Auroville and Pondicherry

 An amazing banyan tree.

The Matrimandir.

 The philosophy.

 Our rooftop pool.

 Scenes in the French quarter.

 Every face tells a story.

 A holy man blesses a new motorbike (and they need that to drive here!)

 A hindu temple to the elephant god Ganesh.

 Inside the temple.

 The memorial to Ghandi.

Some of our group at dinner. Thoufeeq is front left.

Wednesday, February 28th.

We were off at 9:30 this morning for a 40-minute drive to an experimental community called Auroville. According to Wikipedia: Auroville (City of Dawn) is an experimental township in Viluppuram district mostly in the state of Tamil Nadu, India with some parts in the Union Territory of Fu Pondicherry in South India. It was founded in 1968 by Mirra Alfassa (known as "the Mother") who was a French collaborator of Indian Guru Sri Aurobindo Ghose and a great believer in his teachings. As stated in Alfassa's first public message in 1965, ‘Auroville wants to be a universal town where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony, above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities. The purpose of Auroville is to realize human unity’.

When we first arrived we went to the welcome centre where we watched a half hour video giving us some information about the town, but it was all very theoretical and left us with more questions than answers. Apparently there are about 2800 people living here, we didn’t see where and have no ideas what they do or how people get selected to live there. After that we had to walk along two 1km paths to the viewpoint where we saw the The Matrimandir, a golden metallic sphere in the center of town in which residents retreat to practise meditation and yoga. This looked like something right out of Star Trek. The whole thing left me with a feeling of a hippie commune cult, no necessarily in a negative way, just it felt all too mysterious and secretive. It would have felt better perhaps if there were residents who spoke to us or answered our questions. However, when we finished at the viewpoint we walked back to the welcome centre and there were numerous shops where we could buy things or restaurants and cafes where they were happy to accept our money. Anyone who is interested in the community, please Google it, there is a wealth of information on the internet.

My favourite part of the visit was to see the old banyan tree where the originators decided to start the community. This banyan tree has a large trunk and very long branches that have grown aerial roots that grow down to the ground and help support the weight of the limbs. I have never seen anything like it.

We took the bus back to the hotel where we had a couple of hours to relax and hide from the heat and the sun. John and I spent most of that time at the beautiful rooftop pool.

We reconvened again in the lobby at 4:15 and Thoufeeq had hired us a local guide who took us on a walking tour of the French quarter of this city. The colonial French were here for about 300 years and left in 1954. There are still about 1000 French citizens living here in the old part of the city. We walked around this much quieter area admiring the French architecture, visiting a temple with a live elephant outside, an old French cathedral, a beautiful city park and a statue of Ghandi.

Then Thoufeeq met up with us again and took us to a really nice touristy restaurant called, Rendezvous’ in the French quarter. We enjoyed another excellent meal and a drink while talking about the day. Then back to the hotel for the night.

Mamallapuram

The Shore Temple.

People washing and cleaning.

The Five Rathas.

The were posing for dad.

The Cave Temple.

The bas relief carvings.

Krishna's Butterball, a marvel of nature, how did it get there, why does it stay there?

The very touristy town of Mamallapuram.

The fishermen.

And families.

Tuesday, February 27^th.

We had breakfast at the hotel and then paid our hotel bill, which included charged for the local calls I made to get my computer fixed, tacky.

We met Thoufeeq our guide in the lobby and he told us the itinerary for the day and then took us out to the bus where we met the driver Ravi and his assistant. The bus is very luxurious and has plenty of space. It there are only 10 of us and there are about 20 seats, so we all get a window seat. There is lots of leg room, overhead shelves for our day bags and the big luggage is loaded underneath the bus. Very comfortable, which is suitable as this is classed as a comfort tour.

