South by South-East - Tamil Nadu

Arriving in the south really felt like somewhere different, the dry desert air of Rajasthan replaced with the wet humid air of the tropics. As you approached Chennai, from the train window were the familiar rice paddies, which had been absent for too long, themselves replacing the dry, baren fields of the north.

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The changes were not restricted to the environment, the cuisine also changing from chappati/roti based to a rice dominated diet, evident as you alight from the train with Briyani shops lining the platform.

'Pondi' school kids at the foreshore

Chennai is not anything to get too excited about, unless you like IT work or call centres that is, and merely served as a transit point for us. Although it is home to what is apparently Asia's Biggest Bus Station, reflecting the Indian ideal of attempting to out do everyone at very strange things (longest toe nails, greatest distance covered by crawling and all that)? Anyways, the bus station is big!

So from Chennai it was pretty much straight down to Pondicherry, after having negotiated a bit of a dodgey bus ride with some very blatant pick pockets. After getting on and screaming and shouting to get us to change seats and move our bags, they came down and sat next to us and basically spent the next 20 minutes trying to jam their hands into all our pockets and bags... Fortunately after returning the shouting in their direction and not having any luck on the theiving stakes they decided to get off before too long!

Ghandi play equipment

Pondicherry is quite a relaxed town with a very French feel, somewhat Saigon-esque with the big provincial style French mansions and tree lined streets. Thankfully there are very few cars in the coastal bit of the town and those autorickshaws which are found there use hand powered horns rather than the industrial strength version adopted elsewhere. Although obviously this niceness isn't a secret, and accommodation was very hard to come by, we went through 7 guesthouses before finding a free room, elsewhere we haven't ever encountered more than one place without a room in any town!

How about 'don't use your cellphone while driving'?

Though it was pretty damn hot, even walking around in the early morning took it out of you and had to seek refuge in one of the many upmarket boutiques... Being on the coast you would think there would be some ocean respite, however the many signs saying no swimming and the brown rippy looking water are a bit of a turn off. The ocean ends up seeming to tease you - 'water, water everywhere but not a drop to swim in!'

Sisters have their timeout

Pondi is another Ashram town and it seems as though the local ashram basically owns the whole town, most of the hotels and many of the shops being their extra-cirricular concerns. As a result there are quite a few of the deeply self-centred types we encountered in Rishikesh, though fortunately not to the same extent... Though it was quite humorous to see all the tourists trying to out-Indian the locals and then complaining about how their coffee was made...

Evening stroll

The strong French influence also brought a welcomed change to the food options with excellent bread and bakery treats becoming available and being thoroughly over indulged in during our stay...

The scenic highlight of Pondi is the ocean promanade which becomes a pretty lively affair in the late afternoon and night. With the prerequisite Ghandi statue for the kids to use as play equipment, ice cream sellers (who were circling the big groups of school children like vultures) and TV crews, it seemed as though most of Pondicherry's population converges there after work each day. The cool sea breeze even somewhat makes up for the lack of swimming...

Damn you!!

Sunday in Pondicherry was pretty much a non-event as absolutely all shops are closed, replaced by market stalls all over the footpath. Interesting to see just how sleepy an otherwise laid back town can become!

One thought was why do they use the word 'cum' in absolutely every sign and ticket in India? 'Reservation cum ticket', 'exhibition cum sale', bed cum seat' 'conference hall cum resaurant'?? Why can't they just be what they are?

Plenty more room

Also while in Pondicherry we did some serious rearranging of our travel plans, requiring some back tracking to Chennai to sort out our tickets, before taking a train to Kerala on the other side of the country. Maybe it was just because we liked Chennai so much?

Just don't shave the forehead

So we ended up having a bit more time to enjoy Chennai and did discover that it is home to some pretty good food, particularly the local favourites - 'dosa' and 'idly', making a very refreshing breakfast change! It also should be noted that the people made a very refreshing change from those in the north, as everyone is definitely much more laid back and chilled out - again, you've got to love the tropics!

'You are getting sleepy'...weighing ourselves became an addictive habit

Returning to the train station to change our tickets we encountered a big union protest with many angry people and firecrackers going off, which made us a bit nervous as we tried to get past. Though it seems as though protests are a way of life in India, as they seem to be going on all the time in addition to the continuous strikes by various unions?

Chennai Central

We had to sort out quite a few ticket changes, flights, trains etc, necessitating a few autorickshaw rides around town.. anyways, we don't know how they do it, but seems the autorickshaw drivers always know where you are headed... while guessing you might be heading somewhere touristy or getting it right once or twice would be understandable, they seemed to be getting it right everytime? To Singapore Airlines when leaving the Indian Airlines office, to Amex, to the Train Station, they must have some microphones hidden everywhere or somethink? The truth is out there...

Gotta double check your name before boarding...