14th August 2008
I am booked on a flight at 4.20pm to Chennai enroute to Pondicherry.
I shut shop on the 13th thinking this is going to be a memorable trip and the first one in many years with a close friend to a place that is got some family history.
There’s one little problem. I don’t board the flight.
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Instead I’m standing in the 4 hour long traffic jam going towards my parents’ house in Noida (outskirts of Delhi on the opposite side of town). There is a “bandh” due farmers protesting, there are cars burnt, 200 policeman, rain has brought the capital to its knees and I’m thinking – God, not now please. So here I am stuck in my car where instead I should be checking into Delhi airport with a happy smile in an attempt to find peace and heaven.
The miraculous little gadget – the cell phone is my savior – I call the airline and manage to get my flight rescheduled to 5.30am for the 15th of August (India’s Independence Day) hoping I will have got Independence from my situation by then.
So I call a friend to give him an update and end up talking to him for a while till I cross the bridge into the suburb. He does manage to keep me a little distracted from my perilous situation. The road by this time feels like a sardine can packed with cars was spilled on the road. My checkin time at the airport is 3.20pm, instead I check in at home at that time, completely exhausted on the other side of town!!!???!! Instead of fretting about it too much I tell the tale to my folks, while I have chicken curry and rice. Then fall asleep promptly choosing not to think about it anymore. Then I get a head massage and fall asleep again. Its pouring, dark and cold outside and the news says –
“Delhi struck by 5 hour long jams and continuous down pour”! – I don’t regret my decision to change flights.
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Day 2
15th August 2008
I am booked on a flight at 4.20pm to Chennai enroute to Pondicherry.
I shut shop on the 13th thinking this is going to be a memorable trip and the first one in many years with a close friend to a place that is got some family history.
There’s one little problem. I don’t board the flight.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Instead I’m standing in the 4 hour long traffic jam going towards my parents’ house in Noida (outskirts of Delhi on the opposite side of town). There is a “bandh” due farmers protesting, there are cars burnt, 200 policeman, rain has brought the capital to its knees and I’m thinking – God, not now please. So here I am stuck in my car where instead I should be checking into Delhi airport with a happy smile in an attempt to find peace and heaven.
The miraculous little gadget – the cell phone is my savior – I call the airline and manage to get my flight rescheduled to 5.30am for the 15th of August (India’s Independence Day) hoping I will have got Independence from my situation by then.
So I call a friend to give him an update and end up talking to him for a while till I cross the bridge into the suburb. He does manage to keep me a little distracted from my perilous situation. The road by this time feels like a sardine can packed with cars was spilled on the road. My checkin time at the airport is 3.20pm, instead I check in at home at that time, completely exhausted on the other side of town!!!???!! Instead of fretting about it too much I tell the tale to my folks, while I have chicken curry and rice. Then fall asleep promptly choosing not to think about it anymore. Then I get a head massage and fall asleep again. Its pouring, dark and cold outside and the news says –
“Delhi struck by 5 hour long jams and continuous down pour”! – I don’t regret my decision to change flights.
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Day 2
15th August 2008
I’m booked again on a 5.30am flight to Chennai enroute Pondicherry.
Our hosts are Roshan Thomas his wife Susan and their adorable little daughter Annie who has made friends with Leena (my travel partner and friend for the longest time). I see Leena waving both her hands in the air and I dont remember a warmer welcome in the recent past. She had gotten there from Mumbai the night before and had her 5hr sleep. The Thomas's go out of thier way to be good hosts and take us for breakfast to resturant at 8am that serves the yummiest dosas in town. By the way I dint know that resturants open that early in the south because in Delhi all of them open around 11am. We stuff our stomachs. Thank god! because the next part of journey is is going to another interesting bit.
About 11.30am we are running waving down a local bus to Pondicherry!-
Our hosts are Roshan Thomas his wife Susan and their adorable little daughter Annie who has made friends with Leena (my travel partner and friend for the longest time). I see Leena waving both her hands in the air and I dont remember a warmer welcome in the recent past. She had gotten there from Mumbai the night before and had her 5hr sleep. The Thomas's go out of thier way to be good hosts and take us for breakfast to resturant at 8am that serves the yummiest dosas in town. By the way I dint know that resturants open that early in the south because in Delhi all of them open around 11am. We stuff our stomachs. Thank god! because the next part of journey is is going to another interesting bit.
About 11.30am we are running waving down a local bus to Pondicherry!-
Since we had not done enough research on it and dint know that it was far better to either book a volvo from near the airport or hire a cab (which Leena did suggest but I had shot down for some silly reason).
The bus has one cramped narrow aisle which seems to be the only place for us. Leena takes cue from a woman standing right behind me - she sits on the floor of the bus. We are both amused at ourselves but soon settle down and start catching up on life. This is natural. We do manage to take some pics.
We get to our destination without any other worth telling story! (for a change) and meet our hosts there - Sabastien and Sandra. Sandra only joined him three weeks before we got there but already looks like a pro riding her bycycle through the very crowded, bustling and polluted streets. By then we had got ourselves the Rs. 40 a day hired bicycles for the rest of the trip.
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Wait a minute - the still not over - how can it be?? Its me remember??:-)
Okay I'll save you the suspense - I unknowingly donate money worth 2 trips like that to an old lady! - yes my wallet gets stollen along with cash and cards and drivers licence. But I chose to have insomia within an hour of the incident but did have little flashes of reminders for the rest of the trip. Amazingly, I wasnt really devasted. Only a bit hassled about my drivers licence which is a bit of a pain to get remade when u've never looked it for more than a decade.
The picture on the left is taken less than hour before "the incident"!
