Southern India Revisited

February 4-5 2013    

I can’t say Pondicherry, now officially named Puducherry, was my favourite town in India. I guess it was because we found Mamallapuram so easy to get around. Pondicherry was a large, busy, dirty city with all the problems we associate with India, and to its credit, a faded charm in the French Quarter.

The day started out well. We shared a car and driver with Signe, a fellow traveller from Denmark we had met at our hotel in Mamallpuram. That meant no scrambling for seats in a crowded bus and a relatively comfortable, quick drive. Our driver was a typical Indian driver; lots of horn action and passing everything on the road. I closed my eyes a few times as he played chicken with the vehicle approaching us. We came through safely. More than one tour operator in Mamallpuram we had talked to, trying unsuccessfully to arrange tours, had suggested we hire a car and driver for the whole trip. We would certainly see a lot more places but we would be moving hotels almost every night and never getting the flavour of the country. Besides, trying to beat every other vehicle would leave us nervous wrecks. Yes, the bus drivers pass everyone too, but being bigger, most vehicles give the bus room.

We did have one stop on the way to Pondicherry to take a photo of workers shovelling salt into bags at the edge of vast salt flats. Before we knew it, we were at our hotel in Pondicherry. It looked good from the outside, it was conveniently near the bus station and our room was comfortable. The bathroom brought all the memories of showers that were in the middle of the room with no curtain or lip on the floor to prevent water from flooding the room. That is why there is always a towel or a mat to dry your feet on outside the bathroom door. I am sure I will get used to that again very soon. On the plus side, the employees were efficient and courteous and the hotel did have a good buffet breakfast included in the price. We especially liked the Indian style breakfast of soft rice cakes (idlis), small pancakes (parattas), and little donuts (vacas), all served with lentil curry and good chutneys. There was also fresh fruit and juice, plus western style toast and boiled eggs.

Pondicherry is essentially a Tamil town. That means the main streets resound with honks of many vehicles. You have to quickly learn to gauge when it is safe to cross the street. There are few traffic lights and crosswalks are only a suggestion. Pondicherry seems to undertaking an extensive, much needed cleanup of what once was a beautiful system of canals and drainage ditches. They are now being cleared of an accumulation of plastic and rotting garbage. Interlocking bricks are being laid over new sewers and at least in some of the areas, garbage is being hauled away. I can hardly wait to see the difference.

The French first established themselves in Pondicherry in 1672 and maintained a rivalry for the next century with the British for control of Indian trade. Pondicherry was nominally handed over to the newly independent India in 1947 but the French still maintained an economic and political presence in the town. Today the French Quarter of the city is a tourist draw with its French Colonial architecture, churches, good restaurants and even a French Lycée. We found the side streets of the French Quarter a much quieter and relaxed area to walk, a relief from the main roads.

The Lonely Planet recommended a walking tour of the French Quarter run by Shanti Tours. We tried very hard to book the tour without success. First the company office was closed at 2 PM with no notice of their expected return. There was a sign listing walking tours at 9AM and 4PM daily. We turned up the next day before 9 AM only to be told we had to book ahead of time. We came back at 4 PM when we promised we would be joined by another woman who had booked for that day. At 4 PM we were told the English speaking guide was sick. The walking tour was stricken from our list. We did our own tour of the area.

The broad promenade beside the ocean was a good place to start. Swimming is not an option as the shore was built up with huge boulders to prevent damage from future cyclones and tsunamis. A group of tourists arrived at the Gandhi monument, which sits on the promenade, each in a pedicab. A few locals still use pedicabs to get around town, but the tuk-tuks have taken over. The big white Ambassador touring cars we saw on our last visit in 2001 are fast becoming a collector’s item. Most taxi drivers favour newer models. We crossed the promenade at the Gandhi monument and past the French Consulate, still in operation, to enter Bharathi Park with monuments to several Indian leaders. Nearby was the colourful Sri Manakula Vinatagar Temple and the Sri Autobindo Ashram, neither of which we chose to enter.

Markets still have lots of appeal to us. Pondicherry’s was in full swing the morning we visited, spilling out into the streets nearby. There was a large indoor area selling fish and another with vegetables and fruit, several of which were unfamiliar to us.

The Botanical Gardens were close to our hotel. It had looked closed previously but we found an open gate and walked through. Several workers were busy watering, trimming bushes and even planting, all activities that were sorely needed. There were few other visitors. The gardens looked rather neglected. A monument in the middle was a gravestone for the founder, a Frenchman, in 1836. Next to it was a glass greenhouse, maybe originally an orchid house. Now it was just broken windows. We found our way out on the main street where both men and women were busy ripping up a ditch for new sewers.

About a block from our hotel was a small temple with the most gruesome looking death deity I have ever seen. A fearsome deity sits with a disembowelled woman on his lap with bloody tubes running from the woman’s open wound to the deity’s ears and into a cherub in the sky. A priest was in attendance for the regular ceremonies and people came bearing flower gifts.

Despite all my negative comments, our self-guided tour turned out well. Pondicherry just may not warrant a repeat visit from us.