Le Monde - A Poetic Travail » Puducherry

The year that was.. 2009

Nisha — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 10:04:11 +0000

The year 2009 is gone. It was satisfying as far as travel is concerned. Except for one or two, all places were new to me. Not many to count but observed and learnt a lot during the course.
And all these trips were personal trips, not work related.

It was Ratnagiri and Ganapatipule to begin with. Temples, forts and beaches greeted us with stories of their own.

Then it was Bangaluru. solo trip. Somehow I felt more uncomfortable in going around in Bangaluru than any other south Indian cities.

Glass house… next time I’ll go during flower show

Chennai happened after that. Chennai has a special place. Also, local food and shopping for silk sarees never ceases there.

With Chennai, it was Puducherry, the French town.

Then in summers it was again a solo 3 day trip to Hyderabad, my first to the city. I stayed in a hotel opposite railway station and had glorious time walking along the lake, negotiating with the autowalas and arguing with saviours of women.

In the end, last week there was a whirlwind trip to Delhi. Hopes for some more places could not materialize for various reasons.

Red Fort with tricolor at the top..

Besides these Indian places, two more countries were added. Mauritius and Malaysia.

Spending 5 days in Mauritius was awesome. If you go by time difference then it’s only 1:30 hours away from India but it took more than 18 hours to reach !

The flight was via Dubai with a long waiting period. Having already seen beautiful Dubai city, there was no charm in staying inside the airport this time.

Mauritius…..

In October it was Malaysia for a 12 day trip. I coaxed and sometimes forced V to do some unusual things, one example… staying in a dorm.
Otherwise we both like trying local cuisines and transports and exploring places on foot.

Famous Petronas

I wish our new year 2010 is filled with more travel.
So, that was my travel story. What was yours ?

P.S.- I think I am forgetting some more places. I’ll add them as & when I remember.

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Auroville, the city of Dawn

Nisha — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 20:20:48 +0000

Answer to last quiz was Matri Mandir or Auroville in Pondicherry. Four people could guess it correctly, two were slightly off track; Ram was not allowed to participate and many others raised their hands up.

Matri Mandir

The winners are Manish Kumar, Amitha, Deepu and Sid. Ashes and Unny also tried but they got it wrong. The answers were kept secret and are now released. It is Auroville and not Aurobindo ashram. Aurobindo ashram is within Pondicherry city on St Gilles Street near Rock beach.

The golden dome …..

Both Aurobindo Ashram and Auroville are world famous and get you into a spiritualistic mood. Visit and be blessed with a lot of peace and goodness. Pondicherry is considered as the centre for Yoga and Meditation in South India.

On the way to Auroville

Situated at a distance of nearly 12 Kms from Pondicherry a.k.a. Puducherry, this place is meant to be a universal town where men and women of all countries live in peace and progressive harmony irrespective of their creeds and all nationalities. The purpose of Auroville is to realize human unity.

Here are some pictures. More will come later.

On our way to Auroville

Sitting arrangement near food court

Note:- If you want to visit this place, keep aside minimum of half a day.

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Wandering Wednesday Photo – Quiz

Nisha — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:29:29 +0000

Guess which place is this ? And I’ll tell you some more about it.

Note:- Ram is not allowed to participate.

Ok, I’ll moderate comments for this post.

The result will be announced after a week.

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Lycee Francais at Victor Simonel Street

Nisha — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 12:27:50 +0000

Lycee Francais at Victor Simonel Street.

It was established in 1826. This institute still imparts education to hundreds of Pondicherrians in French.

Can you see a half statue in the premises ?

Special permission is required to visit this colonial place.

We didn’t have any, so had to be content with photographing it from the main door only.