2N/3D Getaway from Bengaluru to Pondy

After our successful short trip using public transport to Shimoga,  got psyched to do similar short trips more spontaneously with no planning to places in & around Karnataka using public transport. This time our destination was Puducherry/Pondicherry/Pondy for a quick 2N/3D getaway! The must do for us in Pondy was to stay in French quarters and stroll around this area for its architecture, beach walks (Promenade) and visit Sri Aurobindo Ashram  & Auroville.

Did some quick homework by browsing the web for day bus services & found KSRTC is the only day bus service to Pondy from Bengaluru (I prefer not to take night bus –but FYI that there are many night buses and every Friday a night train as well) and also checked out Hotels in French quarters. Found a nice, sort of a boutique Hotel called The Richmond  & they had an offer for deluxe room for 2N during weekdays for a total of  Rs 5980.00 for double occupancy inclusive of tax & breakfast. This hotel is a stone's throw from the beach and 10min walk to Aurobindo Ashram.  Perfect location at a nice price... Went ahead and booked the hotel for 2N (Aug 20-22) & booked a one way ticket to Pondy in KSRTC Volvo AC Club Class bus @ Rs 465/- (first time in a club class bus). All done within an hour, thanks to the internet and plastic card:-)  since return bus timing was early at 10:00AM, we thought we will play it by the ear & decide on day or night bus after spending  a day there.

Day-1- The Journey

On Aug 20th started off on our journey from Bengaluru to Pondy(314km/8hrs) by 9:30AM bus (delayed to 10:00AM). Bus was good & well maintained.  I recommend taking Club class multi-axle Volvo bus wherever it is available!  It is much better than just regular Airavat AC Multi Axle Volvo. We even watched the Kannanda movie (without loud volume)  Sidhlingu.  Had the first stop at a rest area in Hosur and was impressed as it was like any rest area in US (had Coffee day. Mc D & a South Indian restaurant), the toilets were maintained (a cleaning lady was there. Yuppiee!!!). Driver announced that we will not find such rest area till Pondy. The road after Hosur starting deteriorating, we could feel the road even in this multi axle bus and it got worse after Tiruvannamalai and on top of that since it was a Full moon day/Upakarma/Raksha bandhan, there was some festivity in Tiruvannamalai and main roads were all blocked… We got delayed by more than an hour just to get back on to highway.

Gingee Fort 

The journey from krishnagiri to Gingee has some awesome rocky hills…There is a very nice fort in Gingee (240m high). If you are driving on your own, looks like a nice spot to visit. 
I forgot to mention, there was a pit stop just before Tiruvannamalai and my god! the sight of it was devastating, it went in-line with the latest statistics - 626 million Indians lack access to closed toilets,  the stop was just an open field with one really unhygienic tea shop….  Only some MEN got down from the bus :-). Thanks to the driver who had warned us in Hosur about condition of pit stops after Hosur, I cannot believe KSRTC Club Class bus stops here :-(. During the last stretch of our journey we had good view of full moon. Finally we made it to Pondy at 7:00PM (9hrs)! Took a rick to the hotel (Rs 80) which is just about 2km away from the bustop.  Hotel was good, exactly as seen in their website! Freshened up and walked to beach to see full moon, but since it was cloudy, not much of a view. It felt like summer (31 C), especially for us coming from Bengaluru. We walked around and went for an Italian dinner at one of the café in French quarters with nice ambience and décor.  We thought we will continue our venturing next day in daylight.

Day-2 : Aurobindo Ashram, Auroville & the beach 

After a good night rest, had good breakfast at the hotel (Thumbs up!) . We had limited knowledge on Sri Aurobindo Ashram & Auroville when we came to Pondy. We asked at the hotel reception on their visitor’s timings and directions. We decided to visit the ashram in the morning and go to Auroville in the afternoon. 

French quarters area

Sri Aurobindo Ashram

We started walking towards the ashram admiring the lovely houses/buildings on the way. Beautiful architecture!!!  I had thought Aurobindo Ashram is one huge complex but it is multiple buildings occupying few blocks in the city. The main building has Sri Aurobindo and Mirra Alfassa (Mother) Samadhi with many people meditating around the Samadhi.  
It also has a book store where we bought some books on Aurobindo and the ashram map (Rs 2) . As the ashram is not contained in one complex, this map helped us to go to specific Dept. of our interest - Art, Embroidery, Ganesha Koil/temple & also checked their guest house & school /education center from outside. For someone going there for the first time, their map really helps and is a must!  Since it was hot (33 C) & humid, we got tired after walking around for couple of hrs (almost like our hat & umbrella did not make much difference) , it was 11:30AM by then. We started heading back to the hotel to proceed to our next tour destination.

