Meet a man who is passionate about his city Pondicherry and Design your perfect itenerary

I would also like to introduce you to Mr. Joshi, owner of Vijay Arya 2 wheeler Rental service who can be instrumental in designing you itinerary. The best part is that Mr. Joshi is very passionate about his city and well versed with every nook and cranny of the city. Tell him about the duration of your stay in the city and he will design the itinerary for you in minutes. His itinerary is very detailed along with things like today is Sunday, this place will open after lunch or this will be crowded at that time and so on. He will tell you where you will get the best French breakfast in the city (Still remember we had our breakfast in Hot Breads upon guidance of Mr. Joshi and it was one of its kind)and best cafes to get the feel of French cuisine along with the budget piece of it. He will tell you about where you will get the Best filter coffee in Pondicherry, about the must visit kind of places, about the restaurants which offers a good view but bad food. He will do all of this without charging any money. He is very genuine, religious guy. He will only charge you for renting 2 wheeler. And even if you do want to rent 2 wheeler, not a problem you can directly call him at 9345 425 099 to clear your doubts and to plan your trip. He will also guide you about the 1 lane traffic system of the Pondicherry which can trouble you initially. 

He helped us a lot during our trip. 

Disclaimer: This is not any kind of advertisement but genuine effort towards helping readers in designing their itinerary.

Also check my post on Introduction to Puducherry here

 If you like this post, please like my Facebook page.

Trip to Pondicherry - Little France

Are Puducherry and Pondicherry  same or different ?

 This puzzle is giving me the great confusion and Google search is also not a respite. So, let me give brief introduction about it.

The union territory of Puducherry consists of 4 small unconnected districts which have preserved the French Heritage and culture:

1. Pondicherry: It is the most important and largest district and is also the capital of Puducherry Union territory. It is in Tamil Nadu state only.

2. Karaikal: It is the 2^nd largest territory in Puducherry. It is also in Tamil Nadu state.

3. Yanam: This place is in Andhra Pradesh.

4. Mahe: This place is in Kerala and popularly known as Mayyazhi which means “Eyebrow of the sea.” And as it is the only district of Puducherry which lies on west coast, it is also called as “Eyebrow of the Arabian sea.”

Isn’t it great to know that Puducherry union territory has districts from 3 states of India and this have regions which lies on both: Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea. I think its unique geography and history is not the only thing what sets this place apart. Its every nook and corner have stories which keeps the tourists engaged.

Pondicherry, commonly known as Pondy, which is the most important and largest district is also known by different names like“Quintessence of French Culture”, “Little France “and“The French Riviera of the East.”

This multicultural city of Pondicherry offers 3 experiences to the visitor.   

1. ·        Auroville/MatriMandir: Read about it here and here.  
2. ·        Sand beaches : Read here
   
3. ·        French colonies/Churches &    Promenade Beach Road
   
   
   
   
   

And of course its French cuisine and tax free alcohol (Being a Union Territory) which goes without saying.

If you like this post, please like my Facebook page.

Auroville's Banyan Tree - Geographical Centre of Auroville Township

 Even after watching the introductory video at Auroville, people were ignoring this tree like any

other tree and its hurts me that they failed to admire its beauty, shape and size and its peculiar feature of aerial roots which means their roots are above the ground and grow from branches towards the ground and become new trunks.

 

Banyan tree is also known as Vatagach ,Nyagrodhah, Bargad, Vata, and in India it is also referred to as the ‘wish fulfilling’ tree. This tree has numerous health benefits.  Some of its useful parts are leaf buds, bark, latex and used in medicines. 

This very special tree, The Banyan, was chosen by the Mother to be at the heart or center of the Auroville Township, and she called the centre 'Peace’. It is also geographical centre of this place and holds a special significance in Auroville.

A walk to remember - Post 2 :Auroville Visitors Centre(VC) to MatriMandir

1km Nature' walk from VC to MatriMandir

Auroville, pronounced as Aurovi, is an experimental township founded by Mirra Alfassa commonly known as Mother. This is not a tourist place actually; however, this place attracts a lot of tourists. I will cover what it is all about in another post. This post is about the advice for the common visitors. 

If you happen to visit this place, First of all you have to report to Auroville Visitors centre to collect your free pass to visit MatriMandir. Here you will be shown 1 short video of 10 minutes to educate you about the Auroville, its aims, objectives and instructions and directions to be followed in Auroville.

