Weekend at Pondy – 2

Continued from Weekend at Pondy – 1

We woke up by around 8:00 AM the next day, and after the customary ‘freshening up’, we got dressed and headed out for breakast. Out-voted 2-1 for a Vegetarian breakfast, we went to a Udupi restaurant next to our hotel and had Masala Dosas and Vadas. I didn’t particularly like the food, nor the service, but the other two seemed to think it was great. After breakfast, we decided to visit Auroville, a spiritual retreat, about 20 km from Pondy. Buses don’t go that way, so we had to take an auto. After haggling with an auto driver, he agreed to bring us back for a princely Rs.400.

We reached the place, and took our tickets. After a long walk through the woods, enjoying Nature’s beauty, and Raghu establishing his GreenPeace membership periodically, we finally made it to the heart of Auroville. There is a huge golden globe at the centre of a very large lawn. We posed for a few pics, walked back to a small tea-stall in the premises,and had Hibiscus Juice. It was sweet, and refreshing. We found our auto, and he took us back to Pondy.

Raghu had spotted a decent looking restaurant the previous day and we agreed to go there. We were exhausted after the trip and glad to sit in air-conditioned comfort. We ordered soup, Tandoori Chicken, and fried rice. We then decided to walk to the bus stand, paying no heed to Raghu’s protests. But halfway through, we gave up, and settled for a bus. We headed over to the ‘Palace’ and proceeded to fill our bags with Budweiser, Carlsberg, Tiger, Hayward’s Black, Smirnoff Orange & Green Apple. We then hurried back to our room to sample our loot. We spent a few hours getting mellow, and watching Federer cry after losing to Nadal in the Australian Open final.

We were tipsy,and we decided to go to the Promenade. We took an auto and found a couple of guys singing popular songs on the terrace of ‘Le Cafe’. A crowd had gathered to watch them perform and we happily joined in. After a few snaps, I managed the convince the other two about the urgent need to taste some French Cuisine (I’m sure Raghu would’ve been happy with Chicken Biryani). We looked around for a while, and managed to find Madame Shante’s which advertised French food. Prices were steep, but we decided to go ahead. We had an annoying fellow who wanted to sit beside our table and smoke, and then he wanted to place his beer mug on our table. Thankfully, the management found him a table and he was off. We ended up having Poulet Cordon Bleu which was Crumb fried chicken stuffed with cheese, Poisson belle Meuniere which was fish fried and topped with lemon butter sauce and Pates au Champignons et tomatoes which was Spaghetti with mushroom & tomato sauce. Raghu, predictably had Chicken biryani. The crumb fried chicken was good, the fish reminded us of Thilakan’s classic comment in Kilukkam when he’s presented with fish (He asks for a stick so he can beat the fish to death). All were served with bland boiled vegetables. We helped ourselves to Raghu’s biryani to have a change of taste. We then went back home (in an auto of course) and then proceeded to work on the Orange Smirnoff. After suffering more of Raghu’s choices in Tamil movies, we went to sleep.

We lazed in bed the next morning, not particularly keen to go anywhere. We had already exhausted our sight-seeing options the previous day. After breakfast at the same Udupi hotel, after which the other two finally admitted it to being not that great. Mahesh and I went over to the Palace and stocked up on some more supplies, mostly stuff we had found tasty the previous day, and we spent the day at the room sipping our drinks and chatting. We had lunch at the dingy place, and caught a bus back to Chennai. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the one which came to Tiruvanmayur, and we had to get down at Tambaram, and change buses.

Raghu then left for Coimbatore that night and Mahesh went over to his place. It was the second of our guys-only trips (not that we’ve been on any trips with girls) and was memorable, as was the first.

More recently, we went to Yercaud. Lets see if Mahesh writes about that.

To us mates. To us!

Cheers!

Weekend at Pondy – 1

This post is long overdue, and it was Mahesh’s job to do it, but still, since he is too lazy or forgetful, I thought I would do it. Raghu, Mahesh & I decided to visit the erstwhile French colony of Pondicherry for the Republic day weekend.It was a three day weekend and Raghu agreed to come over to Chennai from Coimbatore. Mahesh came over to my place the previous day. Raghu arrived at around 8, and he had brought breakfast. Unfortunately, he bought just ONE Masala dosa from the Saravana Bhavan counter at Chennai Central. I marvel at his foresight. I suppose he expected two hungry chaps, too lazy to cook breakfast, to watch him eat his single Masala Dosa. It would suffice to say that we assisted him in polishing it off, in spite of his persistent protests. Of course, all this happened after his mandatory ‘Status Call’.

