Darkest Hour???

It was one of the darkest hour in my recent life with a storm raging by, exams postponed, no water, no food, and incessant rains hammering at the doorstep. If it was not enough the terrorists also struck Mumbai taking over three landmarks after a killing spree that cost nearly 100 lives and three top cops of the Mumbai Police.

The fight is still going on with the toll rising to 160 including several foreigners. Hopefully Oberoi and Nariman House have been secured .

I can only hope that this government finally gets some sense and really create a federal ATS instead of just false promises. I hope our MEA people act tough with the ISI chief when he comes to India.

Pondy!!!

Puducherry(Pondicherry) is a small heaven just south of Chennai. Puducherry means "New Village" which it really stood out for us, a bunch of frustated lunatics looking for some fun. It was just a place out of the blue for us. Surrounded on all sides by Tamil Nadu but we didn't find any resemblance between the two at all. People were quite friendly and humble. Maybe because it is a tourist destination and we were tourists but still i didn't find any malice in anyone's heart(of course except the police).

We went there just for the sake of food and eye candy. It was also our first bike trip. Maybe it was why the whole trip actually happened. The drive was a challenge in itself. We had no clue about the route that we planned to undertake. No idea about the roads or the places we were going to pass through but there was an excitement about the whole thing, hidden charm and a desire which fueled our passion to actually undertake the whole journey. There were of course doubts raised whether such journey could be undertaken at all but they were all swept aside by our passion.

It was all the brainchild of a single man Viral who single handedly planned this journey organized people and motivated them to go on. It was him who actually solved everyone's doubts and apprehensions. I am really grateful that he undertook this journey and took me with him.

We started in the morning just as the sun rose. The weather was cool and just perfect for a long bike ride. We went to the Old Bus Stand and started the journey towards Kumbakonam. A bus conductor standing on the footrest of his bus guided us out of Thanjavur onto the highway. After that it was quite easy just following the curved highway going through all small towns and villages. We had initially planned to go through Kumbakonam town but we discovered a new By Pass Highway that had been built by the Jayalalitha government. The new by-pass was excellent we just kept plying on and eventually crossed Kumbakonam in no time. We then caught with the National Highway 45C. This was quite straight and well built and took us to Vadalur in no time.

On the way we crossed a dam on the Coleroon river (actually Lower Coleroon regulator) built by in 1941. I had never seen such large amounts of river water in Tamil Nadu before. Just before Vadalur a lot of construction work was going on the roads so it was quite dug up and slowed us down.

From Vadalur we had to take a diversion towards Cuddalore. The road was narrow but quite smooth to drive on. We joined the East Coast Road and entered Cuddalore. In Cuddalore we had to ask for directions to get out towards Pondy. After Cuddalore it was just a cakewalk, a straight road to Pondy.

In Pondy we stayed at a cottage in Auroville. Auro is actually in Tamil Nadu just north of Pondy. The name was Rooftop guest house and the caretakers name was Mr. Ram.
It was quite a decent place to stay and cheap too. The place is just perfect as the beach is just a stone throw away and near to all the great culinary delights of Auro. But, it is somewhat far from Pondy and you might want to take a bike on rent.

On the first day we went to Surguru Restaurant in Pondy near the . Its a vegetarian restaurant looks and is a bit expensive but serves quality food. There were a lot of foreigners eating there as well. It serves only Indian food by the way.

We spent all afternoon and the evening on the Gandhi Beach enjoying the waves and the ummm.... view. There is a nice sea side bar which i am told is not expensive. It has sea facing balconies where you can enjoy your drink. And I am not talking about the Promenade. In the evening the road facing the beach is blocked off for traffic allowing locals to walk, jog, etc and people like us to enjoy the ... nevermind.

For the dinner we went to a place called the New Pizza Roof just behind the Beach Cafe on the ECR road near the Repos Beach. It serves quite decent food at reasonable rates. The toppings on the pizzas were delicious but the base could have been better. It even serves nice north indian dishes.

Next day my morning started with hunger and we went to Pondy in search of food as all restaurants were closed in Auro as it was still morning 0800hrs and because it was a Sunday. Our search concluded in Indian Coffee House. It was a workers den and they all had come for their morning breakfast and hot steaming coffee. We ordered omlettes which were quite heavy and Puneet after discovering he had eaten eggs became ill, till we decided to go to the beach.

Meanwhile the others who woke up late went to Swadistha, a snacks bar run by a Gujarati family. So, the samosas and the dhoklas were nice and had a distinct gujarati taste. They also served nice coffee. There was also some special menu for upcoming Diwali with a full thali of Gujarati dishes.

Now going to the beach was tricky as the nearby beach was all messed up due to the fishermen occupying it. So we set out towards Chennai on the ECR in search of a nice beach. We found our haven just behind the residence of the Vice Chancellor of the Pondicherry Engineering College. ECR wines a local bar was also nearby, so we had some company a group of locals were enjoying cool beer in the sunshine. The beach was excellent for us. There was low tide and the structure of the rock bed favored us. The sand was deep near the shore so we were hesitating to go inside. But Birju who knows how to swim waded further and found the sea had a surprise for us. After just a few yards into the water the floor of the ocean made of solid black rock rose above to just two feet below the sea level. This was all we needed. We spent nearly two hours in the water trying to swim and dragging each other out into the ocean.

After this all of us went to the Auroville centre. Now its some sort of society or community consisting of people from over a hundred countries so you will see a lot of foreigners. They all come in search of some peace and shanti. The place as required is quite serene and calm. There is ofcourse the huge matrimandir or the golden globe in the heart of the Auroville centre. It stands out as a huge globe with golden coins stuck on it. I was told you need special passes to go inside and pray.The cafeteria there makes nice pancakes but the coffee and tea is just OK.

On returning we went to a place called Paradise Pizzeria. It is near the Aurelec. We had two pizzas Pizza Formaggi, and the Pizza India Special Non Veg. Formaggi had around five types of different cheese put to make a delicious mouth watering pizza. India Special on the other hand had Chicken 65 as the toppings together with cheese and other regular ones. One thing to note was that the Chicken 65 served as toppings was more delicious than any other Chicken 65 I had ever tasted. The place prepares it own base and cheese so these all things combined to produce the best pizzas I ever ate.

Next day it was time to drive back. This time it was easy as we had a general idea about the route and the roads. The shop owners by the road helped us whenever we were confused about which way to go.

Overall it was a very nice trip combining the pleasures of a road trip with a food holiday.

P.S. The alcohol is quite cheap in Pondy. So you can have a good beer can for just under 30 Rs. Likewise for other stuff also.