In 1963 A.D., not B.C. though it seems so long ago, I was on the ship Khukri which visited Pondicherry. We were at anchorage for a couple of days and one afternoon I went ashore to see this town which had just got its independence from the French and joined India.
Pondicherry was synonymous with ‘Mother’, the French lady who was the spiritual leader Sri Aurobindo’s confidante after the latter had completely withdrawn from contact with the outside world. Sri Aurobindo had set up an Ashram in Pondi and gave Mother the responsibility of running it and teaching his disciples. He himself passed away in 1950 and Mother was then solely in charge of transforming his ideas into reality.
A visit to the Ashram was a must and I remember being impressed by the calm and quiet of the place though it was in the heart of town. My other memory is of the unique bakeries where I saw the famous French bread, the baguette, for the first time.
Time was short as we had to get back before sunset since Khukri was anchored quite far away and the sea was rough. I made up my mind to come back some day and see the town properly.
Years went by and I could not find time to keep my date. In the meantime, Pondicherry became Puducherry and a new township named Auroville conceived by Mother came up nearby. At the end of last year, the idea came to get away from the severe winter of Delhi for some time and I thought, ‘Why not Pondi, or rather, Puducherry!’
After successfully running the idea past Akhila, I spoke to Shumita who said Gaurav and the boys were all willing. Thereafter Shumita took charge of organising the visit to Pudu.
Shiven and Raghav’s winter vacations were from Christmas Day so Akhila and I decided to go in advance and spend a couple of days in Mahabalipuram, another long pending visit which we had not been able to undertake earlier though we had been to Madras, where according to the limerick, a man had spheres of brass the clashing of which in stormy weather resulted in sparks flying out. No longer possible as the city is now Chennai. So we flew to the latter on 22nd December and after a night’s halt, went by road to M’puram. We spent two comfortable nights in the naval mess at INS Pallava, a small, neat and pretty, new base 10 kms. from M’puram.
Daytimes of 23rd and 24th were spent going around M’puram which is a small seaside town famous as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its 7th and 8th century monuments carved out of rock during the Pallava regime. Our visit coincided with year-end holidays, the approach of the popular festival of Pongal, and the end of over two years of lockdown which made people come out in large numbers. The crowds were unbelievable and distinctive as for religious reasons, the ladies were all dressed in deep red and so were many men.
We started with the Shore Temple which has a structure built with blocks of granite and has three shrines, two of Lord Shiva and one of Lord Vishnu. The next was Arjuna’s Penance or Descent of the Ganges which is a giant open-air rock relief, one of the largest in the world. The story is that Lord Shiva and Arjuna were involved in a fight over who killed a boar that both had shot arrows at. When Lord Shiva revealed himself, Arjuna was filled with remorse at having contested with a god and performed the penance which is depicted in the monument. Another version says the depiction is that of Bhagirathi bringing the Ganges to the earth.
In the same compound, there are other carvings such as Draupadi’s Bath, Ganesh Ratha and Krishna’s Butter Ball which is a ball-shaped rock precariously perched on a bigger one. A favourite activity is children trying to push the Ball to roll but it won’t budge a millimeter!
Panch Rathas (Five Chariots) named after the five Pandavas, Arjuna, Bhima, Yudhishtra, Nakul and Sahadeva, each carved from a single piece of rock, are a short walk away. Overlooking all this from top of a hill is an ancient Shiva temple, Olakaneeswara, built by a Pallava king. It is said that it functioned as a lighthouse by lighting a bonfire on top of the temple. The claim of it being a lighthouse is contested but now, alongside it is a present-day tall lighthouse functional since 1904, which operated initially by burning wicks in an oil lamp with a visibility of 10 miles.
On 25th morning, Christmas Day, Shumita with Gaurav and the boys arrived at Chennai and drove in an Innova to INS Pallava to pick us up. We reached Puducherry late in the afternoon, found our villa on Rue Victor Simonel and had a late lunch at an outdoor restaurant in a nearby villa. We then walked to the Promenade beach which was just ten minutes away. Once again, the crowd was huge and it was impossible to walk without bumping into someone. No vehicle is permitted on the beach road called Goubert Avenue. The weather was good though the sea was rough and not suitable for swimming. We covered the beach from the Dupleix statue in the southern end to Gandhiji’s statue towards the north. Back to the villa to refresh and it was time for dinner at another nearby restaurant well-known for its Italian cuisine. On the way back at about 10.30 pm, we came across a big Church, Notre Dame des Anges, which was beautifully illuminated and the evening mass had just concluded. We went inside and offered our prayers which was apt for more reason than one.
The next four days were spent in seeing as much as we could of Puducherry as well as Auroville. First, a brief history which goes back to the 1st century AD when Romans arrived at Pondicherry to begin trading for dyed textiles, pottery and semi-precious stones. From 4th to 14th century, it was ruled in turn by the Pallavas, Cholas and Pandyas and then briefly by Vijaynagar Empire and Sultanate of Bijapur. From 1520 onwards, the Portuguese started visiting it to trade mainly in textiles followed by the Dutch and the Danes. In the 18th century and beginning of the 19th, the British and the French kept fighting over it till the latter finally took control of it from 1815-1954 when the French decided to cede it to India. After a transition period of 8 years, it became a Union Territory as desired by the locals who felt that option was more advantageous to them in order to preserve their own identity and development than joining the Tamil Nadu state.
