Hey there Pondy! - Part 9

It was already 11 30 in the night, a few minutes from midnight. The boulevard of the Promenade was deserted. 7 noisy boys, a scared girl and a few local guys and the cop leaning on the lamp post were all that were left. The sea was rough and rising at an alarming rate. Yet, the few people on the boulevard refused to leave.

There is a little 24 hour cafe on the boulevard. The place was like one an author would describe in a book. It was just the right size. It overlooked the beautiful ocean. It was painted white. It had a little terrace where we could sit and watch the ocean. And by God! It had the best coffee I've tasted(This maybe because I paid 90 bucks for one mug!). So, all of us walked in on my insisting. The place smelled absolutely heavenly. I've never had a cuppa coffee at that time of the night. I must say, it feels real good. 

For the 7 of us, time wasn't nearly enough. We would have loved to stay on the beach doing nothing but walk around in the cold breeze and keep looking at the waters of the Arabian ocean attempt to tear apart the rocks of the Promenade beach. Oh. Correction. For the 6 of us. Anirudh apparently was itching to take the FZ for a spin on the 2km long boulevard. Understandable. 

The boulevard is a concrete road, 2km long. It is super clean. And that no soul populated the place made it even better. We were in no mood to refute the guy, so he got his way. The bike was out and roaring down the road in no time. It was like a game of tennis. We all were standing on the sidewalk and watching Anirudh whizz past us; From left to right and back again. 

Unable to let Anirudh belt the bike alone, I brought out my own FZ and Sid, the Honda Shine. All three of us hit the road and had a blast on the bikes. Later, from what the guys said, the leaning cop was amused by the three of us repeatedly tearing up and down the road! 

After a while, I stopped near the gang because my hands were getting numb. As we contemplated getting back to the room, a cop car stopped next to us, and they asked us to go home because it was late. Problem solved. We got back to the rooms.

Now, it was time for the great Bluff marathon. We had to spend the night awake because we did not want to miss the sunrise at any cost. Bluff was the game we chose to get us through the night. Since Krit's room had the AC, and the largest space of the three rooms, we chose it as the venue.

Thus began the marathon of Bluff games! Each one of us had a trick or two up our sleeves, and brought them out at the right times to make the game interesting. Ankit was the best player among the lot. He was like a master torturer with the cards, putting down one card at a time and calling most bluffs. There were spoil sports like Krit and Akshay, super competitors like Anirudh and me and of course, the quiet bystander waiting for the chance to strike like Sid.

As the night progressed, it became that the A/C in the room was definitely broken. The temperature shot up, what with all the 'Agarbatti' lighting up in the room every now and then. The fact that there were no windows in the room and that there were 7 of us in there did not help at all. The heat was getting to me. Badly.

Then Anirudh opened the door and walked out for some fresh air. He immediately asked us to step out and see the difference. When I stepped out, I knew we had been beating ourselves up in the heat for nothing. The corridor of the hotel was ice cold. It was a bad idea to remain locked up in the room.

By the time we realized this, it was about 5 in the morning. We decided to take a break from the game as it was getting monotonous and ill tempered due to the heat. We all went back to our respective rooms to get fresh and leave before the sun rises. By 5 30, we had left the hotel and reached the beach in 5 minutes.

The sea had subsided a considerable level. It was a lot calmer than it was in the night. A light breeze was blowing towards the beach. It was still dark out. The street lights gave an eerie feel to the boulevard. We waited for a while and then called up Jaishree, Krit's sister who is currently doing her Ph.D in the USA.

We found out that the sunrise did not happen till 6 30. We had a good 45 minute wait till the sun would be up in the sky. So we settled down in the rocks, staring at the lightening sky, and debating what each of the clouds looked like. Sushanth and Akshay were sleepy as shit. Sushanth was almost dozing on my shoulder. Ankit was plaing with the handicam.

In all this, there was a moment for me. One of those you want to paint. One of those you know that will happen only a few times in your life. It was a moment of perfection. I had all that I wanted. My life was devoid of all worries. There was a peace inside that lasted only for a fraction of a second. And then, it disappeared. Just like that. 

Hey There Pondy! - Part 8

After satisfying the hunger within us, we got onto our bikes and returned to the hotel. The ride back to Pondy was not very eventful, except that we got separated on the way back. We met up a little while later, in a place unknown. But we managed to find our way back without much asking around! Felt like we had lived there for years!

What caught my attention the most about traveling in Pondy was that no matter where you went, or how you went, you always end up on Anna Salai( Anna Street). It was unnerving, for this was the very manifestation of the saying "All roads lead to Rome"!

Once we reached the hotel, we put our stuff away, took baths, got all cleaned up and left. It was our last night in Pondy, and we did not want it to go waste. It went without saying that there would be a small *farewell drinking*, but that wasn't enough to get us there. We wanted something to remember Pondy with. Something that would make the whole trip perfect. Give it the storybook ending.

