Pondicherry

I’m guessing that you haven’t heard of Pondicherry. Its beach, lined with quaint French-colonial buildings, has salt water that feels at least 27C. Typical French white-on-blue signs mark each street. Is this some hidden corner of the Côte-d’Azur? First hint: the air temperature is about 38C in March. Second hint: it takes about 20 hours to fly there from San Francisco via Frankfurt.

Give up?

Pondicherry is located in southeastern India, on the Bay of Bengal, about 3 hours south of Mumbai (Madras). The region was under French governance for over 300 years, from the era of the British, Portuguese and French colonizations of India, and the capital of French India during that time.

First, some quick background on my trip. I was on an exhausting business trip visiting both Pune and Bangalore, and, as a way to decompress, stayed at a beach resort called "Fisherman’s Cove," south of Mumbai. Typical of India, the drive from the airport to the resort was controlled chaos. Paris traffic is trivial compared to India. Just to make it a little more fun, this excitement occurs on the left side of the road. I joked with my Indian colleagues that I could create a set of video games based on driving in India. Sort of like a modern "Frogger." Fortunately, in India you typically have a driver, which makes it much less stressful except for the occasional braking reflex. Our driver’s name was Das, and his car had a wonderfully powerful air-conditioner, a prerequisite for any travel in India this time of year. We settled in for a good night’s sleep, as we’d be leaving early the next day.

After a brief walk on the beach and some negotiation with the local "capitalists" for seashells, we were on our way. The scene we passed is hard to describe and absorb. There are amazing contrasts of color, culture, people and smells that, for a westerner, are simply overwhelming. You’re welcome to follow the link at the end of this article to see some photos of the sights. One thing to always watch out for is cattle and also goats that occasionally cross the road. Das mentioned that this is especially dangerous at night, since the cattle don’t wear reflectors. Imagine going 60 mph on unlighted roads…hmm, another release of the video game--Pondicherry to Mumbai at night.

Along the way we spotted some salt ponds where sea water is flooded into little areas. When the water is evaporated, the resultant salt is scraped into piles by India’s biggest resourc: people. Everything in India leverages the vast number of people, from toll-booths to hotels to shopping escorts. Das stopped at one of the sea-salt areas where we take some "snaps," as they call pictures in India. We asked him how much each bag of salt--about the size of a small person--would cost. He says about 150 rupees ($3). He brings out some newspaper from the car and gathers up about 3 pounds of salt, and we give the "manager" 100 rupees for about 5 rupees’ worth of salt to spread among everyone as a bonus. Everyone seemed very happy.

Continuing on to "Pondi", as the Indians call it, we see billboards that proclaim that the city is "the" place to relax. One billboard displays simply the words "www.pondicherry.calm" with someone relaxing on a beach. After experiencing the stress in Bangalore, I can understand that marketing message completely.

Several hours later we arrive into the "extra" chaos of a small Indian city, dodging auto-rickshaws, bicycles, cows, dogs, people, and other cars. After a few minutes, Das unexpectedly stops at a paper factory on the outskirts of the French area. Das clearly has some tourist plan that we don’t know about. Remember, serendipity is good. We take a little tour and watch this amazing, people-intensive process. Beautiful papers in a range of colors are hanging on clotheslines. In the store I pick out a bunch of different cards and envelopes that ends up costing an amazing 160 rupees ($3.50). At the Flax art store in San Francisco, this would be at least $50. I should have bought more. Now I see how exporters get started. Lesson learned (or learnt)–next time bring a bigger suitcase.

Finally, we arrive in the distinctly French neighborhood of Pondicherry. The transition is drastic and you really feel you are in a part of old France…except for the heat, humidity, auto-rickshaws and cows. Across the street from the Alliance Française, which is in "pleine restoration," we decide to eat at Le Bistro. Its sister resto, Le Club, the best French restaurant in India, is only open for dinner.. When we sit down, the waiter describes the courses with a combination of English and French that is quite cute. He obviously doesn’t speak French but uses French words as part of his normal description of the menu. Under a fan we relax, eat, then complete our dinner with a café noir.

Afterwards we wander around the neighborhood, then along the beach. We find the "Maison Americaine" along with a war monument across the street from a statue of Gandhi. Das whisks us back into our air-conditioned cocoon and we’re on our way to his next stop–Auroville. Along the dirt road we see more westerners than usual and think that this must be on the mandatory list of things to visit in most guide books. After arriving we discover that Auroville is a place where people are trying to develop a new way of living that involves the local settlements. At afternoon tea, I catch some conversations in the local French dialect. In Chennai they say you need to drink your tea fast before it gets hot. "Je suis d’accord."

After visiting the gift shop and buying some samples from Parfums d’Auroville, we take the pilgrimage to "the sphere." Complete silence is required as you walk past beautifully landscaped gardens. When you arrive at the sphere, you walk up a set of stairs (remember it’s 38° C) and arrive quite sweaty at the top to see a glass globe in the middle of a completely marble-covered air-conditioned room. You have two seconds to glance at the scene and are then whisked out. After sweating away all our water reserves, we dive into our air-conditioned car and head back to Fisherman’s Cove and a dip in the ocean. Ah!

A la prochaine!

Photos of trip to Pondicherry (You'll need to sign in, but membership is free.)

Bill O'Such has captured a large number of photos of typical Parisian and French life along with images from Berlin, Barcelona, Lisbon, Venice, London, Krakow, Prague and many other European cities. Dragged kicking and screaming from his second-life as a Parisian, Bill is currently a director of engineering in a Bay Area company responsible for the development of software that enables creation of smart, connected internet devices. He still tries to retain his French ties through visits every six months to refresh his photo gallery, and participating in a variety of French activities in San Francisco.

If you are interested in renting a Paris apartment, please visit Bill's website:

Paris Apartment for Rent in Le Marais - The Elzevir Apartment