Wanderlust Again - Pondicheri

That urge to wander, to break free, to let waves wash over you , to reminisce as time goes by....
Destination Pondicherry...

Being a French language expert and spouting French at the drop of a hat,Pondicherry was the ideal destination, I should have visited long ago... Finalement I did.. I needed that long weekend off , a weekend to let the saturation and frustration out ;Partners in crime , 2 sweet girls who i know for not too long , one of whom is an awesome driver...Hats off to her driving skills . She drove us all the way and back... She rocked and I would have crashed had I been driving..
We set off at 4 in the morn on that fine Friday after our brains were literaly fried by "Saawariya". This is not a movie review ,else would have ruminated on how Sanjay Leela Bhansali got it so wrong... Well , after a satisfying coffee and midnight breakfast( is that the correct usage in space and time??) at the Royal Orchid, us adventurous ladies set out for the long drive ahead. Armed with maps and our good sense which seems to be a lil drowsy thanks to the meal !
Across tollgates and hamlets and bumps we hastened. Sunrise was at Krishnagiri at 5 :30 a.m. welcomed with do rupaiya chai... taste still lingers.. yummiest tea..these highway shacks get it right I say...
The ride then, to Chengam was a lil slow due to the bumpy road.. Then ,Gingee : alongside the fort wall went our steed..We stopped at Tiruvannamalai for breakfast at "Auro Usha". Starvation abated somewhat. With drooping eyes we pulled along Tindivanam and finally reached Aurovillle at 12:30 p.m. That was a long ride...


Crashed and woke at 5:00 p.m. to set off on a food hunt. We stayed in a Japanese guest house that had self service meaning= you hunt for your food if you aint on time for the meals.. Sigh.. What a day... hunt ended at Roma's I Kitchen where both the stomach and heart were appeased( I get pretty emotional about food, folks who know me will agree). Swtich to relax and doze mode for the rest of the night. Have to admit the place was so serene and peaceful, every breath seemed like it would break the silence.




Early next morn, we were headed to Auro Beach ( a private beach with a smattering of firangs and the most adorable kids building sandcastles). After a satisfying breakfast at Repos resort and a swing in the hammock, the sea beckoned us.. Too old to build sancastles, not too young to set myself adrift in the waves... There's a strange magic in the echo of the waves, that brings back memories from the sands of time.After some insane splashing and falling, with many thoughts we left for Pondy town. Quaint ,cobblestoned and where every street was a "Rue" , it lives up to its ex- French colony status. Lunched in 5 Star at the Promenade, we all give in to indulgences dont we? Quite heavenly, though at the end of it , it left a hole in our pocket by the beachside.


The Boutiques, the parks ,the quiet nice little town life makes you want to stay time locked indefintely.

After much ambling through the rues, we dined at a lil French place l'Hotel du Parc: exquisite Indian and continental Buffet at unbelievable prices with wonderful service.The place ,just 4 months old had won its first patrons,us ,having visited it twice in 2 days.

As we drove back in a race against time , we passed by the hamlets and rivulets and the sunset. Life was quiet for 3 whole days, and here we were hurtling back to the "train train de la vie". We returned tired , but happy , strangely peaceful till our mundane life would buzz again.


These spur of the moment trips , with people who have slight affinities work wonders. We found buddies in each other when we least thought we would. We promised to return , to return to those waves that brought us back refreshed. Au Revoir. Je vais revenir Pondicheri

Wanderlust Awakens - Part 2

DAY 2- 5th July 2007 Nuwara Eliya “little England of Sri Lanka”
We awoke to a chilly crisp morn, with just a hint of the sun gleaming across the tea estate that spread outside our windows. Must be dreaming... But it was real, the beautiful green and mists for miles across... A welcome contrast to my daily mornings that overlooked into my neighbour’s kitchen.
A morning walk in this idyllic little estate was simply charming. The roaring winds, the crystal clear streams , the floating mists. We are so wound up in our clockwork schedules;“We have no time to stand and stare” , and here I was in utmost peace , in surroundings where you could hear a bird chirp, as the dawn cast its glow over a limpid morning.

Ceylon tea is one of the best quality teas around the world and is harvested by hand to guarantee that the leaf is whole, undamaged, and that only the top two leaves and a bud are picked. On every quality tea estate there are hundreds or even thousands of tea harvesters, known as pluckers. In Africa, the tea pluckers are almost always male -- but in India, China and Sri Lanka they are always women.



