Monday, March 21, 2011

Pondicherry Mar 2011

Sorry for the short hiatus folks. Here is a small trip travelogue to Pondicherry with our school mates.
Hmmmm........This was surely one of the most memorable trips from the recent past.
People in this trip: Feelings(Ravi Chandra), Appi/Kalinga(Harsha Reddy), Dr Pulley(L Chetan), Manu, Vicky Balboa n me.
The (hi)story behind this trip:
Planned for this trip 1 month ago saying we ll go to Pondicherry. Feelings had been to Pondicherry with his colleagues and he suggested this place to us. Since, all others including me had`nt gone to Pondi, the decision to go to Pondi wasnt that difficult.
Everyone met and left for Pondi on Mar 11th @ 10 30. Had chicken roll and pulpy grape juice near Kabab Magic in JP Nagar. Was a good feeling to have some food especially when we had starved from 8 pm that day.
Route: Electronic City-Hosur-Krishnagiri-Thiruvannamalai-Pondi.

Day 1:
After a small break near Hosur McDonalds, and so many pit stop breaks, we finally reached Pondicherry in the morning at 9 am. My gosh, there were so many cops en route to Pondicherry. Our car was checked two times! So, finally having reached Pondicherry, we were all excited for fun filled weekend :) Then, we planned to take a room which Feelings had taken when he came to Pondi last time around. So, we enquired bout the price for the room. That owner was such a lousy fellow when it comes to making a deal. We took a stroll in the same alley and found a better cottage house with balcony, and duplex room also :) Then, we ditched that former cottage for this cottage house. Got ready and went for breakfast. The breakfast menu:egg dosa, pongal which we ate with glee. Aah, rejuvenation post breakfast!!
Boyz were all set to go to the beach. Only problem, scorching heat :(

Beach fun episode: We had planned and had taken cricket bat and tennis ball to play beach cricket. Then, the game plan changed to catch-catch in the shore which included super stylish dive catches near the shore. Our game was so addictive that few locals and a Norwegian national also came to play along with us.

We had initially planned to wind up by 3pm that day and leave for beach party near Rock beach. But, this game went on till half past 4 and hence all plans went a bit off schedule cuz of this intense game ;) Added to that was the scorchin heat and we were tired. After 5 30, we went to French colony. French colony is such a nice place with with picturesque French style alley`s. The other decorators of this colony were Aurobindo Ashram, people preferring bicycles and trees lining the roads which were the other noteworthy features of French colony. If we crossed the french colony, we reached the Rock beach which is reminiscent of Marine drive in Mumbai with rocks lining the edge of the land providing a beautiful view of the sea. We did not step into one of those sea-side cafes but instead sat on the rocks lining the beach and sank in the moment. Our boys sat there having a good view of the sea.

Me and Feelings went alongside the rock beach and clicked a lot of pics. One could find people coming for their evening walk and some fitness enthusiasts running also :) Later I also came to understand that there is a Ayurvedic healing centre in Pondicherry. Post that, we took some food for watching the match. Incidentally, India were playing South Africa that day in one of the crucial match of the on-going ICC cricket World Cup. So, started having dinner near balcony and watching match. Unfortunately, India lost that day :(
Since we had played and travelled a lot, everyone slept very early that night.
A tiresome but beautifully spent day indeed!!

Day 2:
The next day, we woke up with severe body pains [manifestation of the aftereffects of the catch-catch game we played]
Even then, we were motivated enough to play a game of cricket as cricket was our passion(Every sunday we play bakery cup where the loser team is supposed to sponsor snacks and cold bevarages post cricket)
Got ready by 9 30 and checked out of the cottage house.
Final pic before leaving the cottage house:

Had a heavy breakfast and we left to reach Paradise island. Its almost 10km from the town, along Cuddalore Main Road, lies this stretch of tropical paradise. We were stuck in the traffic jam caused by a fight in Pondicherry. Later we came to know that it was a politically motivated fight and since assembly elections were round the corner, police had to take this measure. So, this 8 to 10 km ride supposedly became a 20-30 km cause we were forced to take a detour and we could not find the main road back. Finally at 1pm, we reached paradise island. Ticket per person for to and fro boat ride was 70 bucks. While going to the island, we observed that this island is flanked by a quiet-flowing creek on one side. You can sail downstream to the sands and pitch up a cozy seaside tent for yourself. Overnight within the tree-houses on the backwater banks provides a relishing experience of the great outdoors.
We had heard stories about being able to sight playful dolphins but all we managed to see were small fish horsing around.
Once we entered the island, it was such a nice experience that we forgot bout the heat and body pains. That white sands, the blue seas just blew us away. We started clicking pics and the hunger for better pics was getting even bigger. Enjoyed the photoshoot and also the sight and feel of paradise island
We had lunch and we managed to play cricket also post lunch :)
We had to go back early cuz we were said that the police were to coming for inspection. So, we left island @ 4 itself.
So, we went back a bit dejected but with a hope of coming back to the Paradise island to spend much more quality and fun time.
Coming back to pondicherry, we had small pizza for dinner before leaving for Bangalore.

This particular trip in Manu`s OMNI to Pondicherry offered a lot of moments, moments of fun, moments to cherish, moments which would stay in our minds for years to come.