Hotel receptionist had told us earlier in the day we have 2 options to go to Auroville, either by a rick for Rs 600 to travel back & forth which is 15km each way with 2hrs wait there or take a taxi which is Rs 1000 for a max of 4hrs & 40km.  We opted for Rick and bargained for 3hrs wait (I am sure you can bargain money as well, but we did not). We left for Auroville by 12:00. Nice ride with no traffic and good road...We were feeling sort of tired in that hot and humid weather but suddenly, our tiredness went away when we saw many antique stores on a stretch of road :-) The driver told us that many people from all over India & overseas buy pillars, doors, chest  etc from here and get it shipped.

One of the Antique shop

We stopped at couple of them, they were just beautiful & felt price reasonable as well.  We reached Auroville visitor center by 12:45, took our pass – we knew we would not be able to go inside Matrimandir as it required to get a pass 24 to 48hrs before the visit (A friend of mine had told me this ahead of time).  We did the usual touristy stuff like walking around, Matrimandir (from outside) & Savithri Bhavan. It is a huge lovely campus!  Environment is so peaceful, clean and relaxing.  It also has many activities like music, yoga, lectures etc. After the long 

Matrimandir

Auroville entrance

walk, went to their Solar kitchen (It derives its name from the big Solar-Bowl on its roof, This provides part of the steam for cooking on all the sunny days). The café in Solar kitchen is great. We found after walking all the way & going there that they don’t do any cash transactions, you need to pay in advance or be a guest in Auroville. Lucky for us one of the French residents allowed us to order food and he used his points and we paid him.  Food was great and cheap and a great relaxing place.  

Solar kitchen cafe

By now, it was 3:45pm time for us to leave. FYI that there is a whole lot of walking once you are in Auroville. Most the people who stay there (either guests or residents) use cycle, scooter or Motorbikes to go from point A to B. You can rent a cycle if you don’t want to walk…  If you want to explore more, good to visit www.auroville.org  for all the information including guest house accommodation (starts as low as 500Rs/day)!  

We decided to come back to Pondy during Dec-Feb when the weather would be more pleasant to walk around & stay in Auroville campus for couple of days.   Seems like a great place to de-stress. Since we were going to come back for a longer stay, we decided to leave by day bus (10:00am) the next day, bought return ticket at bus stop.  It was once again a Club class Volvo for Rs 465/- (a great deal!)

Promenade

Later that evening went to Promenade. It was fantastic! There are some really nice buildings and monuments all the way.   

Thoroughly enjoyed the walk!   We went to the visitor center at the Promenade to see if there are any good cultural show(s) that night & to find out the time of sunrise. There were no shows that night. 

We ended our day with a lovely Italian dinner at a neat little restaurant next to our Hotel & decided to have desert at our Hotel restaurant as I had seen “Caribbean Plantains” in their menu … It was delicious! Pondy (not just Auroville) truly feels like being in a universal town  An awesome memorable day!!!!!

Day-3: Sunrise & the return

Got up at 5:00AM and headed straight to beach to see the sunrise (around 5:45AM)at the beach. After a short walk, just sat gazing and hearing to the waves , watching the fishing boats at a distance & the sun rise behind the clouds with diff shades of blue around us was mesmerizing! 

Sunrise

Even though it was cloudy to have a good view of the sunrise, nevertheless, it was a great feeling overall. Like they say - “It is important to feel the moment. It is important to live in the here-now and just be!”   

After couple of hrs at the beach, we headed back to get ready and leave for Bengaluru. There were very few people in our bus and luckily with no road blocks or much traffic, we made it back by 6PM (8hrs).  Oh! another thing, I was able to finish 4 more chapters of the book Avarana during this trip….I am sure that I will complete this book during my next short getaway.

To this 2N/3D getaway a big Thumbs up!!! – Bus, Hotel and, of course, the destination “Pondy”! Try this and you will feel rejuvenated.  Before I end this, like to say as women travelers, we felt extremely safe walking around at any time.  Like a local in Pondi would say Romba Nalla trip :-)