Well, and we did get a few of them to pose for us, shy as they were , they obliged much to my delight. Wicker baskets and a few of them with umbrellas all set for a long day’s work.
We set out to Lake Gregory, which marks the beginning of the Nuwara Eliya town. A windy morning, a four wheel drive, oldies on the radio, and some lovely company made it a perfect drive down. “Little England truly lives up to its name”. A numerous tea factories dot the landscape of the town and we stopped at the Lakeboville Tea Centre. Here the tea is dried, processed and packaged.

Tree lined avenues and an old fashioned post office in the red and white greet you in the town area. Unlike the rolling mountains of velvety green, the downtown area has the regular shopping centers and hotels and souvenir shops. We stopped at a pastry shop for some short eats, quite unlike the Indian stores. An assortment of spicy cutlets, bittara rotti( egg filled yummy roti),and cold pastry. Simply satisfying!

Wanderlust Awakens - Part 1

AYUBOWAN SRILANKA.
DAY 1- 4th of July 2007 Colombo J’arrive..
The dawn of the 4th of July heralded my long awaited great escape.. Away from the technological hell.. to a land of the sun, seas, wild lush hills of cool grass… the thought was invigorating enough , to brighten up the cloudy morn in Bangalore as I took off…
The first sight of the shores of the land that has it all…. It was simply beautiful, the white frothy waves licking the sandy green topped shores.. Coconut plantations and red roofs… so quaint… well this is what love at first sight is called I guess…
It’s amazing, in an hour ,how you can be transported across shores to a land so different yet so similar to your own… Colombo, my first experience of the city was a hot and humid afternoon, an airport bustling with life and sun browned people on the beaches…
I awaited Neo (a.k.a Tsunami(li’l one)), was a little lost among the crowd but soon spotted her… rather she spotted me looking around for a familiar face. One hour drive to Wattala , her home gave me my first views of Colombo, Growing skyscrapers , malls and restaurants but you had the quintessential coconut palms and the red brick British buildings to give your eyes a glimpse of green and the old world, in a city that was coming of age in the 21st century.
Ravenous with hunger, we were welcomed by Neo’s mother to a typical home cooked Srilankan meal of stew, sambol, dal, rice and lime cordial. We set off almost immediately on a 6 hour long drive to the hill country my first destination.
We were headed to Nuwara Eliya ( City of Light, not Blinding though) . From what I had heard it was set in the heart of the tea country, complete with the English countryside which the British had created way back in the colonial times.. the drive uphill was fascinating enough with the Rambutan and Mangosteen stalls spotted along the Avisawella road.Moi was the typical tourist , stopping at wayside places to get a feel of the country, and this coupled with my love for photography was quite an experience captured not just in my mind’s eye , but for anyone who might read this travelogue..
We stopped halfway uphill at Hatton town for an evening snack. The cool air was refreshing, an absolute change from Colombo, just a 100 kms behind. One of the most amazing things to be experienced in SriLanka is the vivid changes in landscape and weather as you traverse the country. Distinct transformations that might leave you surprised if you had your 40 winks en route.
The night stop was at Talawakelle, home to many tea estates and our home for the night was the St. Coombs estate. A misty glen driveway led us to the Green gabled estate bungalow. Picturesque, is what came to my mind, a warm house carpeted, complete with a fireplace and rustic bamboo furniture was our haven. After a sumptuous meal we retired for the night, tired but refreshed by the misty mountain air. Neo as usual had to play upon my imagination with ghosts of the colonial past that haunt the estate, despite the fears of which I felt into a peaceful slumber in moments.

A new day approaches on a pitch black night

Starry Starry night.. The perfect day for a blog? Did I just say day..

Life is a paradox of sorts. The beginning of a day on a starry night as the clock strikes twelve, white nights across the Arctic circle, the constant urge to resist temptation, fighting a war for peace, and that if the future hasnt happened it does not exist, and that future cannot come 'cause when it does it is already present...

What then results is the state of systematic chaos. Or so I believe. With every waking day as we still blissfully sleep , we step into another time trap of day and night that presents us more and more situations that juxtapose themselves. And we clever humans , play our cards well and win everyday's game or do we really ,since we are back to square one next morning?

How many times have you or I felt the urge to break free from this circle of destiny and fate,and then just at the circumference of the circle , fate just has something else in store for us. So did we change fate or are we mere pawns in this great game of the universe .

From "loving hate", to "cold fires", to " found missing" , to " alone together" and " small crowds" in miserable abundance that surround our little lives I wonder if we have been " clearly misunderstood" .