Ashish KumarThere are moments in travel that have a particular impact . that don’t just momentarily impress or entertain us, but which lodge in our memories. Sometimes they change the way we see the world .They might urge us towards with renewed energy,or teach us something about ourselves we’d never considered before.
During the third semester of engineering in navratri we got long weekend holidays . At some point of time in hostel we all were experiencing moment of loneliness as college hostel used to got empty during festive time.Also our home town was too far and we mostly used to go home only in semester gap.Now what to do and we came up with plan to visit nearby tourist spot .
Finally we nine people namely Rohit Singh, Shashikant , Kumar Saurav,Mayur Mahanta, Jayprakash ,Devrath, Nitesh Saxena, Nilesh and me planned to go for trip. In beginning everyone was excited but little scared as none of us had ever gone for any trip alone before that and it was the first time we all were independently travelling somewhere.
Who can forget their first trip of his /her life .Our first ever trip was to Pondicherry .We were beside ourself with excitement about both the trip and going to see the sea first time in the life.
So after having breakfast in our hostel mess we started our journey for Pondicherry around 9 a.m from our college hostel back Oct,2009.Bangalore to Pondicherry is around 320 kilometers that takes roughly 6 hours and 30 minutes. It was shortest route as suggested by our hired car driver so we took Bangalore → Hosur → Krishnagiri → Chengam → Tiruvannamalai → Tindivanam → Pondicherry route .
Pondicherry is the largest French colonial city in India. It boasts multiple colonial style buildings, churches, memorials, and statues which are excellently preserved and once in Pondicherry, you lose yourself in its quaint and old time ambience.
The Tiruvannamalai route was the shortest, but not in ideal conditions, owing to traffic and intermittent bad patches but the roads leading to Pondicherry gave us an exciting journey with spectacular stops to blow your mind. Our first stop was at road side Punjabi Dhaba , which was full on in desi style also food were at regional cost .
Enrouting to Pondicherry our next stop was Sri Arunachaleswarar Temple, at Tiruvannamalai -After receiving blessing and having little snack we moved on for our destination.
Around 7 p.m. we reached Auroville beach Pondicherry. The beach is the first point of the city of Pondicherry, that’s gets encountered.As suggested by our college senior we got a cottage at reasonable price. After walking around and inquiring at almost every hut, we finally got settled for Rs. 100/ night at a cottage facing the beach. After putting in our bags, we decided to explore the area a little bit more then went out for dinner .
It was colder in the morning while winds were still high. We decided to, then and there, go to the beach to watch the sunrise. There were not so many people on the beach except the local fishermen and some visitors. The shore was full of sea-shells washed away by the high tides of the night.We decided to soak our selves in the sea.
At first everyone was scared to enter the sea . Soon we were in our shorts and we were ready to enter inside the sea.The waves were roaring and getting higher. However, still the sun was bright in the sky and sand was cold .
Auroville beach, pondicherry, open all the time, is famous for being calm, bamboo cottages and quiet turtle walk along the beach during sunrise. After having loads of fun enjoying in the sea and overcome our fear for sea.Then, we decided to retreat to our cottages. After changing our clothes, we went out to see the other part of city .
Rock beach/ Gandhi beach/Promenade beach in Pondicherry has always been one of the most visited tourist spots of Pondicherry. This beach was situated in the heart of the city and being most popular among the tourist. Also there was statue of Mahatma Gandhi .
It was a different experience to sit at the rocks and let the waves drench us with water when they hit against the rocks. The rock beach use to get crowded in the evening ,even culture tradition program are organised in the evening near the seashore.
Pondicherry was like a dream. A beautiful dream full of clean sandy beaches, laid back colourful streets and European architecture. It’s quite a bizarre feeling seeing all French on street signs, cafés and from people’s mouths here! But, the food was to die for. A perfect taste of home and welcome comfort food. We visited Aurovindo Ashram over there.
White Town is like every photographers dream. The typical Pondicherry scenes were vintage bicycles perched up against vibrant yellow walls with oil lamps.
We simply enjoyed just walking around the streets there. Seeing all the effortless beauty of the buildings and the life which was going on around them. The Tuk-Tuk drivers taking it easy, the fruit stalls and the smell of the patisseries baking in the air.
Later in the evening we went to the Paradise beach . It is the small island near coromandal cost of pondicherry approx 10km from the town.We reached the Chunnambar Boat House at Cuddalore road and went straight to the ticket counter .
A small motor boat accomodated 14 people only .Nice, clean boat .Within a short time we entered into the main stream of Chunnambar river (similar to backwater ) . The boat journey was really fantastic ….. cool breeze & waves, greeneries on both sides ….. an unforgettable experiences !! It took 20 mins to reach our destination – Paradise Beach Island .
One side with back waters, where we navigate through the boat and the other with serene & pristine beach.After getting down from our boat we proceeded towards the serene beach through a well laid concrete lane.Soon after few minutes of walking we reached the main beach area ,nice, clean beach with fine white sands and blue sea water.
The waves are a bit rough and currents are strong so you can’t venture too deep into the sea. Swimming also is highly avoidable due to rough sea, but you can wade upto your waist that’s it .There are lots of beach/life guards to caution you not allow you to enter too deep into the sea.
The white sand beach has a great stretch where you can have a beach walk feel the cool breeze and big waves a true gift from nature !!We stayed for 3 hrs in this serene beach island.Enjoyed fully ,just amazing !Also we were allowed to stay in the beach for 2 – 3 hrs on the boat ticket.The same ticket offers the return ride also.
In evening we spend some time in Rock beach and walking through the street and market of Pondicherry . Later after having dinner we started our journey back to hostel.
Fantastic….place
Sabse mast trip😊😊
Memory taja kar Diya
Beautiful memories n it was our unbelievable cheapest trip with full enjoyment..right? Remember on our return journey the driver slept before reaching the hostel?
Fantastic place..and pics are awesome.