We drove for a couple of hours along the scenic East Coast Road to get out of Chennai and into the countryside. We stopped at the fishing village of Mamallapuram. There are some significant historical monuments there. We picked up a local guide and took a tour of three sites. The first was the Shore Temple (named because it is on the shore, there were three others here that are now rubble as the ocean overwhelmed them over the centuries). This is an  incredible 8th-century temple and with beautiful mandapams (carved pillars) where the faithful pay their respects to the deity Lord Shiva. The structure is carved and built from blocks. The second one is called the Five Rathas and contains of five structures that were carved out of a big rock hill. The extraneous rock was chipped away or broken off by placing wood between rocks, wetting it and waiting for the swelling wood to break the rock. The worked top down and left the five structures. They whole complex was never finished completely because of local wars. The third was the Cave Temple, where people carved a temple and nomadic rest place into a large rock. Attached to it is a huge bas relief carving of over a hundred figures. It is the second largest carving of its kind in the world, the largest being at Ankor Watt. It is 28 metres long by 9 metres high. So four different types of carving from about 800 years ago all in a very small area.

From there we walked to the fishing village of Mamallapuram and the Santana Restaurant on the shore of the Indian Ocean. We ate our seafood lunch on the third floor overlooking the fishing boats and the ocean.

After lunch we loaded back in the bus and drove for three hours to our hotel in Pundicherry. We checked in and had a couple of hours to ourselves before gathering again for dinner. Thoufeeq took us to a local vegetarian restaurant were I had a great meal, a garlic naan and aloo govi mutter, which is spiced potato, cauliflower and green peas.

A number of us tried to go for a walk just to stretch our legs a bit, but it was really difficult. There are just too many people, way too much traffic, mostly on motorcycles and the sidewalks, if there are any, are virtually impassable with parked bikes and stuff all over them. There is just a sea of humanity. So, after a short effort we gave up and returned to the hotel for a nightcap. It was our first beer in India as our last hotel was dry.

Still in Chennai

 The street market.

 Interacting with locals.

 Can you spot John?

 Helmets are mandatory... 

 Street scenes.

 The staircase up to Wipro HP service repair.

 Wipro office where I finally got my computer fixed by...

 Aravinth.

The traffic on the way back.

Monday, February 26^th.

John and I had breakfast in the hotel and met up with the two British women, Celia and Trish and the Canadian, Mark.

While I was typing up the blog last night, it dawned on me that the trip not starting until Tuesday, gave me an extra day in Chennai and that the part that was ordered was supposed to arrive on Monday. So, I called Aravinth and told him that I would be around for another day. He promised to call when it came in, probably in the afternoon.

So, John and I decided to hire another tuk tuk and go to a street market. As usual the ride was exciting. The market was large and was on several different roads. We walked along looking at the goods for sale, mostly clothes, shoes, cheap toys, and all manner of used cellphones and accessories. We needed nothing, but it was fun to watch the local people, as this was definitely not a tourist market. Many vendors said hi to us and asked where we were from. We had fun talking to them, as they were not trying to selling us stuff, they were just interested in us. We bought a coconut for the fluid and later an ice cream. When we had had our fill of the market we took another tuk tuk back to the hotel.

When I checked my e-mail there was a message saying that the part had come in. So, I quickly wrote down the address of where I was going and took the phone number as well (see I learned from last time). John had no interest in going and was trying to deal with his insurance company about his stolen phone.

I went down to the lobby and had them call me an Uber. When it came I jumped in and noticed that the leg of my shorts had ripped right up to the crotch. The material had just given way. So, I ran back up to the room and changed shorts. Then we took off. I knew from the last time that it was a long drive, but after a while I heard the GPS say make a U-turn and he didn’t. Then it happened a couple more times. It became apparent that he had no idea where he was going. He stopped once to ask some tuk tuk drivers directions. Then he messed up the GPS and lost the directions. He asked me where I we were going and all I could do was show him the address I had written down. I don’t know why he didn’t type it in again. The GPS had reset to another destination, so as he was driving around it kept telling him to make a U-turn. I asked him why he couldn’t just turn it off, but he didn’t. To make a very long frustrating and infuriating story shorter, after stopping and asking two other tuk tuk drivers for directions, he finally found the street and then the address. I gave him a 500 rupee note and said I wanted 300 back. He said he had no change and showed me on his phone that I was supposed to pay 397. I got really mad and told him that the set price was 197 and I was not paying for the hour he was driving around trying to find the location. So, I took the 500 note, went into a store and got change, then went back to his car to get my water bottle and threw the 200 in the car and told him that was all I was paying. He was upset, but just looked at the raving Canadian.

