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