After collecting your passes, you have to walk to MatriMandir viewing point which is about 1 km long Nature's walk, from the visitor centre. There are shuttle buses also available free of cost but I would recommend you to walk down the path to reach Auroville. 

Not because it is simply a nature walk full of greenery but because you will encounter lot of wisdom in form of boards on your path to inculcate in your daily life. 

Nature's walk

This is not 100 year Banyan tree that is referred commonly in Auroville but another Tree with its peculiar feature of aerial roots which means their roots are above the ground and grow from branches towards the ground and become new trunks. This Romantic gesture caught my eyes immediately.

Chunnambar Paradise (Plage Paradiso)Beach - Pondicherry

3rd Feb, 2014 Monday

When I was planning to go to Pondicherry, I was just browsing on the net about Pondicherry and came to know that one of beautiful thing that this city also called as “French Riviera of the East” has to offer is its Sand beaches. 

The 2 most popular beaches are Serenity beach and Paradise beach; however there are numerous offbeat beaches along the Cuddalore road which I will unleash in other posts. 

Paradise beach, quite true to its name, is located 8 km past Pondicherry on Cuddalore road and is famous as Chunnambar beach. So, Ask for Chunnambar boat house while asking for directions. To reach this beach, one has to take the 20 minute Boat ride in Chunnambar backwaters from Chunnambar boat house. It is located at the place where Chunnambar River enters into the Bay of Bengal. The charges for shared boat for to and fro journey are 150 bucks and are fixed. One can also take a solo boat, speed boat but that can be little expensive. 

On Our way to Paradise Beach

There is also motor route to this beach but local people are not even aware of that and that route is quite isolated too. We tried to go by that route as we have hired Activa but at the end give up upon the advice of other people. But I am Curious till date about that route because once you see the beach; it is difficult to imagine that there is road route to this place also and I am sure it would be quite scenic and isolated.

As we boarded the boat at 4pm, we were quite excited to see what lies ahead and if it is really paradise. The boat ride in backwaters offers splendid views though not as beautiful as that of Allepey, keral Backwaters but still they are strong enough to remind me of my Kerala trip. As the boat took turn, the view takes our breath away. And we started waiting eagerly for it. Once we reached, we ran towards the beach.

This is the view of Beach as we get down from the ferry

This is the View of Chunnambar backwater after we get down from ferry

Boatman announced that last boat to return is at 5:30pm and also his colleague obstructed him to say that last boat is at 5 pm. We got the point he is trying to make.

It was really very beautiful. Fine sand, little crowd, Crystal Clear water on both sides: one side Chunnambar river and other bay of Bengal , all this is adding to its beauty and making it really a great paradise. 

Paradise Beach

There is also 1 restaurant that offers only Cigarettes, Beer, water and Beverages. The vastness of sea makes you feel like a speck of dust on earth and yes which we are in front of nature. There were also lifeguards at this place ensuring that nobody crosses the limits. 

Add caption

We took long walks over there with some great chats we ever had. Then at 5 pm, we started back and reached back at 6pm across Chunnambar.

On our return Journey to Chunnambar

 It was little late for us as we have to reach Club Mahindra resort which is on the same Cuddalore road but it is 3.5 km off the highway and it was unsafe to travel that road during night on 2 wheeler though not a big deal if you are travelling by car. 

I highly recommend this place to people going to Pondicherry. If time is less, skip serenity beach but not this one. We have also skipped serenity Beach. Also, prefer, early morning or evenings to get some good photograph and some good time. The most enjoyable activity is stroll across the not so crowded beach.

If you like this post, please like my Facebook page.

 

Club Mahindra Zest Big Beach Resort - Pondicherry

This place is 2.5 km off the Highway, Cuddalore road which is the added advantage. As soon as you take the turn, your life will change for a while as there is no traffic and honking. Just to give you the idea, one can see the dogs sleeping in the middle of the road without any worries. And that is what sets it apart. If you are coming from Pondicherry, you have to take a left turn just after the Vels restaurant or just before the Mahatma Gandhi hospital. But don’t worry about it; Zest has put enough no. of board to direct you. Even it is written at police barricades to control the traffic. I don’t think locating this property is a challenge. 

On Our route to Zest Resort

As soon as we entered, there was 1 lady who welcomed us with welcome drink and tilak. After that, we showed the booking voucher at the reception and the checkin process was quite smooth. Reception area is quite big and beautiful and right across the huge open lawn, there is sea and thus one is welcome by the cold soothing breeze from the sea.

