Why Pondy

Almost 16 months after my solo travel to a place called Pondicherry in India, I have been asked this question "Why Pondy"? several times. Why not London, Maldives or Thailand?Most or many asked me this or such.



As a matter of fact, I did not single out on this destination until I got to hear about the Auroville. I had read this book "Auroville, A Test Run For Future" by Anuradha Majumdar. And a curiosity to explore this town finally pulled me on the various sites of airlines. Her stories had left vivid pictures in my mind, most ending with question marks. Majumdar is sure an excellent writer where her details and descriptions leave absolute solid pictures of motion in my mind.



Secondly, the oceans have always beckoned my spirituality and creativity by it's best. In my earlier post, I had written about my experience in the town. A few of the pending pictures are here today. And also the reason, Why Pondy. Simple I wanted to travel with myself once, I had always wanted. And I found all that I wanted in Pondy. The meditation center and the ocean view room.



It is when you travel with yourself, you get the answer to many of the "whys" you hold with you. Simple things are life's zest. We say. But I ask, how many of you have felt it often?

In the hustle bustle of our rapid random routines, have you technically  realized that one small thing evokes a notable change in you or even such a small "thing" is hard to achieve at all. Understanding simpler matter is most complicated challenge for the intellectual human species. 



Well, the point here is, my travel simply gave me that void. Simply that. Aesthetics that pitched on to my mind directly. Nothing more complicated. Neither have I turned monk out of my spiritual best nor did I swim in two piece in the ocean. I have touched the fair lines of life, with another angle, with another pair of glasses my eyes never perceived.



That is it, friends, it is only a small anecdote from my life forming a mammoth wave of life. 

Pondy Was Fine for A Woman Solo Traveler. Part 1 - Promenade Escapade

And I was going to a teeny tiny town, like a speck or dot on the google maps may be. Still tinier yet magnificent was the view from the plane. As the set of wheels rolled out, and as the images of huge sea line unfurled into of a small lump of earth, I was landing in Pondy. In an airport that resembled more like a mammoth playground where two small domestic airplanes nicely stayed.  My heartbeat was too excited. All was fine. But I was alone. That made a difference! So much wanted trip, the solo escapade.

I did not want to complain about the grumpy driver that drove me to my hotel accommodation, but I will. It was till the end of the trip that I came across  all grumpy and unfriendly male drivers. I was told the place was safe for woman travelers. Now I know why! 

A small town, a Union Territory, this White Town is connected well by good public transport including two wheeler that can be rented out at several places. This is a boon for travelers. All across the town you see plenty of cyclists. A scene I loved on the streets.

Puducherry meaning "New town" was what TamilNadu called it in Tamil. And the new town still shines out in the old architectural whelm. A mixed culture of south India and the French. Lovely wall-shared row-houses with bunches of colourful bougainvilleas on the compounds decorate the French colony streets. Most government offices seemed so untouched by the construction technology. They still existed the same as they were in the French regime. I chose to stay in the busiest place in the town. The Promenade Hotel gave me the best view of the sea at a distance of hardly 50m from my room. I would call it a leap-able distance not walk-able. 

The biggest statue of that Gandhi standing tall by the sea in the centre of the Promenade guarded by  huge pillars carved exquisitely, was almost visible form a corner window of my room. 

It is a myth to feel the sea is the same everywhere. Stepping onto the promenade stretch gives you a contrasting view of two important things you notice. 1)The serene sea and the monstrous waves. 2) Second the abundance of clutter among the rocks. I could call it one of the most cluttered beach. However the stretch still charms you.



Everyday people take their walks by the sea, religiously and probably this is the most crowded life center of the town.

Promenade should be nicknamed Promisade.



Morning scenes include some usual joggers, yoga sitters by the sea, an old man distributing cookies to street dogs. My morning runs were calm and undisturbed by the dogs unlike in Manipal .  Our Manipal street dogs just do not trust any runner on the roads. The dogs here seemed to be understanding. They dug up their places in sand and lazed around most times except when hungry. The quite orange dawn time is when the waves seem bit ferocious in the quietness of the surroundings. 



Evening scenes here, include a a set of artists seated on several spots with their tripods and pencils and papers. They will produce a sketch of yours in few minutes that you sit facing them. And I got mine done too! And then the sari clad ladies, sari worn high up just below the knees, beautiful wrinkles and worn out hand bag and some shady flute like stick in hands. One of such ladies smiled at my palm and promised me I would one day marry a "bright" guy and have two children. I sent her back happy with a mere 100 rupees and the lady who translated me the Tamil "forecast" into English with a thunderous laughter. 