I went into the shop, met Aravinth who gave my computer to a technician and a half hour later I got it back and surprise, surprise, it worked!

I had Aravinth call me an Uber to take me back, hoping it wouldn’t be the same guy. This driver was much better, he knew where he was going, his English was much better and he gave me a bit of a tour on the way back. And, the fee (after a little discount because WiPro has an account with them) was only 127!

I got back to the hotel just in time for the 6:00 meeting with our new group and tour leader. We went up to the rooftop lounge and Thoufeeq (the guide) gave us a very thorough explanation of what we were going to do and what we needed to know. We are a group of ten, four guys, six women; no couples, a woman travelling with her university aged son; three Canadians, six Brits and one American; and this is a much older group than the Maldives group.

Thoufeeq took us to a little local vegetarian restaurant and we had a marsala dosa, which is a very thin crepe type bread with potato inside and four different dips. It was actually very good. Back to the hotel by 8:30 and off to the room. So we are ready for a 9:30 start tomorrow.

Marina Beach, Chennai

 Marina Beach. 

Kids are kids, everywhere.

 

 The street market on the beach.

 John gets his 100 rupee glasses.

The view from our hotel roof.

Sunday, February 25^th.

Today after breakfast John and I decided to take a tuk tuk to Marina Beach. When we went up to the room we found John’s massage guy in our room. He works for the hotel and has a pass to all the rooms. We asked why he was there, and he said something about our friend wanting a newspaper. We said we had no friend here and that we already had one delivered to our room. He couldn’t or wouldn’t tell us why he was in the room, so I said let’s go down to reception. He talked to someone there in their language and then I filed our complaint. I don’t really think he is a thief, but I never got a satisfactory answer to why he was there. Then after that he still had the nerve to ask if I wanted a massage like John yesterday.

Marina Beach is apparently the second largest beach in the world. It was about nine kilometres away and the ride was fairly tame because it was Sunday morning. When we got there, we found a large expanse of sand before we got to the ocean. The beach is not well maintained and littered with pieces of rubbish. There were little kiosks selling drinks, or fruit or snacks. There were lots of waves for the people to play in. The local people don’t waste the little money they have on fancy bathing suits, the men wear either their underwear including shirt, or all their clothes. The women and girls wear their saris and although most just wade we saw some sitting in the water and getting very wet. It was very interesting to watch the families playing in the water or taking selfies. There were several men on horses who would take people for rides across the beach.

We hung around for a long time and then walked back to the road through a makeshift shopping mall of wooden stalls selling all sorts of different things from foods, to trinkets, to watches, sunglasses, toys and there were even two or three tattoo shops. John wanted to buy a pair of sunglasses, as he had broken his and then an old pair of mine. Before he went in he figured out what $4 would be in rupees and was already to bargain and haggle, but when he asked the price the guy said 100 rupees, about a dollar and a half. He was quite surprised.

When we arrived back at the main road we walked north for a bit just to get a bit of exercise and see what was going on. We walked past a temple, a memorial, a navy facility and a foul, polluted river that offended our noses. 

We hired another tuk tuk and headed back to the hotel. When we got there, we decided to relax in the room and wound up watching Titanic and watching Two Ronnies videos on YouTube during the commercial breaks.

We went downstairs for our Intrepid group meeting, met up with the two women and a Canadian man from Ottawa and we discovered together that we are a day early. The meeting is tomorrow. So, we sat and talked for a bit and shared some of our stories before splitting up. John and I opted for dinner out again and then came back to the room for the rest of the night. There is no bar here as it is under renovation and despite being told that room service has beer, they do not. We have decided that this is the ‘yes, .. yes,… yes… no’ culture. When you ask about something, they will always say yes because that is what you want to hear and they want you to be happy, but there is never any follow through.