Reception area

We asked for a room on 1^st floor and the request was readily welcomed. Coracle boat shaped sofas at reception are very comfortable. We were already impressed by the staff and the property.Then 1 lady accompanied us to our room as it was quite far away. She gave us brief overview about the resort, showed us to recreation room and makes us familiar with other places of resort like library etc.

My room 216

On our way to room

As soon as we entered in room, I was flabbergasted by its striking beauty It was surrounded by large trees from all the sides such that if you sit in balcony, you will feel like you are sitting alone somewhere in Jungle specially during night time. 

View from our room

Sea was visible from the corner of the balcony. The best thing is that the wall opposite to bed was made of glass and thus offers a good view while you are trying to sleep or when you are resting. Also, as it was surrounded by trees, so there is no question of someone gazing into your room. This point is valid with only some of the rooms. In other rooms, you have to use curtain to maintain your privacy during night time, however during day time, you can use 1 translucent curtain which will allow you to view the nature and at the same time, prevent someone from outside to look into it. This translucent white colored curtain however will not help you in night because of some laws of physics, refractions and reflections. 

Surprised by this beautiful creation by Housekeeping using towels

 Rooms are provided with all the basic amenities. Room service was good and turnaround time was really quick. There were 2 chairs, 1 sofa and 1 lounge chair; however there was no table and so most of the time; sofa was filled with clothes and other stuff that we carried. Bathroom was good however bathing and the restroom area was separated by only glass. Putting a dark curtain between them will be a good option as I have seen in many other resorts. 

If we talk about food, Buffet charges are 500 for members and 715 for non-members excluding taxes bit on a higher side. However, the spread was really impressive with plenty of options for vegeterians and non vegetarians. It reminds me of Barbeque nation which is known for its Buffet across India.I will recommend you to have buffet at least once. Food service in room is quite expensive.

Swimming Pool during evening time

Alcohol is also available but there were only premium whisky brands matching to the standards of the property. Main Bar is near the dining area and 1 small bar is also available adjoining the swimming pool to give you a liberty of enjoying the drinks in pool.

Swimming pool is well maintained and looks ultimate during night times. Swimming costumes are also available for purchase. The maximum depth is 4ft only so it is safe for children. 

 

If I talk about entertainment piece of it, there is no dearth of the activities. All the indoor and outdoor games are there. There is cricket ground, basketball court, volleyball court, badminton, table tennis, carom board, striker, Xbox 360, chess. Some people were also flying kite there. There was library, cyber cafe, CD/DVDs available. At one of the counter, there was provision for making Tatto, portrait and Mehandi like we find in malls. There is also mini Spa.

Bicycle is also available on rent to take tour of the village. 

Not only this, everyday lot of activities are arranged by Club Mahindra that will keep you engaged like nature walk, games, painting, bonfire  etc. This place offers a lot of things for children. During evening, they play a DJ till 9:30 and opened the dance floor.Even our room was far away from the DJ point, the songs were audible and this can be discomfort for some of the people especially elderly.

And Yes, The Zest Big Beach is the USP (Unique selling proposition) of this property. This is one of the best beach I have ever seen. It was very clean.

There are no water sports available here and I like this very much because that necessarily adds to chaos and disturb the peace and pace of the place. 

On our way to Zest Big beach. This is inside Club Mahindra property

While returning from the beach, I had a small conversation with the guard there who told me how the tsunami of 26^th Dec, 2004 ravaged the beach and washed away the dancing hall of the Club along with many other things. It takes 1 year to renovate the resort. The water has reached the reception. You can appreciate the seriousness once you are in the resort. He also educates us about the fact that how it inflicted severe damage on mangrove and coral reefs, forests along the Coromandel coast. He also shared how he survived. It was an interesting conversation. His love for environment was impressive even when he faced such a huge calamity. Let me come back to the point.

Reception area captured from other end

My stay in resort was hosted by Club Mahindra and I definitely recommend this place to one and all because it has something great to offer to everyone. And also, it will add value to your Pondicherry trip by exposing you to local and offbeat piece of Pondicherry and surrounding villages. 

Go there, unwind yourself, feel closer to nature, and disconnect yourself to connect with yourself.

 
If you like this post, please like my Facebook page.