Pondicherry Saturday

Recently I went to Pondichery thanks to a Marathon at Auroville. Had almost a complete day at hand roaming around alone, so did the best that came to me and that was snap away at the sights afforded by a sleepy town.

Pondicherry is known for its French connections and quite unique in that respect. It is quite low on traffic and meticulously planned. The roads intersect each other at right angles. This was only my second trip and that after over a 10 year period hence this sight intersecting roads took some time to sink in.

I just shot away with my camera whenever I reached an intersection. It was not only the meeting but also the distances to which you could see down the road - must be easily half a kilometer. But this was only near the beach area.

As you moved away it wore the look of a typical town in TN.

Got down from the Garib Rath at around 11:00 , came out of the station studiously avoiding the clamour of Autodrivers though they werent as bad as in Chennai. Walked a few steps and took a few shots of the garishly painted Sacred Heart Church.

From PONDICHERRY

The Next hour or so was spent in search of a Room as all the rooms were taken up - it being valentines day.

From PONDICHERRY

One doesn'nt come across such signs in Chennai.

Finally checked in at Devi's Garden on the Beach Road. This seems to be a new joint and is very well maintained. Had a good stay. If you are planning a trip to Pondi check this place out.Rents are reasonable ( 1000-1500 ). What takes the cake( or Biriyani ) is the restaurant - Anjappar . Food is fantastic - try out the Country chicken Biriyani.As I type away my mouth has started to water. Infact that was my preparatory meal for the evening prior to the 1/2 Marathon.
Well, after a quick check in, and bath , changed and headed for the beach and pointed my camera at whatever quaint sights that came my way :

The Beach with rows of Benches

From PONDICHERRY

Doesnt get straighter than this

From PONDICHERRY

Auroville Marathon

You can't have a better experience running a Marathon than you would at Auroville.I can vouch for that.
Had a mind blowing experience yesterday running in this mini forest at Auroville.

You could call it a one of a kind experience. Away from anything to do with the city life. Running almost entirely amongst trees of different kinds, on tracks which were totally dug out at certain stretches and at some they were just or maybe less than a foot wide.
The trees or shrubs almost brushed your head as you ran.
The whole event was well organized. I had made a visit the previous evening to collect the number and Bibs. Since there is no organized transport here one depends on the good will of the Auroville residents, which, generally overflows in abundance.
On the event day,though, I did not want to test the Good will too much , so played safe by taking an Auto.
Reached the venue at 5:45 AM sharp. Hung around for a while, answered to the roll call, stretched a bit - peed and was ready.
At around 6:05 we were off. The route was well marked so no problems with that,absolutely.
All one had to do was put the head down and jog. 10 kms per hour must qualify as a jog. A marathon Jog. By the 3 km mark each was on his own.
I followed someone who wore only socks.I did that for quite some distance assuming him to be good runner if can do a long distance run without shoes.
After a while, felt I could loosen a bit and overtook him. From then on I was on my own for long stretches. I went past some and some runners overtook me. My guess about the sox runner came right as he overtook me, about five kms before finish line, at a mighty good clip.
I was enjoying myself running, listening to the birds - I could make out at least 4 different varieties. Even heard a peacock(what sound does a peacock make?).
Around the 6 km mark there was a good bit of revelry in the form of Drum beating a la Pune-Marathon.
Till around the 12-13 kms mark there were no problems. At that point I was feeling fit for another 20. But the pain started building up just around that time.
Tried walking for sometime as my legs felt heavy and a couple of times I had banged against stones jutting out - losing my balance in the process.
On a 1km stretch which was particularly trackless I decided to walk it. As I walked quite a few runners went past.
Well, that kind of re-motivated me to start running again. Which I did- again putting my head down and just looking at my shoes.
It was quite satisfying to see the ground move under my feet. Otherwise, when you looked up you saw the next closest guy was a good 300 meters ahead of you , well that can be demoralizing.
Around 3 kms from finish a pretty lady in a cycle egged me on telling me it was very close adding that there were only beautiful paths ahead.
Soon enough the path became very narrow and enclosed with low hanging branches - at times I was running between the bambooed fences on the backyards of tiny huts.
Further down it opened out into a field and I was onto a metalled road and I knew it was close.
I just made a dash for it.

Next year I am sure to be there.

Planning on bringing the entire family along.


Recently added a video of the event

Image courtesy - Ram Viswanathan

A simple Life

On the Eliots Beach Chennai.

Took this snap of sparks flying out from the coal stove used to roast butta.A saleswoman stood next to the stove turning over the corns on the flames.

The value of an ear of Corn or whatever its called is 5-10Rs. this lady might be selling a 100 such corns in a day. Her cost would the cost of fuel Mostly coal.
At the end of day she might take home a 50 or 100 Rs.

Without getting into the economics of it dont you think its a pretty uncomplicated and simple life.

Just a thought.