It is mostly a ashram for foreigners away from the city

After freshening up we headed straight for the ocean front. It is a rocky shore with a road similar to Mumbai's Marine drive but of a smaller scale. It was quite a sight, all decked up just for our visit ! Small festive lights were being put up along the road and also on the Govt offices that dot most part of this water front street. There were also 3 ships from the Navy positionedquite close to the shore. It was only in the evening that these decorations blossomed. The 3 ships with their outline also lit with numerous lights provided a perfect backdrop to offshore festivities. Pondicherry was celebrating India's independence.

We however didn't while away our time waiting for the sun to set and see the lights spring up along the road. After some honest appreciation of the blue sea and some Masala dose at a seaside eatery, we headed for Auroville. It is an offshoot of the famous Aurobindo ashram and is situated about 10 km from the main city. You reach it by taking a deviation from the ECR (East coast road) and driving through some 8 km of dusty road. It is mostly a ashram for foreigners away from the city. The main tourist attraction at Auroville is the "Matri Mandir", a spherical structure which is mounted with a large number of circular brass scales on the outside and is presumed to be lit up by a single ray of sunlight reflected by numerous reflectors on the inside. We scouted around Auroville in circles for the beach road only to find out from a cycle riding, kurta cladden foreigner that its on the other side of the ECR !

The Auroville beach was a regular beach and not very spectacular. It was also pretty crowded and looked dirty. We spent half an hour gazing at the sea and then headed back for the Pondicherry ocean front which was just begining to light up. After spending some time there we returned back to the hotel to get ready for some exclusive French dinner! posted by Shaks @ 9:21 AM Wednesday, April 19, 2006 The French connection - Pondicherry