i was sitting on a wooden bench, past dusk, outside an old brick and tile dwelling known as ganesh bakery in auroville. note the irony...a french goodie store, hosted by christians, named after a hindu deity.
i fell in love with auroville and pondicherry for a million reasons. the more i went there, the more difficult it became to wean from this ol' french colony. the beach, the roads, white town, the small-scale hand-made paper factories, the ceramic industries, the french bakeries, the streams, the gorges inside the university, the air, the water and the people. i love them all. the seven-hour journey from bangalore to pondi was the first overnight journey i was taking on my own. reaching at 5 in the morning, i was rather surprised to find my cousin at the bus-stop. she'd come down all the way from the university 14kms away at the break of dawn on her two-wheeler. this was just the beginning of all the adventure we were about to have in the following days!
now M and me are two certified amphibians in the family. there have been unanimous warnings sent out by our parents in our childhood - never to let the two of us run wild near any waterbody. even younger cousins have termed us "crazy, juvenile and unpredictable" when it comes to being near water. so pondi, without parents and other watchguards, and with the bright blue bay of bengal spread all over....was undiluted fun. and crazy adventure.
the first thing we did the morning i reached? certainly not check in anywhere and drop my bags. we headed straight to the sea by the Gandhi statue, sat on the rocks and watched the sunrise, precisely at 6.10 a.m. and that's when it hit me....all along, i'd been in the west coast, i'd only seen the sunset. this was my first sunrise view!
the first thing we did the morning i reached? certainly not check in anywhere and drop my bags. we headed straight to the sea by the Gandhi statue, sat on the rocks and watched the sunrise, precisely at 6.10 a.m. and that's when it hit me....all along, i'd been in the west coast, i'd only seen the sunset. this was my first sunrise view!
pondicherry university, where i stayed, is one of the most beautiful places i have ever seen. no frills and fancies of planned-out lawns and neatly cut shrubs. everything's natural...just like the town. my cousin once told me how they all played holi till they were dripping in colours and then crossed road and walked to the beach to wash off the colours. bliss. i hadn't had enough of the sunrise session, so the second day, i wanted to soak up the rays from up close. one of our friends, who'd acquainted himself pretty well with the mostly-reticent fisherfolks, convinced them to take us on catamaran (kattu maram = logs tied together) rides. 3-4 logs of coconut trees tied together passing off as a boat???? these fishermen go deep into the sea on these pieces! we went 4 kms into the sea, saw the sunrise up close, kissed the rays and came back to the shores.
i still get goosebumps when i think about that ride! we headed straight to pandu's, a thatched roof house on the beach, with wooden planks for benches and backwaters for a wash basin. panduranga ran this place, and the food he served was to die for. pandu, the rotund, pot-bellied, balding, 24/7-hour smiling, tamil-speaking, french-knowing, amazing cook, who refused to let you leave his place unless you're stuffed to the neck. he doesn't bother with the bills too..."you count and pay me...my dosas will turn black if i have to do that..."
matrimandir was just getting its finishing touches when we were there. but the meditation hall (pic above) was complete. so the restless-by-nature me and company set off to meditate. i understood the meaning of silence for the first time. the crystal in between and the sun rays hitting it sends one into a spiritual odyssey. i forgot to meditate and sat gaping the centre of the crystal. in the background, i saw one particular gentleman gently nodding off. was that an advanced stage of meditation? i don't know. but i knew what could happen to humans if they're exposed to true silence and a spiritual ambience. some could attain nirvana, while some others could finally get rid of insomnia!
(there's so much to pondi, but i find myself incapable of doing justice to it. until words strike again...)
