Travelogue - Po Pondi : Day2

Before the Zzzzzzzzzzz the day before...
Rat(ful of enthu) - Letz start the hunt tomorrow at 6 in the morning
All - giggles
Rat - Guyz, I'm the serious!
Geo - ok ok.. You get up at 6 and call us.
Rat - Done

I did get up at 6 in the morning!
And kicked every single person out of their respective beds.
Rat went out with Jins for a cuppa tea..
Bought a hair oil too..
(There is an interesting story connected wid this hair oil, thats on day3)

By 8 all were ready to go..
Parked the indica and started off to find a hotel.
Le Cafe - super name, but local food :-)



Spotted Aurobindo Ashram (or was it Aurobindo Samadhi?)
Another hi hype place (for us)
I can imagine the frown on the face of the guy at the entry
who welcomed us..
He saw us getting in and taking a right, and before he blinked twice,
found us stealing ourself out of the place after doin a full trip inside.
Yeah, this spot was covered in record time!
Understandably, though..
Wat r WE supposed to do inside those walls, where photography
is not allowed and there is NO FREEDOM of speech..
Leave alone 'freedom' of speech. Opening the mouth itself is a sin!



Coming out, Jins asked the multi-million dollar question.
" Who is Aurobindo ? "
Everybody had the same query in mind, but asking that qn to a byestander
there would be as good as asking him a favor "Can u kick me 101 times
right on my **** ? "

Then under the bright sun, walked all the way from one end of the
beach road to the other.. That was tiring..
Covered Gandhi Samadhi, Secretariat, Govt offices, Govt Park
and a museum

Thats when we realised that Pondi is just a half-day program..
Start at 8, and u'll be sitting down in a circle, and wondering
"did we leave out any place? "






But that did not extinguish the fire in us..
Lets make it a grand lunch !
Cafe Rendezvous (that is one funny word, write-somethin-read-someotherthin-word)
If the streets of Pondi dint grab our notice, the menu card did !
To be precise, the RIGHT hand side of the menu card
:-S


One of the pre-plan info that v had gathered about Pondi was that
"Food will be a tinge expensive"
Till that time, I thought tinge meant 'a lil bit'. Changed the thot.
When the menu card disappeared, with the assurance from the waiter
" The food will be served in 30 minutes time ", somethin else caught
the attension of the 2-some sittin on the other side of the table.
Jins n Geo got the privelege..
The girl was code named Samyukta..
Had resemblances to the mal film actress by the same name.
While they had fun on the other side, Sand n I indulged in other activities..
Bole to.. doin a full round with the knife, while it carefully(?) misses the
spread out fingers to damage the table mat..
(The food came.. Did it really take more than 15 mins? The hotel staff were
concerned abt teh table mat, v guess)
:D

Post lunch, 3.30 to 5.40 in Auroville..
The funny fact about Pondi is that every road will be French with a 'Rue'
escorting the name...
And every shop will either have a 'Le' or an 'Auro' prefixed to it..
Some egs are..
Le Cafe, Le Khaale, Le Peele :-S
Aurofarm, Auroville, Aurofoods !!!

By the time, we came out of Auroville, we stopped talkin about hype.
It no longer needed to be mentioned. Its understood !
Lemme yeksplane..

Auroville is a township.
U need to take tickets to roam around in it..
The main 'attraction' of Auroville is the Matrimandir
(this itself is funny. In writing , it is Matri mandir.
in the 'mandatory' video show, the vocals said Maithri mandir.
In the pamphlet, it was Mathru Mandir, in hindi.
I guess, they themselves r not sure! )

U walk all the way to the Matri mandir, only to be told by the guard
waiting there, that the mandir is "closed for renovation"

Geo - Y the hell couldnt they tell this during the video show ? &*(&*&(**

All said n done, the place is of a lot of international fame and attention.
The place has representation from over 125 countries in the world.
A particular Lotus bud is said to contain the soil from these countries.
And the inaugaration was attended by delegates from these countries..
Interested ppl can google for more info...


Went to the beach , with no plans to get wet..
Sat there, played gimmicks, slept for a while, howled for some other while..

Back to the room.. A quick refresh.
Then we set on foot..
Went to RajNivas - The residence of the Lt. Governor.
It was all lit up.. A sight to watch.
And there was a beer pool too ;-)


Back to beach road.. Got into a carnival show..
which turned out to be a book fare.
We managed to apply OSPF algorithm to get the exit gate :-S
We n Books ?!!! Naay....

Out, n near the Gandhi memorial.
Sat there gazing the light house, n the sea waves..