Colorgram Pondicherry

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 Pondicherry- a camaraderie of  white beaches, colorful doors and windows of gorgeous villas, the boulevards, is a fruit of the French rule in India.

When I visited this place, I was mesmerized with the culture, food, tranquility that this town still holds from the French Colonial rule. 

A short weekend getaway to this place is a savory from mental stress at work and daily chores of home. I took a cab from Chennai airport and it took around 3 hours to reach this chromatic town. You can avail bus services from Koyambedu bus stand of Chennai as well.

I stayed very near to Promenade beach at White Town, one of the main attractions of the town.

White Town Heritage Building

Promenade Beach
I had my brunch in Café des Arts in White town after visiting Promenade beach and started for the sightseeing tour. Café des Arts is a bohemian style cafe built in French Colonial style with vintage décor specializing in high palatable food.


Cafe des Arts
My first stop was at Auroville- a spiritual place founded by "Mother" Mirra Alfassa. This place was built to realize human bonding and spiritual peace and to spread love among men and women. The calmness of this place depicts the serenity this place has.

Auroville


My next stop was Serenity beach where I spent the afternoon where the sea breeze gave some sort of relief to the hot weather. Next I headed straight to the Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception and Sri Manakula Vinayagar Temple. Both the religious places have their own old world charm that makes them worth visiting.
Serenity Beach

Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception

Manakula Vinayagar Temple
Walking distance from the temple, Shri Aurobindo's Ashram is situated. The samadhi of Shri Aurobindo and Mother is situated over here and thousands of devotees come down to this place for prayers and paying respect. 
Colours and Camarederie outside the Ashram!
The day ended with dinner at Le Dupleix restaurant where I tapped my feet to the live music and retired to my bed reflecting over the events of the day.

Next day kickstarted with visiting the Museum and then heading to the Paradise beach through magical backwaters covered with coconut trees.

The museum has great collection of stone sculptures, local collectibles and is a place of great historical delight.

Pondicherry Museum

Backwaters leading to Paradise Beach

Entrance to Paradise Beach
Returning from Paradise beach, I headed to the flea market in the bazaar area of Pondy to pick up some souvenirs and hand made home décor items that I generally buy from all the places I visit.

Finally it was time to say good bye to this lovely vacay and return to my hometown but the colorful avenues, tinge of colonialism and spirituality and peace of this town has left a permanent mark of delight and pleasure in me. Thus hope to visit this place soon to relive the memories once again 🌝🌝

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