Walk like a guru or shop till you drop in Pondicherry

My well-worn strappy sandals scuffed the airport hall at Chennai (formerly Madras) in southern India. It was already 11 pm but surprisingly, the modest airport was still abuzz with arriving Indians. Yes, you heard it right – Indians. On the Tiger Air flight that left Singapore 4-5 hours earlier, there were only two east Asians – a Singaporean-looking dude and myself – and one Caucasian guy. The rest were Indians, so you can probably imagine how many tourists were going to the South. The place was hot, about 33 degrees Celsius. There were no air-conditioned shops or cafes where I could cool down, but fortunately, I was not staying in the city. My destination was Pondicherry, a quaint French-colonized coastal town three hours south of Chennai and still hardly discovered on the tourist trail. It was a long but pleasant drive in the dark through what they call the ECR (East Coast Road), which hugs the coastline of southeastern India. My trustworthy driver, a burly guy who spoke little English, was nodding his head off at the wheel. I had to keep making polite conversation with him, like “the road seems better now than before" or “what are those cute lights on top of the mountain" just to keep him awake. The driver was pissed off with me – and for good reason! I mixed up the dates of my arrival, so the poor guy had to wait at the airport from 11 pm to almost 6 am the day before my arrival. The result was that he charged me double – 1,500 rupees for the actual pick-up, and another 1,500 rupees for the day I didn’t show up. Ouch!! (Note: Indian rupees have almost the same exchange rate with the US dollar as the Philippine peso, so just think of the prices here in pesos.) We stopped at a roadside café at 1:30 a.m. There were still men going in and out of the café, mostly truck and bus drivers. I found the situation funny – little Asian girl drinking a cup of milk tea at a roadside café in the dark of night with only burly drivers for company. But I was not alarmed. In India, at least in the rural areas outside Chennai, crime was at a manageable minimum. A few kilometers from the Guesthouse, my sleepy driver hit part of a steel barricade fence lying halfway across the road. He kept on driving. When we pulled up in front of the Guesthouse, the driver walked out, took a look at the front steel fender of our circa 1960s vintage car, and said, “no problem!" The fender didn’t even sustain a scratch! It was 3 a.m. already. Welcome to Pondicherry! So what to do here? 1. Sit in a breezy café beside the beach and contemplate the blue waters of the Bay of Bengal The Park Guesthouse where I stayed is located on Goubert Avenue, at the far end of the road overlooking the reclaimed beach. It has been standing there since The Mother and Sri Aurobindo - two of the laid-back town's more revered residents of years past - have been in existence.

The hotel has more than 40 spacious single and double bedrooms, complete with hot and cold water, ceiling fans and in the upper floors, a spacious verandah where you can have your meditation and yoga every morning facing the sea. At 400 rupees a night for the sea-facing rooms, it is a bargain. And filtered water is available for free – just bring your water bottle to the tap near the stairs on every level. A great way to spend early mornings is to have breakfast at the seaside café of the Guesthouse. With a masala tea, an omelette and bread and toast, I would be writing away the whole morning with just the sound of the breakers on the beach for company. 2. Take a stroll along “The Promenade," the stretch of reclaimed beach along Goubert Avenue (Beach Road) A daily pastime of most Pondy residents, particularly at the end of the day when the Indian sun lets up on its heat, the 1.5-kilometer Promenade skirts past the 27-meter high Old Lighthouse and a gigantic statue of Indian’s most revered national hero, the Mahatma Gandhi. When you’re tired of walking, have a local ice cream at Arum Ice Cream House, near the Pondicherry Tourism Office, or have afternoon tea at Le Café right on the beach. 3. Walk like a Guru Living and acting like an ascetic in India, particularly Pondicherry, is not a difficult thing to do. Pondicherry is famous worldwide for its Sri Aurobindo Ashram. It is named after the political activist-turned-poet and ascetic Sri Aurobindo, and his spiritual partner and co-founder, The Mother, a pretty French woman who was a young painter during her time. Together, they built Auroville, a self-contained community of more than 1,000 individuals who practice and adhere to the Integral Yoga of the Mind. Visit the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, located at Rue de la Marine (almost all of the street names here start with the word Rue, which means “street" in French), to see the spiritual pilgrims and followers of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother visiting the revered tomb of the latter (they call this place "Samadhi"), as well as the living and working quarters of Sri Aurobindo himself. There is a bookstore containing most of the master’s and The Mother’s books and writings, for those who want to read more about this extraordinary couple. Like many places across India, the city has its own slew of Hindu temples. The most popular are the Manakkula Vinayakar Temple on the street of the same name, and the Kalasthirvaram Temple on Mission Street which has both the Hindu deities of Shiva and Vishnu. 4. Shop till you drop like a true-blue tourist On my first trip to Pondy - as the locals lovingly call the town - in December 2005, there were only a handful of shops that you could splurge your rupees on. Most of these shops are clustered along Mission Street, J. Nehru Street and at the junction of the Grand Bazaar. Most of the merchandise come from various parts of India. In recent years, however, scores of shops selling Indian-style cotton and silks - kurtas, salwar khameezes, shawls, capri pants, bed linen, semi-precious jewelry in silver and gold settings, cloth bags etc – have mushroomed in the area. Some of my favorite shops are: * Kalki – Located on 134 Mission Street, it carries high-end Indian clothing manufactured mostly in Auroville’s myriad handicraft communities. Check the shawls of good quality silk dyed in the most amazing colors and ways, and hybrid cottons. The first floor has bags and other knick-knacks like scented soaps, aromatherapy oils, and fragrant incense. The second floor holds clothes and rather