Last weekend, I travelled to Pondicherry from Chennai with Giri, Sandeep and my uncle. It was a lovely weekend. With the temperature souring 37 degrees Celsius on Friday, it was very tiresome too. The time it took to reach Pondicherry from Chennai may be one of the longest ever. It usually takes 2.5 to 3 hours, but we took about 8 hours. We started at 9.30 am in the morning and reached Pondicherry at 5.00 pm in the evening.
Nope, I am not a slow driver, neither did our vehicle break down. We just happened to visit a few amazing places on the way. I have stayed in Chennai for 2 years, but never got any chance to visit these places which are just an hour or so away from the city. Since I had gotten a chance now, I didn't want to miss it.
We took the famous East Coast Road to drive down to Pondicherry. East Coast Road is built along the coast of Bay of Bengal. A drive along this route is a pleasure to the eyes witnessing the scenic beauty with beaches and fishermen hamlets and sea facing bungalows. On this route are Dakshina Chitra, Tiger Caves and Mahabalipuram, and many other places of interest. We however managed to visit only the first three, given the heat and time constraint.
Dakshina Chitra: Dakshina Chitra is Madras Craft Foundation's unique project. The centre is concerned with authentically portraying traditional craft, architecture and folk performing arts. It gives an insight in to the lifestyles which for centuries formed part of everyday living in South India. Dakshina Chitra is literally a picture of the south and expresses the living traditions of South India. Founded by an American, Dr. Deborah Thiagarajan, Dakshina Chitra has been her dream project, which is an interactive centre highlighting the art, craft, architecture and folk performing arts of the four southern states of India. Read more here.
Tiger Caves: No, no, no. There are no tigers here, nor did any tigers ever live here. It gets its name from a cave set apart among the rocks with a crown of carved tiger heads around the temple. The space is neatly developed with well mowed lawns dotted by palm and other trees. The small hillocks and rocks are objects of amusement for both children and adults alike to climb and run around. The other side of the Tiger Caves is the entrance to the beach which has a green cover of trees, ideal for the romantic souls. This is a perfect "make out" place and usually much sought after by the college students.
Mahabalipuram: Well, a lot has been written about this famous getaway from Chennai. I cannot get more creative than what is already written here. To cut the long story short, this place symbolizes unique ancient architecture, sculptures and traditions of the natives. It is worth a visit.
And yes, if you intend to travel to these places in this time of the year, be sure to carry hydration packs. LOL. The heat and humidity can wear you down badly.
We also happened to trespass on the Salt Farm on the way. There were huge heaps of Salt in those farms. It was amazing to see how the salt was being farmed from the Sea's back waters. Here are few pictures from the first day of the trip.
We visited my sister’s house in Pondicherry, settled there, had a very late lunch and little chit chat. Later in the evening we just took a stroll around the Pondicherry beach, making a rendezvous with the cool breeze and watching the tourists from both foreign and India having a good time here. The French colony is an awesome place. It has buildings with French architecture. The design of this city is purely French and has neat sectors and perpendicular streets. The peculiar thing about this place is that, the even numbered buildings are on one side of the street and the odd numbered buildings on the other. The street names are bilingual, in that both French and native language is used to name the street. A walk through these streets gives a different feeling altogether. For the Indians this is a different kind of experience.
I have a little nephew and a little niece. Both are extremely intelligent and managed to entertain us until 1.00 am in the morning. We started with playing Uno. Giri, Sandeep and I took a crash course on playing Uno from them. This game of cards was played until 1.00 am in the morning. Fun and laughter were the special ingredients which gave a flavor to the game. It was with heavy heart that we had to call it a night. The kids wanted to play more, but it wasn’t good for them to stay awake late, and we were too tired and needed to recharge for the next day’s tour.
For the list of places that you can visit along the ECR road while driving to Pondicherry, see here. Here is the road route map to reach Pondicherry.
More about Pondicherry in my next post. Waaaaaaiiiiiiiiiit for iiiiiiiiittt!
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