Pudu (French) or Pondi (Indian) cherry, is the Indian French Riviera, about 160 kms south of Chennai. After being the French HQ in India for centuries, it was handed over to The East India Trading Company before being repatriated to the Indian state in 1954. So half of the city is French built & half Indian. Different from any other Indian city, it oozes charm from a wide range of restaurants, cafes and bars, though our introduction to ‘healthy’ Aloe Vera, ginger & pepper from a street vendor was impossible to swallow – though our driver managed it!
We were staying at the ‘Cours Chabrol’ on the promenade. Unfortunately our view was of the ducting for the building’s noisy air conditioning. Basic but with friendly helpful staff and with breakfast on the roof. Our first day includes a visit on the way. Mahabalipuram’s UNESCO world heritage site includes five temples, each carved from single pieces of granite by artisans of the Pallava dynasty and excavated by the British in the 19th century; another stone phenomenon of a giant ball (Krishna’s butterball) seemingly about to roll downwards crushing all before – it’s been like this for hundreds of years, despite the Brits trying to pull it down using five elephants in the 1940’s; a small fort looking out over the nearby estuary, lake & ocean; and another ancient stone temple which survived the 2004 tsunami while all about it was flattened. Special place heh? And now it’s overrun by tourism.
Our first night in Pondi doesn’t include much food as our guide & driver took us to a transport café type restaurant just after 3pm to be met with mounds of food, with equally remarkable prices. Instead we visited a live concert in the French Arts complex, featuring a very talented French guitarist/singer, Geoffrey Grenier, accompanied by a tabla player. Imagine sung versions of The Doors, Cream et al & you’re there. But he managed to pull it off – we even stayed for the whole one hour set. We then tuk-tuk’d to the Catamaran craft brewery, yep – craft brewery, where we were almost bowled over by how good the beer was & how busy they were. And how uninhibited alcohol-inspired locals’ copy Bollywood dancing could be!
Our second Pondi day started with a visit to Auroville, a settlement developed by Mirra Alfassa, aka The Mother, in the 1950s to provide an international base for spiritual personal learning & collaboration. The complex features a futuristic globe, the Matrimandir, for contemplation. It looks like it might have been on the set of The Prisoner.
Next was a visit in the town centre to the ashram of Sri Aurobindo, developed from about 1910. This place is famous, so I was informed, & we even spent 20 minutes there with our guide who seemed to take it a lot more seriously than we did. He also stayed in the Roman Catholic church, for their service, after we had all visited various exhibitions & outside galleries. We, meanwhile moved on, ending up in The Spot restaurant built out of a former colonial residence, complete with courtyard. A fine meal & various beverages later, the world seemed less pressured.
Chris & Kath's Travel Time 