lunch for all the bipeds, a book to read (which remains unread) and went on our way.

We took the Dindivanam road while going...the NH 45 as smooth as butter rolled along all the way...a little faster and I think we would have been flying! The route was scenic ...greenery as you would never believe in Tamil Nadu, almost unbroken except by the occasional village.

We stopped on the way by the Panchavati Panchamukha Aanjaneyar koil, a relatively new one just picking up popularity with devotees. The temple is still incomplete but promises to be quite grand in the future. The prasadam(pongal) at any rate was excellent(smelling wonderfully of ghee...) .

Our next stop was Auroville. We got pretty much lost in the roads and bylanes of the place, having missed the turn to the visitors centre and had to retrace our path by almost 4 kilometres. Alas, the Matrimandir is still not open to the public(it wasn't the last time we went either, nearly a year ago)...but we made it in time to wander in the gardens a bit and then spent an hour or so shopping.(The stuff there is lovely and, for three females...absolutely irresistable!)

We ate lunch under the shade of the trees in the parking lot, where Nuggy annoyingly picked a fight with the neighbourhood dog...he didn't seem to realise that is wasn't his territory! And then when we dragged him away, he went on strike and refused to eat luch. At long last, after coddling and coaxing him into eating, we were back on the road.

Pondicherry best known for cheap liquor and pirated DVD's( we bought neither- I feel like my life has been a waste ;))... is not all as quaint and charming as people would have you believe. The quaintness is limited to the old areas , where the French had settled...There the streets are called "Rues" and have exotic(and unpronouncable ) names. The stretch along the beach is a lovely walk and we had a fruit juice at a small restaurant where they didn't mind us bringing the dog in.

We went to the Ashram then, which would have been nicer if only we had some time to sit and take in the ambience of the place. It is beautifully maintained... flowers like you'd expect only in ooty and Kodai... and quiet and calm.Then we went to the Vinayaka Koil...and then we were forced to again heed to call of our tummies and went to an interesting little shop called Cottage Restaurant near a handicrafts shop of the same name...Pondicherry seems full of these handicraft things and antique stuff, which drove us quite mad...

We left reluctantly, by the ECR route, with the view of the sea all the way, looking calm and blue and serene. But we saw that the rows of identical houses built a good dostance from the beach for Tsunami relief...it seems that people aren't so trusting of the benevolence of the sea anymore.

Anyway...we're all home now, and none of us happier to be back than Nugget...he's going to think twicw about jumping into the car with us in the future!