Weekend at Pondicherry

Life was getting very stressful with the mundane routine of everyday life. DH was extremely stressed with work. I was desparately in need of a break. But DH loved his office (I secretly call his office as his girl friend) sooooo much that he did not want to stay away from 'her' even on saturdays and sundays!

I was wondering how to spend the extended weekend with good friday holiday when all of a sudden, DH said, 'client is not working this weekend, so lets go somewhere'! Now I was really excited. I decided on driving down to Pondicherry. I quickly packed our bags, some chips and snacks for the way, charged the phones, camera battery. A search on the internet indicated that 'Ginger Group of Hotels', a Tata venture, was present at Pondy. This hotel has a chain in many cities around India. They are budget class, but really decent. The security factor is very high. More about the hotel in the coming paras.
Dad doesnt have a proper parking lot at his place, so his Alto is parked in our Apartment. So we had the liberty to take the vehicle. We decided to fuel up at Hosur, to see if there is any difference in the cost of Petrol!

Friday morning, we woke up at 4 am!! No groaning, no grumbling, we just sat upright and I was beaming! Quickly had bath in the ice cold water got ready, stuffed in the last minute packing and we were on our way by 5:30. (Ya half an hour was spent clearing doubts like is the gas switched off, have I closed all the taps properly? Is any light burning? Is the balcony door locked)

We reached Hosur by about 6:30, but none of the petrol bunks were open. I was begining to get a bit panicky looking at the fuel meter. The road was crowded with huge heavy weight trucks humming along. We were travelling eastward, so the morning sun was shining very brightly onto our eyes, making it difficult to focus on the road. But I enjoyed driving, since it was not yet 'hot' outside.
We found a bunk at Krishnagiri and filled up some petrol. Now we were looking for fuel for our stomachs.

The deviation to Pondy is just after Krishnagiri, where we need to take NH-66. DH found a theory that the bigger the number after NH, the narrower the road. The road was so narrow, at first we thought we were in some small by-lane. No hotels in sight. We managed with some chikki which we had in the bag. We kept going and the road seemed to be getting worse with every kilometer. Potholes galore. We had lost all hopes of finding an eatery, when all of a sudden I noticed a wayside shop. They were making puris and dosas. We decided to stop there and had a dosa each and some coffee. I wont dwell much on the road, but putting in the route for future reference.

Bangalore-> Hosur -> Krishnagiri -> Mathur -> Uthangarai -> Chengam -> Thiruvannamalai -> Thindivanam -> Gingee -> Pondy

By about 12:30 we reached Pondy and checked into our hotel. Ginger accomodations are not very expensive, its on the medium range(depends on the city also). Web bookings and corporates have some discounts. The rooms are clean, with basic bed, table, ac, tv, phone and most important, clean and neat bathroom! I am very particular about restrooms, and a dirty one can just spoil the whole vacation. Safety is very good in this hotel, all with access cards and computerized, so a single woman can safely choose to stay here. There is no room service, but they have kept tea bags in the room, so you can sustain till you find an eatery. They do have a hotel attached, but its much on the higher side and not all that great food. But ya, managable. They have tie ups with pizza huts and coffee days, so you can order stuff and eat at their restaurant if you like.

So as soon as we reached, we took a nice refreshing cold shower and then went out to have lunch. Post lunch we headed to the beach. We decided not to take the car and opted for local transport. There are these 10 seater autos there, cover most of the places within the town and it costs only Rs3 per head. We asked him to take us to the beach and guess what!! It was a rocky beach! I was a bit disappointed that we couldnt play there, but had to be content looking at the waves. I took this opportunity to think, relax and destress, just looking at the waves and staring into the horizon does wonders for the mind.
To be continued....

 

We stood on the rocks, just listening to the sound of the sea, looking ahead at the cool blue sea, touching the blue sky, with a straight line between the two. The waves crashed on to the rocks, like thoughts crash onto our minds. But the waves kept going back and bringing new ones. Hmmm let me stop the philosophy. Even though it was a nice feeling standing there, I wanted to plunge into the water and preferred a sandy beach. So we took a bus to the 'Auro Beach'.

This was a sandy beach and I was really happy. But DH was not happy, apparently he dint like beaches because one will get wet! I was like will men ever be satisfied?? :spin
I just played for a while and then sat down and watched the waves. I will put up pictures as soon as possible. Its not yet downloaded.

Then we came back to our room and had a shower again. It was really hot and sticky, inspite of visiting the breezy beach. Then we headed for dinner. Had dinner in the crowded Adayar Ananda Bhavan and had mango milkshake from a juice shop nearby. Then we slept like logs! It was nice to sleep unrestricted with no tension of having to get up early to go to work.

Next day we woke up around 9bonk and got ready for the day's outing. We decided to take the car to Auroville as it was bit on the outskirts and kind of interior place with no proper access. We visited the information centre there and watched a 5 min video which spoke about the Auroville and its importance, history etc. Then it was a nice long nature walk to the globe at the Auroville. We were not allowed inside as we need to book in advance itseems, so it was just a view from a-far. After the photo session, we headed back. We came back to the room, took rest for a while, then went out for lunch. We had some French cuisine at a hotel facing the sea. It was quite nice and relaxing.

Then we visited the meuseum, ashram, Imaculate church, spent some time walking around the town. I bought a book from the Ashram, and we bought some scented candles for my sister from the Auroville shopping centre. Dinner was at a place called Appachi where we had Chettinad food. Then we retired for the day.

Next day ie. Sunday, we started back at around 10:30 and we were home by around 5 pm. It was a very nice trip and did wonders to the stressed mind. Looking forward to working with more enthu now.

Pics to be put in soon...

 

Hey Chitra!
Thanks for your sweet first FB. Yeah there is nothing much to see there, and hence it was a perfect getaway. If there is lot of stuff to see, and the number of days are short, then either one ends up not seeing anything well or ends up travelling too much and thus not relaxing.
It was a lazy vacation if I may say so... the thrill of driving, relaxing resting, and the beach.. that comprised it..

 

Hey Anaamika! Thanks for stepping in. You know what.. we dint find a single eatery on the way.. there were 1 or 2 dhabbas but both were closed.. I guess they open only at night for the truckers..
But ya i binged while at Pondy.. no cooking no washing.. :crazy

 

Sindhu!! Thank you for your fb. Lucky you, got to cycle. I kept telling my DH lets hire a cycle, but hez not at all into adventure :-(. Almost when it was time to come back, he asked me 'oh you are very fond of cycling. We should have hired one' Witsend
Pics for sure by tommorrow..