So we decided that there would be no sleeping that night. The night would be ours to spend. And come morning, we would be waiting at the beach for the sun to rise. Thus began preparations for the morning.

Anna Salai had all that we could ever need for the night. The *farewell drinks* were bought. The cards to play bluff were ready. But the time was not right to return to the rooms. The night was young and Pondy's Promenade beach was calling to the gang that would be leaving her in a few hours. We heeded.

The gang of 7 reached the Promenade. Bikes were parked. The boulevard of the beach was shut off to all motor vehicles every evening. That made the experience even better. I don't know when we got onto the beach. I don't know how long we were there. All I know was that the beach was amazing to watch.

Sid had an uncle in Pondy, and had been invited for dinner that night. So he was picked up by his uncle("chitappa" as I would like to call him). We promised to wait at promenade till he got back. We walked around the boulevard, visited a few of the shop along the road, bought souvenirs for the guys who couldn't make it to the trip, watch the crowd thin out, found a comfortable spot on the rocky beach to sit and watch the beach play. It was a serene evening, nice and calm. All of us had the regret that it was the last day, yet, we were excited to get back home. It wasn't that any of us were homesick. But I have to admit, there's no place like home. No matter how much we may like a place, we belong back home.

Sid was returned to us in a couple of hours. By that time, the crowd on the beach had almost completely dispersed, save a few like ourselves, and a fair young girl with a little Pug. After spending time on the beach, just watching her, and talking about random things, we decided to take a walk. It was getting too cold, and none of us had brought a sweater along. But we weren't ready to leave yet. So we walked.

After some time, Ankit who'd been eyeing the girl with the pug, walked back to us and said, "Dooood... I wanna talk to that girl ra". How very much like him. Out of the blue he wants to talk to a girl we had never seen before. More importyantly, a girl who had never seen US before!

I said, "Okay. So go talk to her". But things can never be that simple. So Ankit said, "Goo ra. Just like that?". Well duh! Of course just like that! We would be leaving in a few hours. Probably never see the chick again! So I offered, "Okay, I'll come with you and talk to her. But you have to begin." How very like me. Ankit wants to step in dung, so I'll do it with him! Sushanth offered to come along too. Yeah. 3 unknown guys. 1 cute chick with a dog that probably can't... correction, won't bark. We were asking for it.

So we walk in the direction of the girl, and she was walking towards us. And like one of those comedies you see on TV, the whole thing flopped. We lamely walked past her. Ankit totally chickened out! But, Sushanth and me wanted to do something crazy. And we couldn't let the opportunity go. So we took an about turn, and walked back to the girl. When we caught up to her, I started the conversation with her and Sushanth with the Pug. From the word go I knew it was a bad idea. The girl must have thought we were drunk or that we were gonna kidnap her. I could see FEAR written on her face. But I just couldn't just stop. So I made pointless conversation, and finally let her go when I knew she would start screaming if I continued.

The three of us walked off in the other direction. But the others were standing a distance away and watching the whole thing. Turns out the girl ran for her life once we left! I really must look like one of the terrorists! 

Hey There Pondy! - Part 7

The beach we hit was like none I've been to before. The sand was grainy. It got in our pant pockets. It weighed the pants down. Very irritating. But we did not notice any of this when in the water. It took me a while, but I realized that the beach was pretty dangerous. The undercurrents close to the shore were very powerful. The beach sank so deep all of a sudden, it was shocking. Yes, we had fun. But I've had better beach days. When I finally got out of the water, my skin was raw from the grainy sand.

But what was fun about the beach was what we did after we got out of the water. Krit suggested we cover him up in sand and make him a mermaid. Our mermaid... if you can even call it that, turned out to look very different from the cute ariel we know. Again, for reasons known and unknown, I can't tell you what it looked like though.

That was a lot of fun. A lot. That wasn't all. The beach had a lot of things we did not see everyday. Or at every beach. We saw a french lady in a bikini, one in a swimsuit, and a very very old man in HIS swimsuit. The first was chilling on the beach with the local dog. Literally. The second and the third went for a swim in the beach! All I could do was stare at the old man swimming. I've never gone that far down into the beach. Another thing to do before I die.

Anyway, we finally got tired of the beach and the heat. We were hungry, and by default we wanted to eat pizza. Why? Because on the way to the beach, we saw many restaurants that served pizza. Oh yeah! So we got out of the beach after dressing in the little rooms of the guests resort. The amount of sand we shed in those little rooms was astounding!

The moment we got onto the bikes, I knew I was hungry enough to gorge down a whole pizza. I have eaten pizzas. A lot of them. I love pizza. But never before had I eaten a firewood oven pizza. They are absolutely the best you'll ever have. In the hungry condition that we were, when we arrived at Georgio's pizza place, we were relieved.

