I would not have to expect a Eiffel tower

Pondicherry 27th - 29th of October In the south of India, I had already everything seen which would be worth seening, except for one destination, called Pondicherry. Pondicherry has been a French colony some decades ago. Hence, I was eager to see what there is around. I was sure that I would not have to expect a Eiffel tower, but at least nice cafés would be good. Furthermore, it is supposed to be famous for its beaches as it is located at the Eastern coast. The 29th of October then finally 12 trainees took a semi-sleeper bus to Pondicherry. The bus left Bangalore at 10.15pm. I could catch some sleep but honestly speaking I just slumbered the most time on the way to Pondicherry. I was surprised as at 5am the bus driver shouted “Pondicherry!”. Could we have already arrived, at 5am? Well, obviously, then I read the name Pondicherry on the plates and commercial posters around. But what the hell should we do at 5am in Pondicherry. Everything was still closed and it was still dark. Well, time passed by as Simon first had to arrange his return ticket.

At about 6.30am then we took the bus to Auroville beach which is located at about 8km away from Pondicherry. When we arrived in Auroville, it started raining. And I can already reveal that we would not get rid of the rain for the time we stayed in Pondicherry. The accommodation we have chosen was quite nice but very simple furnished. Actually, we had to stay in palm huts which have been erected on stone pillars. Inside there was nothing else but mattresses and a lot of flies. In fact, they were everywhere and tried to assault me when I was trying to get some sleep. It must have been hundreds of flies. I have never seen something like the before. In order to protect I covered myself under my blanket. I could hardly breathe anymore now but at least I got rid of these flies.

When I woke up, the rain has gone. Therefore, I decided to go for a walk on the beach which was just a stone throw away. And what I have seen there is incredible. I say an Indian shitting on the beach, just two metres away from the sea. He just sat there and shitted while he was cleaning his teeth at the same time. I mean, if he had shitted in a hole on the beach or just a few metres away from the beach, I would have tolerated it. But this upset me really. The truth is that if he had shitted far away from the water, he wouldn’t have been able to use the sea to clean his ass. Unfortunately, after some minutes it started raining again. As for me, the wish of going back to Bangalore the same day arose more and more. As I was not the only one, some guys and I took a bus to Pondicherry to check whether there are some vacancies in some of the evening buses. Thank god, we could book four tickets in a sleeper bus for 10pm.

After this victory we went around Pondicherry in order to do some sightseeing. But what to see, there was not much so see. We saw rickshaw drivers trying to hire passengers in vain, beggars asking for some bugs and Indians throwing their garbage in the streets. Honestly speaking, this place was not different than the others I have seen down to the present day. Anyway in this rain, it wouldn’t have been much fun. To my surprise, the names of the streets are labelled in French. But I have seen any Indian speaking French. Probably, this is just a remainder of the time when Pondicherry was a former colony. So, we decided to do some errands and to have a cup of tea or whatever. For that reason we went to Daily bread Café where we also got some very good pastry. Daniel bought the horn form the rickshaw driver who conveyed us there coz the rickshaws in Pondicherry are furnished with simple horns which you have to push to make it honking; really funny.

In the late afternoon we went back to Auroville again getting our luggage. When we arrived there, I was completely soaked. The rain was so strong that even a rain coast was of no use. Hence, with time passing by I became more and more indifferent concerning the rain. While I was taking shelter of the rain at the beginning, I now didn’t care anymore about the rain. Anyway it just would have extended the time I would have kept more or less dry. All the others as well came to the decision to go back to Bangalore the same day. At about 6pm we started for Bangalore. But as we had more than three hours left when we arrived in Pondicherry, we decided to hang about in Daily bread Café again and have dinner. It was a miracle that we arrived there coz nobody of the rickshaw drivers we requested to convey us there, knew the place or understood the word channel. In Pondicherry, in contrast to Bangalore, they don’t speak any word in English. Punctual, at 10.15pm our bus started for Bangalore. Daniel and me shared one cabin the bus. I could sleep quite well in the bus. And again, after a ride of seven hours we reached Bangalore. All summed up, the trip was rather disappointing but at least I can assert having been there. And even if we could have taken a bath in the sea, the beach in Mamallapuram is much better. posted by Thorsten in India at 7:15 PM Bangalore, Karnataka, India Tuesday, November 07, 2006