Pondicherry Calling

Even on that Saturday morning I didn’t even imagine that, by night I would be in Pondicherry. Gokul was thinking about a tour for long time; probably to get a break from the monotonous life of Bangalore. When his desire got an appropriate chance, a plan was quickly made up for Coorg (which later changed to Chikmagalur). However, I had something else to do on that morning and dropped off. But, continuous rains over Western Ghats created a shadow over Coorg plan and Pondicherry was selected as alternative. As the starting time switched to afternoon, I also jumped in.

It was a hush-hush journey for me. I didn’t even get the chance to take a look at maps. However, faint memories of last journey to Pondicherry really helped. In order to go fast, we took Hosur flyover; however lost all the time we saved at toll booth. Flyovers came and went, and we entered in to the state of Tamilnadu. As we went, petrol became cheaper; buy the time we reached Pondicherry it may probably at its lowest rate in India.

I, Me, Myself

Roads were excellent, especially Krishnagiri – Chennai route. As there were nothing much to do, we talked almost about everything under the sun; Rakesh mainly stick to Kathy Perry songs and Gokul displayed his talent by singing almost all songs from Malayalam movie – ‘Premam’ – multiple times. He almost by hearted all songs from that movie. In another couple of days he may even memorize all dialogues. Oh, I forget to mention, he is the IMDB of Malayalam movie industry. Poor Robin, in addition to the heavy task of driving to and fro, he had to suffer our wits (I am sure Rakesh won’t agree with that) as well.

This route is famous for Biriyanies also. Ambur (Ambur biriyani) and Arcot (Arcot biriyani) fall in this stretch of highway. By 5pm we stopped at a hotel for snacks and had dosas, gobi pakoda etc. By the way, if you are going to Tamilnadu, don’t forget to have dosas. By evening, we crossed Velur and reached Arcot; here we need to leave Chennai highway and take Vandavasi, Cheyyar route to reach Pondicherry. Unfortunately, we missed the turn and ran three kilometre etc.

By the way, this road has some nice natural scenery but only for travellers; not for those who drives. If you are travelling through Tamilnadu always focus on the road (its right and left); as no one can predict when some guy will jump from right or left with or without his/her vehicle. They hardly look left or right before crossing the road!!!

By 10 in the evening we reached Pondicherry and booked a hotel next to JIPMER campus. Long journey demands a good sleep.

Rakesh

No time to waste on Sunday, hence after having a quick breakfast from Chettinad hotel we took Cadalore road to reach Chunnar Boat house. It is from here we can take boats to Paradise beach. Based on your interest and weight of your pocket, you can select motor boat, speed boat etc. Cost/head for motor boat was 200 INR.

Next 3-4 hours we spent in the beach. I did almost everything that I could. Except a somersault, in which my head hit the sea floor and everything went black for some seconds, things went well. Rakesh enjoyed the time by swimming back and forth. Gokul stayed at shores and explored various options in photography. Robin spent half of the time in sea and rest half by looking at the waves.

Gokul

By the way, it’s really exciting to stand on the waters and let the waves come and hit. More interesting is to jump along with the waves and let its power to pass through me.

One of the most fascinating part of this journey was the 15 minutes we spent in speed boat.

After returning from beach, we went straight to White Town; lunch was from a French restaurant called LB2 (located opposite to PWD office). It was here, I met my friend and neighbour Binesh, after a very long time.

Finally it was time to come back. Sadly we said good bye to this old French Colony and retraced our path back to Bangalore. Oh, forgot to say, without describing Cheyyar River this travelogue won’t be complete. While going we crossed the river in night. However, while coming back we crossed the river in day time. There was hardly any water there.

Sajeev.

Chennai Highway

From the left Robin, Gokul and Rakesh

Paradise Beach

Towards the beach