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Day 3
16th August 2008
List of achievements
- Sunrise @6am
- 25km bicycle ride (i wish i could paste Leena's glorious expression here)
The bus has one cramped narrow aisle which seems to be the only place for us. Leena takes cue from a woman standing right behind me - she sits on the floor of the bus. We are both amused at ourselves but soon settle down and start catching up on life. This is natural. We do manage to take some pics.
We get to our destination without any other worth telling story! (for a change) and meet our hosts there - Sabastien and Sandra. Sandra only joined him three weeks before we got there but already looks like a pro riding her bycycle through the very crowded, bustling and polluted streets. By then we had got ourselves the Rs. 40 a day hired bicycles for the rest of the trip.
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Wait a minute - the still not over - how can it be?? Its me remember??:-)
Okay I'll save you the suspense - I unknowingly donate money worth 2 trips like that to an old lady! - yes my wallet gets stollen along with cash and cards and drivers licence. But I chose to have insomia within an hour of the incident but did have little flashes of reminders for the rest of the trip. Amazingly, I wasnt really devasted. Only a bit hassled about my drivers licence which is a bit of a pain to get remade when u've never looked it for more than a decade.The picture on the left is taken less than hour before "the incident"!
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Day 3
16th August 2008
List of achievements
- Sunrise @6am
- 25km bicycle ride (i wish i could paste Leena's glorious expression here)
- Still had courage enough to eat at Rendezvous
Ofcourse, I dont think any seaside destination is done justice to till you've seen some awsome sunsets and rises. We did that bit. And again there were more people than i expected at 6am.
Ofcourse, I dont think any seaside destination is done justice to till you've seen some awsome sunsets and rises. We did that bit. And again there were more people than i expected at 6am.
I must mention the closest thing to a french bakery which serves croissants at 7.30am. Its called Da
ily Bread and is quite busy even that early in the morning. Sandra and Sabastien joined us there then after a leisurely breakfast we headed to Auroville. The ride between Pondicherry and Auroville is about 7km through a very busy, noisy, polluted and potentially dangereuous main road. But people seem to be used to cyclists which ofcourse does not mean that you are safe.
ily Bread and is quite busy even that early in the morning. Sandra and Sabastien joined us there then after a leisurely breakfast we headed to Auroville. The ride between Pondicherry and Auroville is about 7km through a very busy, noisy, polluted and potentially dangereuous main road. But people seem to be used to cyclists which ofcourse does not mean that you are safe.We stopped at a bea
ch. And from there Auroville was another 4km in the opposite direction. I dont think I want to say much about the beach. I'll simply say that its not a "touristy" beach. So we just sat around at the local eating joint and had juice and conversation. Then proceeded to Aroville and I will let the pictures speak......
And we did see the centre of Auroville after all......the Banyan tree and the meditation center (Matri Mandir) just a few hundred feet from it.
ch. And from there Auroville was another 4km in the opposite direction. I dont think I want to say much about the beach. I'll simply say that its not a "touristy" beach. So we just sat around at the local eating joint and had juice and conversation. Then proceeded to Aroville and I will let the pictures speak......And we did see the centre of Auroville after all......the Banyan tree and the meditation center (Matri Mandir) just a few hundred feet from it.
A very special mention to Leena for putting up a brave smile and trying to ignor
e aching legs, hands and some muscles she discovered on that fatal day. By this time she had dropped all her plans to get a bicycle for herself back in Mumbai!!! - lets not even go there. And Sandra for being her guardian angel riding right behind her all the way there and back and saving the day.
e aching legs, hands and some muscles she discovered on that fatal day. By this time she had dropped all her plans to get a bicycle for herself back in Mumbai!!! - lets not even go there. And Sandra for being her guardian angel riding right behind her all the way there and back and saving the day. Dinner saved day! - it was a 45 minute wait for the food at Rendezvous but the prawn dish I ordered made up for it completely.
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Day 4
16th August 2008
We get caught between a rioting mob somewhere in a village between Pondicherry and Chennai!!!
We get caught between a rioting mob somewhere in a village between Pondicherry and Chennai!!!
I think the fact that we were in a state government bus saved us for sure. We could see atleast about 70-100 angry men on the outskirts of the village with logs, sticks, beer bottle and anything that they could get thier hands on. Angry faces, frothing at the mouth and running towards anything that wanted to pass through the village. We saw some busses that were of superior make that were standing on the roadside with windows blown to bits. The personal cars passing by were getting the same treatment.
Everyone was holding thier breath.
Thats when i noticed that even the most ordinary people in India have cellphones. Its a good thing. You never know when its going to be handy. Maybe just to say goodbye to your family..........
The woman next to me was making quiet calls to her husband and at one point held on to my arm when glass was shattering. Leena was nervous too and praying for things to calm down to be able to go back to her daughter safely. I was nervous - but when I think back I think I was Calm. I guess that because there is nothing much one can do when there are a 100 angry and violent people to deal with.
We were held up for atleast 45 minutes and then took a detour from the village and reached Chennai at 5pm back at Roshan's house.
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Day 5
Both had very early flights back home. I think we could both barely smile from the exhaustion when we said goodbye.
Leena and I agree on one thing though - The gods could not handle us together in one place at one time!!!!
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I had wished for Independence from my boring life - Hahahah!!!
Moral of the story - Be careful what you wish for.
PS - Its been less than a week from the day I got back and I'm already looking forward to my next trip. And looking for a travel buddy.
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Day 5
Both had very early flights back home. I think we could both barely smile from the exhaustion when we said goodbye.
Leena and I agree on one thing though - The gods could not handle us together in one place at one time!!!!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I had wished for Independence from my boring life - Hahahah!!!
Moral of the story - Be careful what you wish for.
PS - Its been less than a week from the day I got back and I'm already looking forward to my next trip. And looking for a travel buddy.
