Pondicherry- A Photo Dairy

I landed in Chennai in the morning of my birthday. I decided to spend the day with my friends at IIT Madras. At IIT Kharagpur I have myself felt the serenity of a lush green campus but IIT Madras is on another level. Located inside a National Park , you see deers and black bucks running around. The campus has highest number of black bucks in India. I guess I have Salman's attention now.

I took the last bus to Pondicherry as it takes only 3 hours and there are buses every half hour. I thought I will reach and find a hotel as I have done this a lot of times in Himachal. But this time things were not going to go my way. I reached at around 1 am in the night, there were no autos ,no nothing. All the sign boards were in Tamil, I didn't even know where I was exactly. I couldn't even use maps or book a hotel as I don't have a smartphone. I use the oldest model of Nokia which probably your grandfather uses. I was panicking a little bit. I knew about this hostel called Vedanta Wake Up but didn't know the way. I called up a friend and for the next hour he gave me directions to Vedanta.Thank you Aakash. I reached but there was nobody at the reception. I entered the hostel and tried opening all rooms in hope of finding the dorm, very wrong right ? I finally did after half hour of struggle and just climbed up on a random bunk without checking in.

On the next day I finally met Satish, the manager. He was so sweet he didn't even charge for the last night. He said you have had much of an ordeal already. I took an auto and set on to the main promenade area of Pondicherry. You should rent a scooty if you have a license, its cheaper.

In Pondicherry I spent most of the time roaming the little town, feeling the sea breeze and clicking pictures. There is nothing much exclusively to see there, just roam around to get the vibe. You can visit the Aurobindo Ashram and the two famous churches Basilica of Sacred Heart Jesus and Immaculate Conception Jesus church, the architecture is enchanting. The pictures are a proof . I found few very beautiful gardens along my walk.

On the second day I went to Auroville which is near Vedanta. Auroville is a community which thinks differently from us. They don't have cash/ATMs, there you have to earn your bread by working for the community . You have to go through a proper procedure to stay as an Aurovillan, otherwise you are just a visitor. But being a visitor is also not too bad. You have to give it up to them, the aurovillans turned a completely barren land to lush green forest. They have only one propaganda, universal harmony. As a visitor you will only get to see the main attraction, Matrimandir from outside. But if you go their website 6-7 days prior, you can book a meditation session inside the matrimandir. Whether or not you believe in spirituality, the place has a different aura.I don't know if its the architecture or peaceful forests.