premium-priced shawls and bags, as well as a knitted clothes line. Sale season is in December. Prices range from 325 rupees for one of those fishnet shawls, 40 to 100 rupees for the aromatherapy oils, and 450 to 1,500 rupees for clothes. * Suruchis - A few meters away from Kalki, there are more choices of Indian-style clothing here. India’s handloom thin cottons are perfect for combating the 33-degree heat. * Vibe - On no. 6 Surcouf Street, this is Pondicherry’s one avant-garde take on the modern boutique. A mix of everything – clothes, books, paintings, interior design stuff like vases, incense, bags, etc – can be found here. The ones that caught my eye were the highly embroidered kurtas and blouses with gold and silver thread which apparently came from Jaipur, and the gold-thread embroidered wall hangings from Coimbatore. Blouses are priced from 495 to 1,000 rupees. * Auroville Store and Auroville Gift Shop – These two stores sell Auroville-made products. One store is located along Rue Rangapoulle, a few meters away from Kalki Store. My favorite items in this branch are the silver jewelry embedded with semi-precious stones of turquoise, peridot, garnet, moonstone, etc. The second store on J. Nehru Street, near the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Daily Dining Hall where I have my noon or evening meals, has plenty of recycled paper products. Displaying varying colors with block prints of Indian elephants and arabesque designs, these are handcrafted into gift paper bags, boxes, folders, etc. Best buys here are the incense sticks of sandalwood and Indian scent - packaged in very interesting flat cardboard sachets that make lovely gifts. * FabIndia – Located on #59 Rue Suffren Street, this is one of India’s fashion icons. A purveyor of the finest cottons and silk items, FabIndia uses the art of indigo block and tie-dyeing to create fabulous, brightly colored patterned blouses, salwar khameezes, kurtas, capri pants, pantaloons, shawls and even bed and table linens as well as curtains. Prices start from the very reasonable 190 rupees for a simple blouse, to more than 900 rupees for a double bed linen. A fabulous line of shawls made from the finest Indian silks is also available. 5. Take a leisurely walk through Pondy’s history This is a great way to view the French colonial history of the town. Drop by Raj Nivas, the historical residence of the French governors, or pay a visit to the Pondicherry Museum next door with its ancient artifacts of Arikamedu, the Greco-Roman trading port established 2,200 years ago just north of Pondicherry. The quaint picturesque streets of the French quarter make a lovely stroll as well. 6. Take a French language course at Alliance Francaise or have a cup of masala tea in the gardens of the French café. While waiting for the electricity to return at the nearest Internet café, I happened to chat with Vikram, a young, handsome Indian teenager from Jaipur who was studying French at the Alliance Francaise. We were having one of those two-hour blackouts in Pondicherry, so it was a respite to be chatting with someone who knows the terrain. I asked Vikram why he chose to learn French in Pondicherry. He told me that the environment was perfect to learn the language, as most of the old-timers and residents of the town could still speak French. Also, the course costs were not as high as those outside India, or even in the bigger cities like Mumbai. Plus, how could anyone beat the prospect of learning la lingua franca in an 18th century French colonial mansion, with native French teachers to boot? And Saturday or Sunday afternoons would not be complete without taking “high tea" at the Alliance Francaise café. 7. Visit “heritage" hotels like the Hotel de l’ Orient or Le Dupleix Formerly the French Department of Education, the Hotel de l’Orient on 17 Rue Romain Rolland has been refurbished since the Neemrana Hotels Group took over and converted it into a pastel sandstone orange and white hotel with all the quaintness of an 18th century French colonial mansion. Revel in the opulence of an inner garden courtyard, high-ceilinged rooms with overhead fans, gigantic four-poster beds and a verandah! Prices range from a reasonable 3,000 rupees for the single bedrooms to 5,500 rupees for the luxury suites. Breakfast comes at 100 to 180 rupees per head. Le Dupleix on 5 Rue de la Caserne is a historic 18th century French colonial mansion, home of the former French Governor Joseph Francois Dupleix. Renovated with the original and oldest wooden doors of the Governor’s residence in Pondicherry, 14 well-appointed rooms are decorated with a blend of antique French colonial architecture and the contemporary arts of India. 8. Visit the Cluny Embroidery Centre Managed by the nuns of Cluny Convent, this embroidery centre on Rue Romain Rolland has been in existence since half a century ago. The center teaches young Indian girls the art of French embroidery. On my last visit, the center was looking for a generous patron to refurbish the historic building and make sure that the girls there manage to continue their training and livelihood. 9. Drop by the Pondicherry Tourist Information Office Located at 40 Goubert Avenue, this is where you can get detailed information about the ancient town of Pondicherry (established sometime in 1760 or earlier), plus free maps and information for guided heritage tours or daily tours that don’t cost much. One of the amazing things about Pondicherry is that this ancient town hardly floods, all because of the excellent city planning and drainage system made by the French founders of the town. 10. Explore the towns near Pondicherry Pondicherry is well-connected to other interesting towns in the Tamil Nadu area. Visit Mamallapuram (about 98 kms north of Pondy) and see its famous Shore Temple, one of the seven temples built during the Pallava period of Southern India, in the 7th century. The rest of the temples are already underwater. Or go to Chidambaram, where the famous four-sided Chidambaram temple with its 1,000-pillar hall is found. The Chidambaram Temple is a tribute to the Lord Shiva in its form of the “Cosmic Dancer," under the Ananda Tandava pose (one leg raised above the other leg, two arms on each side and a round halo of flames behind him). - YA, GMANews.TV The author has been working as a freelance writer and communications consultant for several multinational companies in Thailand and Vietnam for more than a decade. She loves traveling to exotic places and meeting quirky people.