We rushed in and ordered as soon as we could. 2 non-veg, 3 veg. 7 soft drinks. 2 soups. 1 pasta. Gone in 1 hour. The amazingly thin and crustless base of the pizzas were a treat to the mouth. My mouth waters just at the thought of those delicious pizzas. The toppings were ample. And very tasty. The soups were gourmet. Silky smooth and perfect to the last grain of salt. The pasta like none I've tasted before. The flavor of the herbs was eminent in the pasta. The creamy sauce of the pasta had just the right taste. The food melted in our mouth. I did make sound like a 10 thou meal. It cost us a mere 750. Yeah. Now you wanna go to Pondy too don't you? 

Hey There Pondy! - Part 6

The next day wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. The effects of the previous night weren't all that bad. Except for the fact that we got a little less sleep due to the late night it wasn't all that bad. We were in Pondy and not going to Auroville was a crime in itself. One of my cousins, who is an architect herself told me so.

So our plan that day was to explore the roads of Pondy that lead us to Auroville. So we were up by 8 in the morning as we had to leave early to get there early. I think Akshay and myself were the last to wake up. We were the oldest Brahmacharis of the lot*excluding Krit coz he is a VERY bad excuse for one*. Talk of irony!

We all were ready in a while and decided to leave without breakfast, hoping to get some at Auroville or on the way there. We were in a hurry because Auroville wasn't exactly in Pondy. It is about an hour's drive from Pondy. It was sort of fun to get to Auroville.

We left the main city, and asked our way to the highway from fellow riders and pedestrians. Once we got onto the highway it was a really nice experience. As I have specified earlier on, the fact that we didn't have to wear helmets on the Pondy roads was sheer pleasure. The wind in your face, the hand on the throttle, and the wide 6 lanes all to yourself and your bike. WOW. I do not know about the others, but I was alone on my bike and I enjoyed it fully.

A little ahead was the toll gate. Another of the small pleasures: no toll for two wheelers. We passed the toll gates and moved a little ahead to a crossroads. To the right was the road to Auroville. It was a narrow single lane road. The traffic on this road was almost zero. The road was calm and quiet. And deserted.

Here I did my first true wheelie on a bike. The super fat rear tire of the FZ was perfect for it. I am no pro at it. So I am pretty sure that was it not for the rear tire, I was sure to have fallen! The bike is tailor made for beginners. Just the right power, and that huge rear tire. A boon. I have to thank Yamaha for it. Now I wish I owned that bike.

Back to getting to Auroville. The 7 of us headed to the architectural wonder. The place is surprisingly well organised. The parking lot begins as soon as you enter. It has a nominal rate of 5 bucks per vehicle. No motor vehicles are allowed inside Auroville. The walk to the main gate is nice. We are surrounded by a green forest, with a path worn through by lots of visitors. Once you get to the gate, you are exposed to a torrent of people, both devotees and visitors. If it wasn't for the heat, it would have been something else.

There is a big and very clearly illustrated map to guide you through the place. The best part is, the cafeteria is situated just next to the gates. To us hungry boys, that was like a gift of the decade. The excitement was soon extinguished by the prices and the fact that nothing was available. We were too late. Breakfast time was over. But we were all hungry enough to make the best of what was there. We munched on the puffs and sweets available in the counter and paid what seemed like a fortune for the junk we were having.

After eating just enough to keep our minds away from food, we moved ahead to have a look at the Matrimandir. We truly were cheated by the circumstances. After enduring a long walk in the hot sun, we found out that it was closed for visitors due to some maintenance work. Sad. But we enjoyed a view of many "other" beautiful things*boys will know*!

After cooling off, we left Auroville for the beach. This is what all of us were looking forward to. True we had already seen the sea. But we had yet to get wet. In about 45 min we got our wish. We arrived at the Auroville beach, after riding through little winding kachha roads. The entrance is unlike any I've seen before. On a beach where drinking, smoking and drugs are prohibited, we were shocked when we were confronted by a drunk man coming out of the section of the gate which said "for devotees and their guests only". What is the world coming to?

But we weren't there to worry about all that. We were there to have fun and get wet. So we let the insolent B@#$%!d get by and hurried to the beach .I must say it felt pretty rude that the way to the beach for visitors was so narrow and cluttered with a lot of waste. But who am I to ask!

We made our way to the beach. Its a small beach. The water in the distance is pure blue, like in the movies. But closer in, it is as dirty as any other beach I've seen. When you look at the beach, its rough in places and clam in places. Nonetheless, there were people all over who were enjoying themselves thoroughly in the water. Vendors were on the beach with ice cream and tender coconuts. We walked a little distance and found a spot to put our stuff down. We sat there for a while before walking into the water. And then we lost ourselves in the water.