By nightfall in the burnt sky, one can still find few younger groups of youth loitering on the stretch. As for a traveler, I would suggest staying in one of the hotels facing the sea. My nights were calmer and the sound of the sea waves were soothing. Reminded me of the Colombo nights. The ocean view room and the same sounds of the waves. 



Honestly, the sprawling sea at times did frighten me. Especially when I sat staring at the sea, and every wave swelling up to the shore breaking down upon hitting the rocks of the promenade. That every swelling gave me a scare yet continued to lure me. I continue to cherish every moment spent with them



Apart from the promenade stretch there are quite a few beaches in this small Pondy and few other spots of importance. Continue to read, in the next post. 

..................................................next post coming soon.

Murughavana - Of Chitradurga

The mention of Chitradurga in  Karnataka state, reminds us of the sprawling fortress straddled with seven hills. It became popular by the name of "Onake Obavva" who single handedly killed the soldiers from Hyder Ali's troop who broke into the fort from secret tunnel in the year 1779.

Chitradurga is a place about 200kilometers from Bangalore and the theme park is about a kilometer away from the Fort.

The best place to relax after wandering in the fort is the "Murughavana Park".  A theme park quiet well planned, well maintained in the rural locale, with stone statues of different taste. Absolutely serene; dotted with huge trees randomly for ample shade; uniquely built stone statues of various freedom fighters, common people, scenes of rural areas and plenty of extinct dinosaurs.  A pleasant park to cool your nerves even on a warmer afternoon. 

This is only a photo based post and all pictures are i-Phone clicks!

YOU CAN NOT AVOID THIS CHIMP'S SWALLOW, AS THIS IS THE MAIN ENTRANCE TO THE PARK 

Part 2 - Avani - Reaching The Zenith Altitude

Continuing
our journey from Temples at foot hills to the trek. Previous post on this blog
featured introduction to Avani and the magnificent temples at the foot hills.

This
breath taking view requires a few extra breaths lost as you huff and puff away
uphill and prepare your lungs for the fresh fill of the mesmerizing breeze. And
also prepare your little hearts to greet few monkey families and tutti -frutti
squirrels up there. It is overwhelming to watch the monkeys  just wait for
the devotees to beak the coconut outside the temple as a part of ritual and
then they could feast on the fruit by chasing the devotee with it's scary
growl. And the few squirrels just wait to feast on the left over pieces of
coconut or any other fruit.

Seemed like the avatar of an Hanuman family himself appeared with absolute thirst, to the top of the hill and waited for visitors to pour water to quench his throat to his fill. And there were plenty of them. Remember, they are harmless but definitely defensive. So, never tease them by walking with lot of food in hands.

Now,
as you march over uphill, you pass by more heritage spots, each narrating a
holy story from the Ramayana that can actually calm your nerves spiritually if
you believe in Gods and Goddesses.

A
small door-less entrance takes you inside the place where sage Valmiki lived as
he wrote the Ramayan. The Ashram is now consisting of a neat stone statue of
the sage.

It's a well-known
fact , whether one calls it mythology or one believes in the story, that Sita
Devi after being exiled sought refuge in "Ashram" of Sage Valmiki.
Soon in this stone abode she gave birth to her twin sons. With a mark of
respect by married women, locals have practiced hanging green bangles at the
top of the entrance door of this stone room which has been named "Sita
Nilaya".

A touching glow. An imaginary oil lamp marked with some paints on the rocky pathway outside the "Sita Nilaya" is yet another belief by people from decades ago that it was the spot where the lady placed the lamp after sun set and hence even now the place glows with such tiny remembrances. Really amazing to witness such tiny details from Ramayan coming true and much to some of us who call it mythology it seriously surprises that locals have inherited stories from their ancestors who have supposedly been in the era after the medieval. 

And the popular "DhanushKoti" is supposed to be where Rama's brother Lakshman, who upon learning about the scarcity of water in Sita Nilaya, pulls his bow and arrow "dhaanushkoti" and splits the rock into two, to create a stream of water among the rocks. Again people believe that it never dry, even in perching summer, of today. We simply admired the tiny grey and black fishes in the water that connected us to our childhood rainy endeavors where we gathered tiny fishes in "tea strainers" that were our fish nets, from water streams formed by rain water.

One of the tarn that fascinated me

There definitely is plenty of resting spots on the way to the hill. These tarns are the best. You can not resist picking up oval bubbles, flip them horizontal and throw it spinning in the water. Can you? That's exactly what we did too. The lotus is the proof that it is stagnant water and hence it is not recommended to dip your legs or hands in the water.

Finally as you reach the top of the mountain puffing and panting,  we reach out to  the "Sita Temple" from the side entrance. The landmark where Sita Devi calls for Mother earth to slide open and snare her within her bosom.  This temple is one of the rarest  temples dedicated to Sita Devi in India.  A idol of the Goddess is worshipped every day by priest.



