French Connection

I have spent the last two months doing 2 things. Shopping and oops yes packing that comes after the shopping and catching up friends and family before I leave. Ok theres 3 things. It was the perfect time for me to hone my travel and good eating skills. I started kinda ok and now I think I am quite good at it!! My last and latest destination was Pondicherry (now known as Puducherry) which also happens to be my last home and then to Chennai were I studied.

Pondicherry was as opposed to the rest of India a French Colony instead of British. The French also happened to stay there longer than the British. There is a definite French influence here. From the food, language and culture to the city. Most streets still have French names,most people speak French along with their native language and a huge population of expatriates of not just the French.

These rusty doors house two amazing people. 1. An old school 85 year old Homeopath 2. An Energy Healer, both of whom I have been fortunate enough to have seen when I lived here.

The afore mentioned French Connection. On top is the same name in Tamil the local language.

The other major presence here is that of the spiritual guru Sri Aurobindo whose ashram and therefore the Ashramites form a large chunk of the population.

For tourists the main attraction here is the Mothers tomb inside.

French Connections aside this what Pondicherry is mostly about. India as India is.

These flowers( jasmine) are actually to be worn on your head. On a braid to be more speific. Not that I have enough hair for it, but they kinda give me headache as well :(

These are to be offered to God. The temple is right behind her actually and she threw some stems at me because she didn't want me to take her picture. Sorryyyy!

This is a Tarrot Parrot and I say this not for word rhyme but they actually can "predict" your future. You find them all over India and I have of course had the cute green bird take a crack at my future.

Almost all Indian homes have these outside the house. It is called Rangoli or Kolam. We believe it is auspicious and welcoming. You actually need a lot of artistic talent for these! I actually can create some beautiful ones!!

Cotton Candy!!!

Ahhhh the Beach :)))))
This was modified and made this way after the Tsunami in 2004.

Gandhi at the beach.

My fav spot. Le cafe. The cafe on the beach.

A Kambucha and Nut cake. As opposed to my usual vegan sandwich. And my read.

Now that I have reached food just few pics of my best meals. Cannot put in everything in an already monumental post!

Yummmm Spicy Lemon Coriander Broth with Veggies
I wasn't happy with the stir fried veggies as you can see for obvious reasons. But it tasted good!

Who were my hangs?? These guys..

Awwwww!! Meet Shanti. I met her for the first time myself. New addition.

And her buddy with the butt is good ol' Gazzie.

Well ya I am sure you guessed they belong to my friends whom I stayed with. I didn't actually live in Pondicherry I lived on the outskirts in a Global Community called Auroville. I guess I will put up some pics from there in another post. Unbelievable that I lived there for 8 months and never took a single pic!! At least I took some now...

Wow!! 1 week left to go!!


Happy happy day :)