Travel
The Flamboyance of Pondicherry!
Some places you visit, become a musing for your soul, in a jiffy. Like a secret affair. Like those rose petals you hide away in thick, old books for the smell to stay. It might be the charm, the vintage buildings, culture (being all old-school), the food, people, whatsoever. This musing keeps growing becoming an inevitable part of you in no time. One such place to this humble traveller is Pondicherry.

Downtown Pondy, as it is fondly called
Tucked away in the eastern coastal belt of India, this historical French-colony-turned-French-vintage-town opens up myriad hues of life for a wanderer. The promenade that awes at the Bay of Bengal over a ledge, vendors selling sweetmeats across the pavement, spicy Indian snacks frying in deep pans, the whizzy noises they make, cut fruits displayed artistically, some relishing it, dipping the cuts in honey, the incipient bell-ring of that of the cotton-candy vendor, yellow boiled corns with groundnuts waiting for buyers, excited children dashing across like jet sprays, cunning crows lurking around snack wagons, scuttling and sniffing dogs, shell jewellery displays, people walking across the Gandhi Statue, the orange-yellow sky and a setting sun; all seem to add up to the bounty. I sip at the hot latte from Le Café at the Promenade, looking at the blue sky, as life passes its vivid tones and shades in front of me!

Waiting for that coffee

A vendor waits for his bustling sale

The pink cotton candy and a blue ocean
A few glimpses down this southern town of India. Here, the famous Aurobindo Ashram gives spirituality a new dimension. With vintage buildings and a legendary spiritual leader to guide them, devotees flock to this magical town and touch a chord with them in their subconscious. People sit around the huge banyan tree and pray. Some chant in silence with just their lips in movement, some pray in utter silence, eyes closed. A few have tears gleaming as they bow their heads in gratitude.
Bodhi beach on the ECR or East Coast Road is a class place to be around Pondy (as it is fondly called by the locals and frequent visitors) and over here one can learn surfing. We see the old and young alike learning to battle the waves in the balmy weather with the sea breeze running amok hanging wet nets and old wooden boats. It’s a great stretch of land with blue waters touching the golden sands and an aquamarine sky, looking forward to the day’s events. The waves retreat and become slow and calm.

Kids have their share of fun at Bodhi as the sun slowly waves goodbye

A walk across Bodhi Beach
It has started to become dark. Birds go back to their nests to welcome the night and I realize that it is late already! Swimming for hours in the sea has made me profoundly hungry and so I am looking forward to a sumptuous carb-loaded dinner.
Nehru Street in main town Pondi has a wonderful Pizza café that everyone so talks about. Café Xtasi. We barge in and get benevolently served wonderful firewood oven pizzas, salads and pastas which were mind blowing. The only thing the pizzas let us do apart from licking our hands and burping was being induced into deep sleeps, as our eyes refused to stay open!

cheese and tomatoes! Yumm

herbs, spices and everything nice
Just one day in Pondicherry is this, then I wonder; what marvel is this romantic town? Flamboyant, I say!
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