Right behind the temple is where you see two big boulders as mark of spot where Sita devi took her last journey under the mother earth. The picture 2 on the right above is where it is and a tradition of devotees squeezing themselves under the two boulders has been practiced. Call it belief or blind belief, these Hindu praxis leave me as astonished as spiritual.


Whatever is the story about, the nature leaves you in an awe as you fill your lungs with the breeze from the top of the hills watching the splendid bird eye view  of Avani.

The colourful Lingeshwar Temple as seen from the top of the hill

Key - Notes - Remain the same as in part-1 of this post too.

• Avani is an absolutely cute village hosting no restaurants at all. Warning - Carry ample food. Small shady hotels will provide you scrumptious hot meals but the interiors are pretty puking dirty.


• Clean water bottles are however available but make it to pick up your Gatorade if you wish to.


• Don't expect a good connectivity of public transport. Plenty of taxis will be available for hardly an hour and half, drive from Bangalore.

Sevagram - Exploring The Less Explored Historical Site

Neither am I a photographer  nor a traveler. But I do both. When I travel for pleasure, I share lots of pictures and then blog, because I am only a blogger. My travel experiences that I share here are my memoir. Now,  it's not everyday that I introduce myself in my posts. Am a simple town girl from Manipal and there are three things I love in this world. My blog, my blog and my blog.

Well, and so it happened, that one  morning not long ago we landed in this place called "Sevagram'. So getting to the point, Sevagram is a small village, renamed from originally "Segaon". Sevagram is about 5 km from Wardha town and 50 kilometers plus from Nagpur in the state of Maharashtra.

The picturesque roads with faint smell of dust and dung; Beautiful Prussian blue buffaloes that consume more space on the roads than your SUV; The vegetable vendor squatted by the roads sides with hand towels wet scrubbing the  sweat even in the monsoons; Driving in rural areas has its own bumpy charm.

Now, we had reviews about this place about being historically popular for M.K.Gandhi last resided here before his march to the strike for Independence. He had decided to make this his headquarters until his struggle for independence succeeded. Shortly after his untimely unfortunate demise, this place started turning into a historical place, a museum reflecting the aura of  activities of this freedom fighter. He had used this place as office too and the place was supposed to have spiritual vibe. That was not all, I was told about the finger licking food, the Maharashtra thali (meal)  that was served in the canteen of the museum in this place and the  exotic collection of hand-woven Khadi cloth.

BAPU KUTI

"Punyadham Sevagram" reads the board at the entrance

You get to walk inside a path with no asphalt, covered on both side with gigantic trees, a few shops lined near the gate that sell the authentic Khadi cloth,  into a wide compound. The various "Kuti" or the Katcha houses  with hay thatch here and there mark the rural beauty, showcase the scenes of the great freedom fighter's habitats. The house that he lived in with his wife . Kasturba Gandhi with its uneven mud flooring, the bathtub that blended with luxury for that era; the office space with a now antique wooden table, the neatly kept glass shelf with few bits of paper clippings and an honest letter of love he wrote to his wife when she was ill;  and telegrams of those times are the main attraction here. One can definitely get the feeling of waiting at the door as if for an appointment with Gandhi himself.

This model Gandhi with shining scalp is my sonny, too excited, unable to understand if this was a house we wanted to buy and stay in!! Accordingly he inspected the bathrooms and other rooms and declared the place was nice.

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THE MUSEUM

It is beautifully constructed new concrete building that exhibits master pieces from life and habitats of  Bapu times. The display is well polished and well-kept. As for me, I felt like a revisit to the class 10 history lessons and as for my kids, older one was busy studying details of each and every exhibit. She was first introduced to Bapu by  "Lage raho Munna Bhai "and my little one hopping like a happy rabbit unknowing why the hell were we busy watching old tables, chairs, lamps and stuff like these while there was the smell of food and sight of ice cream right outside the building.

The most important thing to do is to visit the canteen with beautiful ambience , cane furniture, and the authentic Maharashtra food with the ghee smeared "Puranpolis," Kokam kadi"  and 14 other delicacies served in lovely steel  plates that come in "family size". A super example of best quality and most quantity at a time.

Any travel includes food and more food but this one includes food and rich and best food!

A historian or a would be historian would love to explore this place. Nevertheless any nature lover too will end up exiting the place with a happy smile.  Our Nagpur visit got a lovely touch touring the serene interiors of Sevagram village.

The favourite items of Gandhi that is a must in display

'

The famous "Salt Satygraha"

Prayer Ground In Sevagram

And then, it all ended there.