Well, One Masala Dosa (especially from Saravana Bhavan) isn’t enough for one guy,let alone three, so we were still hungry and I was forced to scramble a few eggs and toast bread. We all got ready,and were out of the house by 10:00AM. We didn’t want to go up to Koyambedu and waste an hour, so we decided to take our chances at Tiruvanmayur bus stand. Unfortunately, everyone seemed to have the same idea and all the buses were packed. Just as we were getting ready for the hour long commute to Koyambedu, a bus arrived with just three seats, and we managed to get in. The seats were in the very last row, and so we were in for a bumpy ride, but it was all we had. The 3 hour journey passed uneventfully, with the exception of Raghu throwing around barf threats, and moaning about how he hadn’t slept a wink the previous night. We also proceeded to lighten his bag of a pack of Goodday biscuits on the way.

Our delusions of a quaint French Colony with stone paved streets & European architecture (courtesy several blogs written with flowery language) were dashed when we saw the bus-stand at around 2:00 PM. It looked just like any other bus-stand in Tamil Nadu with the customary beggars, and the spit-hitting-the-road-every-thirty-seconds. Being Indians, we got over this shock quite fast, and proceeded to our Hotel, which was just across the road. Raghu had managed to book it through some contact. We checked in, and freshened up (a loose term that is used to describe a whole range of activities conducted in the bathroom).

Since we were ravenous, we set out in search of a place serving lunch, and managed to find a rather dingy place about 100m down the road. Since our other options turned out to be a Star hotel and a chap selling beef probably fried in Castrol, we decided to go ahead. After a brief lunch of Chicken Biryani and Chettinad Chicken, along with some Gobi Manchurian Mahesh had ordered,we were back in the room.On the way back, we encountered a shop selling liquor (Which is not a great thing. Pondy being a Union Territory, has tax-free liquor and any stone thrown in Pondy is likely to hit a liquor bottle). After picking up a Fosters and a Kingfisher’s Draught can and a Bacardi Breezer (for Raghu) , we walked over to our room and made ourselves comfortable. It is taken for granted that during all this, Raghu kept the cash registers ringing at Airtel. We lazed about on the bed, with Mahesh doing some more ‘freshening up’ and then we decided to go for a stroll with some shopping in mind.

We had read about a stunning beach (Paradise Beach) about 8km from Pondy which advertised boating in a placid lagoon. We reached there by around 5.00 and found out that the last boat for the day had left. After a few photographs to establish our presence at the place, we went to a small restaurant on the premises and ordered a Royal Challenge Beer and a Masala Omelette & some Chicken Manchurian. After that, after convincing Raghu about the benefits of taking a bus back, we got back to the bus-stand for about Rs.10, having paid a 100 bucks on the way to the beach.

Mahesh and I wanted to sample the local specialty and Raghu wanted, of all things, glass bangles. We came across a store which we ended up christening ‘The Palace’ and came out with a small bottle of Tequila (which we had not tasted before).

I was stuck between Raghu, who would prefer to use an auto to go to the bus-stand (It was across the road) and Mahesh, who would walk back to Chennai given half a chance. On this occasion, I sided with Mahesh, and we set out to walk the streets of Pondy. After about half an hour, punctuated by Raghu’s persistent complaints, we reached the bazaar, where Raghu finally got to buy his glass bangles. We came across an Ice cream vendor, and bought 3 cones to help us navigate the maze of streets in Pondy. The streets had begun to transition from being Tamil Nadu-ey to being French-ey. We clicked random snaps, and after encountering an old Church and a fancy supermarket which charged the earth for everything, manged to find our way to the French Colony. Since it was dark, we couldn’t really see the French Architecture (It is actually a bunch of plain houses painted yellow. Ordinary, but colourful). We clicked a few snaps in front of the Governor’s mansion and walked over to the Promenade. After watching a few people dine at ‘La Promenade’ and calculating the damage it would do to our wallets if we dined there, we decided to have dinner. Raghu, in between his steady stream of complaints, had suggested Anjappar, a Chettinad Cuisine hotel we had seen on our way, while I wanted to try some French Cuisine.

We came across ‘Le Cafe’, an ancient Cafe on the promenade. It advertised Quiches, Pizzas, and herbal tea, so we decided to give it a try. After being left alone at the table for half an hour, a waiter came and informed us that they were out of everything, except Tea. I decided to order a Chamomille Tisane, and when it came, it smelt rather nice, but tasted like boiling water. Since it came in a mug large enough to bathe with, and since I couldn’t convince the other two how great it actually tasted, I had to finish it off myself. It was past 9:00PM and Pondy had started going to bed. This time,we gave in to Raghu’s request and took an auto back to the dingy place where we had a dinner. Since I was full of Chamomile Tea, Omelette & Chicken Manchurian, I opted for just One Parotta with chicken curry while the other two dug in.

After buying some snacks to help us with the Tequila and another Breezer for Raghu, we reached the room and settled in with the drinks.I experimented with a Tequila shot, while Mahesh passed. Since it was a small bottle, it got over in about half an hour. We had to endure Raghu’s choice of flop- Tamil movies on the telly for that half-hour. After a brief tussle for the AC Remote, (I wanted it on, the other two said it was too cold), we settled in for the night.

More to come.

Cheers!