Exploring the Subcontinent: 5 Days in Puducherry

Hello again from India! I'm on a blogging roll- I think I'm getting re-inspired to tell some stories. We most recently went on a five day trip to Puducherry (used to be Pondicherry), colloquially known as Pondy. Our first stop was to a place called Dakshina Chitra, whose purpose is to preserve the traditional crafts and architecture of Southern India. Then we visited a crocodile preserve, which was really cool because I got to see all sorts of different animals native to India, including a beautiful blue kingfisher. We then stayed in a beautiful resort called Covelong, complete with an amazing pool and beach access, as well as incredible service. Oh the joys of studying abroad! Getting to stay in places that I never would be able to back in the States. Also the joys of studying abroad in Asia- everything is cheaper in general. We also visited some ancient Hindu temples at Mamallapuram, which was awesome because we learned about different art symbolism in Hindu reliefs. The carvings were both ancient and beautiful, though the day was hot and humid, and it was definitely an interesting stop. We also stayed at the Dunes Eco Resort, another amazing place, where we were provided with bicycles, our own house to stay in, more beach access, more pool time, and opportunities to do yoga and milk a cow, both of which I did. It was always a wonderful feeling to return from a long, super hot and humid day touring temples and just swim for several hours or run around by the Bay of Bengal. However, my roommate and I had the most ridiculous door, aka a vault for a safe. Seriously, it probably took us about 10 minutes to realize that we weren't going to even be able to lock it before someone came and helped us out. Many expletives (not from me) ensued. We did manage to get it open and closed on the first try later on though... perseverance!

The next day we headed to Auroville, an idealistic community not religiously affiliated on the outskirts of Pondy. We began the day by visiting their business group that helps employ women and victims of disasters, then took tours around various other places of the village. There are multiple projects focused on sustainability, such as making their own bricks and such, but the two main principles of the community are Peace and Humanity, focusing on creating a place without politics and religion, both of which create factions and strife. Founded by the "Mother," Auroville has since continued to expand and is now internationally known as an experimental community. There are quite a few foreigners there and our main tour was given by a Frenchman. However, as idealistic as this sounds, there were certainly quite a few flaws with the place, including the fact that they were using vast amounts of resources to create this massive, golden ball meant to represent the birth of human consciousness, when they're directly surrounded by some of the most impoverished of the world. It becomes hard to justify such expenditures, regardless of how the money was given, when as an outside observer, you realize how much more could be done to help others with those funds. All in all, it was an intriguing visit and it certainly gave us much to ponder, though I'm almost positive that none of us are planning on living there anytime soon.

We also visited the Neyveli Lignite Mine, though I must admit, I remember almost nothing from that visit because I was both feverish and nauseated. This was about the day that everyone began falling ill, either with sore throats or nausea and the dust and heat of the mine certainly did not help. The visit itself was really awesome and we got to meet with the director of the mining operation in a boardroom-like setting, complete with those little microphones and such. That was an incredibly long day and we ended up eating lunch at around 3 PM, which was fine for me because I didn't have much of an appetite.

On our last day, we visited the Chidambaram Natraja Temple, which most likely dates from before 1,000 AD and was built out of local granite and gneiss. Representing the dancing reincarnation of Shiva, Natraja is well honored in this temple, with four main gates, superbly decorated. The temple was quite possibly one of my favorite stops of the trip so far. We entered the inner sanctum, in which pictures are not allowed and encountered an amazing world of priests in white with ash smeared on their foreheads, bells ringing, massive stone reliefs, smells of incense and fire, and sights of rice and coconut offerings. It was just amazing that a structure built so long ago could continue to be so active and relevant in world where computers and cellphones appear to be the norm. It was as if entering the temple was like entering into ancient India - a porthole of sorts into the past. After visiting this temple, we headed to the second largest Mangrove forest in the world and boated around, which was a refreshing end to the day.

It was great to be back in travel mode, though our schedule was nowhere near as intense as it was during the four months in China. I've gotten so much sleep, lately, it's amazing! We're heading into Chennai today, so more updates later.

If you want larger versions of these pictures, just click on the first one and blogger will take you to a slideshow set-up. Much better way to view them! Thanks for reading =)