Pondicherry

There is a bit of French aura in India and it is called Pondicherry.

We had been planning for an all girls trip for a long time and turns out Pondicherry was the place we were meant to visit.

The last time I traveled on a flight was when I was like 6 so this was literally my first time on a flight.

Boarding Passes

Lucky to have window seats both times

Loved this expansive view of night lights

We reached Chennai, safe and sound into the hands of our master planner Niee and spent the night catching up, digging into jar truffles and raiding Niee’s wardrobe.

Next morning we took a bus to Pondi. The East Coast Road which links Chennai to Pondicherry is so beautiful 😍

If u can, have a road trip along this road. It takes like 3 n half hours to reach Pondicherry and if you have the time you can aaram se stop along this amazing road and take in the beautiful landscapes

After we had refreshed ourselves, we set out for brunch in White town.

At Cafe des Arts

The Brunch Spread

White town holds the French essence of Pondicherry. It is spaced out with colonial style buildings with vibrant colors.

The architecture of the churches is incredible.

Basilica of Sacred heart of Jesus

Eglis de Notre Dame des Agnes

Architecture inside

We also visited the Aurobindo Ashram.

Other places to visit in white town are

Immaculate conception cathedral

Sri Manakula Vinayagar temple

Botanical Gardens

Pondicherry Museum

Park Monument

Next we went to the Paradise beach. The water is soo bluee… It’s a refreshing feeling to just look at it.

Take a boat ride from Chunnambar Boat house to Paradise beach and enjoy these clear waters.

Shadow art 😁

In the evening, we did a bit of bar hopping

We checked out Icecubes and Crosskeys.

If you want a more relaxed night life experience, visit the Le Club garden restaurant or any open rooftop restaurant and don’t miss out on ordering the wine.

One of the best things to do in Pondi is to watch the sunrise. And what better place than the Promenade Beach.

Grab a coffee from Le Cafe and sit on the rocks to watch the sun rise up.

Later stroll along the Promenade and see the many statues here.

Mahatma Gandhi statue

French war memorial

Joan of Arc statue

Dupliex statue

Kargil war memorial

Old lighthouse

We also visited Coromandal Cafe.

Most of the cafes here are like eateries equipped with boutiques and books. It’s a break to recharge your batteries.

Stop along on Serenity beach on the way to Auroville

We visited Matrimandir to see the Golden Globe. It’s a meditating center and visitors are allowed to see it only from a view point.

Its a 2 km walk to the viewing point. Enjoy the relaxed walk or if you want rent a cycle along.

Auroville is an experimental town where people from all the world are allowed to live in harmony irrespective of religion and race.

A beautiful thought!! 😊

See the Auro beach too

We visited Bakers street to complete the French cuisine cravings and also to take some for home.

Evening we returned back our bikes and came back to Chennai. But we didn’t leave Chennai without tasting the spicy Chettinaad chicken 😋

Street graffiti

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B 13 Solo Seat

I mostly avoid watching horror movies in the theater because well it doesn’t let me sleep at night. 

Before this, I did watch IT with my friends but that didn’t scare me. Then for the “Darkest Chapter in the Conjuring Universe”, we couldn’t get our group seats, so each of us had to go solo. 

And I got B 13.

This number has horror significance in Hindi movies. And I thought solo seat B 13 to the show of The Nun – I need to make sure I don’t scream out aloud. 

But it wasn’t truly a horror experience. For one, “Nun” of the scenes were scary. I mean Conjuring 1 scenes are still fresh in my mind but nothing in The Nun could make me feel that, you know, the heart thud. Most of the scenes were just jump horror – oh there’s someone behind you, oh something is gonna fall from the top. After a time even Valak stops looking terrifying. 

And secondly, the packed theater audience kept laughing and wolf whistling and clapping whenever Frenchie came on screen. It all dilutes the paranomal experience you see. 

Am I upto a solo real horror movie night again? Ohoo, I don’t know. Because this one just happened. Maybe if the next one also just happens. I’ll really never know 👻

Travel Weekends in June

I have been wanting to do this post from quite some time now but I didn’t know how to go about it. Then the inspiration of Journaling struck me and I decided to start a journal of my own! 

It’s a journal cum scarpbook cum bullet list cum photo album cum a-bit-of-everything 😁

Rule of Journaling : There is no right or wrong way, there is just your way. So even though the doodles are a bit clumsy and the layout has minute faults everywhere, it’s just a reflection of me in it. i.e. A person who thinks she is organized in her mind but is an actual mayhem at everything 😜

So here it goes. My first ever journal entry. 🙃

In June, I had coincidentally three back to back trips happening, so I thought of commemorating June with a Travel weekend theme. 

This is my June calendar. Man, I swear the neon wasn’t so popping out when I applied the first coat, so I kept applying and then 💥 my eyes were watering 😂

Because the pre requisite to travel is packing and the outcome of travel is shopping. 

It was a quick day trip to Mumbai. Despite that, I think we did pretty well. Hi-five✋ Flygirl and Ani. 

And that is it for my first journal entry. 😊