Today is unfortunately our last day in beautiful seaside Pondicherry, the former colony of France and current independent city-state on the Bay of Bengal. Tomorrow, Anthony and I catch a train from Chennai to Calcutta where we plan to spend the next few weeks of our journey.
I wish I could post the pictures I've taken here, because it is with my observations that the stories lie.
Our foray into Auroville was enlightening, but not in the blissful, spiritual way that people hope for when they visit there. The first, exploratory venture into the acclaimed eco-city or whatever they like to think of themselves as proved promising, but only because it was a data gathering mission and not an attempt to dive in and participate in their experiment. We woke early to beat the raging heat of the near-equatorial sun and had a bit of a bland breakfast at Indian Coffee House, a place Anthony's friend Martin recommended because they are a rare place that serves eggs in this predominantly lacto-vegetarian country. Coffee here makes me realize what a gift Seattle is in terms of the beloved brew; here it is almost syrupy because it is brewed in milk with the sugar added, similar to how the chai is prepared. Proper coffee does not exist here, and I can't stomach what does, although chai I can drink in abundance because I believe that here it is brewed in its own proper way, uncorrupted by Western ideas of what chai should be. My favorite chai are still the ones that have distinguishable spice flavors, but mostly it is supersweet black tea and milk served in cups little larger than shot glasses. Forget the silly powdered chai back home served for $5 or whatever absurd price is charged for the oversized cup; chai here can be had on most corners for R5-10 at most, a whopping $0.10-0.20! Chai here is brewed fresh all day long. <3
Back to the story~
After breakfast, we hopped on our rented motorbikes and delved into the insanity of Indian traffic. I've been told that Pondicherry is subdued compared to other parts of India, its population not as large as other places, and with comparatively well-maintained roads, but my god. Driving in India makes me hate everything for a while.
There's not really such a thing as lanes here, nor have I seen a posted speed sign, which wouldn't matter anyways, I'm sure. Drivers regard each other more as obstacles to be overtaken rather than fellow humans. In a fantastic book I just finished and highly recommend, Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese (Vintage 2009) was an image of vehicles in Ethiopia that I found mirrored in India: petrol is not the natural fuel of the overabundance of vehicles on the road, but horns. The honking NEVER stops here. In the French quarter of Pondy are a few signs that say, "NO HONKING", but drivers blast by and never let their hand off the horn anyways. It's partly hilarious, but mostly outrageous.
WOO- Computer blacked out and I thought I lost everything for a second. Thank god for automatic draft saving. Cheesuz.
I'm going to have to finish this shit later, or else stop taking to long to type everything out. There are just so many details! And going days between posts means things pile up.
I'll sum up briefly- Auroville was a farce, so we decided not to stay there, but to spend a few more days in Pondicherry before heading north. Most of the places I want to visit are in the north anyways, but it was too cold to stay there when I first landed. I can hardly believe I've already been here three weeks though.
More on everything later. Hopefully also pictures soon.
<3
I wish I could post the pictures I've taken here, because it is with my observations that the stories lie.
Our foray into Auroville was enlightening, but not in the blissful, spiritual way that people hope for when they visit there. The first, exploratory venture into the acclaimed eco-city or whatever they like to think of themselves as proved promising, but only because it was a data gathering mission and not an attempt to dive in and participate in their experiment. We woke early to beat the raging heat of the near-equatorial sun and had a bit of a bland breakfast at Indian Coffee House, a place Anthony's friend Martin recommended because they are a rare place that serves eggs in this predominantly lacto-vegetarian country. Coffee here makes me realize what a gift Seattle is in terms of the beloved brew; here it is almost syrupy because it is brewed in milk with the sugar added, similar to how the chai is prepared. Proper coffee does not exist here, and I can't stomach what does, although chai I can drink in abundance because I believe that here it is brewed in its own proper way, uncorrupted by Western ideas of what chai should be. My favorite chai are still the ones that have distinguishable spice flavors, but mostly it is supersweet black tea and milk served in cups little larger than shot glasses. Forget the silly powdered chai back home served for $5 or whatever absurd price is charged for the oversized cup; chai here can be had on most corners for R5-10 at most, a whopping $0.10-0.20! Chai here is brewed fresh all day long. <3
Back to the story~
After breakfast, we hopped on our rented motorbikes and delved into the insanity of Indian traffic. I've been told that Pondicherry is subdued compared to other parts of India, its population not as large as other places, and with comparatively well-maintained roads, but my god. Driving in India makes me hate everything for a while.
There's not really such a thing as lanes here, nor have I seen a posted speed sign, which wouldn't matter anyways, I'm sure. Drivers regard each other more as obstacles to be overtaken rather than fellow humans. In a fantastic book I just finished and highly recommend, Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese (Vintage 2009) was an image of vehicles in Ethiopia that I found mirrored in India: petrol is not the natural fuel of the overabundance of vehicles on the road, but horns. The honking NEVER stops here. In the French quarter of Pondy are a few signs that say, "NO HONKING", but drivers blast by and never let their hand off the horn anyways. It's partly hilarious, but mostly outrageous.
WOO- Computer blacked out and I thought I lost everything for a second. Thank god for automatic draft saving. Cheesuz.
I'm going to have to finish this shit later, or else stop taking to long to type everything out. There are just so many details! And going days between posts means things pile up.
I'll sum up briefly- Auroville was a farce, so we decided not to stay there, but to spend a few more days in Pondicherry before heading north. Most of the places I want to visit are in the north anyways, but it was too cold to stay there when I first landed. I can hardly believe I've already been here three weeks though.
More on everything later. Hopefully also pictures soon.
<3
You went in traffic? I'd piss myself to be honest. Every video seen from that area seems to a league of super human natives surviving a crazed death trap of honking and speed. Especially on a wee little moped. D:
ReplyDeleteToo bad about the coffee, but damn that chai sounds delicious. I broke down and bought a chai at a local cafe yesterday and it was so full of spices I pretty much gagged on it. How about sending a couple gallons of that street brew back to the states pretty lady?
<3
-J