A canal divides the town into a seaside French Quarter and an inland Tamil Quarter. We took a Heritage Walk through the former and admired the distinctive European classical style of the houses. There is a continuous wall to wall construction of villas without boundaries on any particular street. Houses or villas have ornamental features and a mix of colours on doors and windows and incorporate walled gardens in the property. The names of streets continue to be in French and so we have Rue Dumas, Rue Romain Roland , Rue Suffren, etc. Below the name of a street is a plaque explaining the story behind a name. Only four streets have Indian names, Mahatma Gandhi Road, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Salai, Jawahar Lal Nehru Street and Lal Bahadur Shastri Street. The last one is also called Rue Bussy. Many villas have been renovated and I asked our guide if there was any restriction imposed by the authorities asking the owners to follow the old design. He replied that apart from height, the owners were free to choose their own design but they all opted to follow the classical one to preserve the neat symmetry.
Most of the villas in the French Quarter house hotels, cafes, restaurants and bakeries with tempting cakes, pastries and variety of breads. We also came across a workshop run by Christian nuns preserving the old skill of exquisite embroidery which is becoming a rare art now. You could choose your designs on articles such as hankies, napkins, pillow covers etc., as indeed Shumita and Akhila did and delivery of items was promised in a couple of weeks.
On to Auroville conceptualized by Mother on the philosophy of Sri Aurobindo. To quote from her, “A Dream. There should be somewhere upon earth a place no nation could claim as its sole property, a place where all human beings of good will….could live freely as citizens of the world, obeying one single authority, that of the supreme Truth; a place of peace, concord, harmony….” This concept was written for the Aurobindo Ashram in 1954 but then Mother thought of extending it to a wider place and Auroville, about 12 kms. north of Pondicherry was inaugurated on 12 February 1968. 3 years later, construction began for what is known as ‘the soul of Auroville’, the Matrimandir. The design is based on Mother’s vision and selected by her. The main structure looks like a huge golf ball covered with gold with an Inner Chamber for meditation with twelve facets, one for each month of the year. Mother desired that “the sun should enter as a ray, without diffusion: an arrangement must be made so that the ray of sunlight can be seen. When there is no sun (at nights and on cloudy days) lights will be lit which will have the same effect and the same colour.” The Inner Chamber incorporates all these features.
Entry to Matrimandir has to be booked which we did and visited it one early morning. We were taken inside the Inner Chamber and sat there in meditation for about half an hour. There is a strict regimen of silence to be followed and it was satisfying to note that everyone including children (minimum age 10 years) observed it strictly so that one could not even hear anyone clearing one’s throat.
Just outside, there is a park named Garden of Unity almost completely occupied by a big banyan tree. Another landmark is the amphitheatre made of red sandstone and a little raised slope near the stage with an urn containing soil from 124 countries around the world and all Indian states.
For granting residence, Auroville has its own rules including no ownership rights. As per figures available, in 2019, the township had 3000 residents, 44.5% Indian, 14.1% French, and the rest German, Italian, Dutch and other nationalities.
On the outskirts of Auroville, we visited Mason & Co., producers of organic chocolates with beans from Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Viewing the process was interesting and it was nice to see so many varieties of chocolates being made in a tiny factory with a small staff. The best part was free tasting and then buying chocolates at a well-discounted price!
A visit to the Aurobindo Ashram is a must and we did that one evening joining a long queue of visitors. We paid respects at the ‘samadhi’ where the bodies of Sri Aurobindo and Mother are buried. Once again, we followed all visitors in maintaining the calm, peaceful atmosphere despite the large numbers. Both at Matrimandir and Ashram, one felt as if the mind was being cleansed of all anxiety and turmoil leaving it totally refreshed.
On 30th December, we headed back to Chennai in an Innova. En route, the Deveshwars did their round-up of Mahabalipuram sites while Akhila and I relaxed near Krishna’s Butter Ball. A quick lunch at the well-appointed seaside Radisson Hotel and we resumed our journey making a stop at Tiger’s Cave, a short distance from Mahabalipuram. This is a temple complex that the Pallavas constructed in the 8th century and gets its name from tiger head carvings at the mouth of the Cave. There is also a Shiva temple with an imposing Nandi bull on the outside.
At Chennai, the Deveshwars got off at Leela Hotel while Akhila and I proceeded to the naval mess, 10 kms. away to the north. The mess has a big lawn inside and we soaked in a lot of sun in the time we were there prolonging our stay so as to be away from the freezing weather of polluted Delhi as much as we could. Our suite was comfortable and, as it was after many years, we enjoyed the typical naval mess food. It was nostalgic to savour the desserts we had in the three lunches we ate there, Fruit Custard, Bread Pudding and ‘Semiya’ (vermicelli), typical sweets I have been having in Defence Services' messes ever since joining the NDA in 1955!
On 31st December, New Year’s Eve, Gaurav booked a table at Ottimo Cucina Italiana restaurant at ITC Grand Chola Hotel and invited us to join. We were happy we could be together with Gaurav, Shumita, Shiven and Raghav to bring in 2023. Though there was no dancing, we were treated to recorded remix music of the ‘70s and ‘80s. The DJ seemed partial to Boney M and the only song played twice over was ‘’Rasputin’’, ‘oh those Russians!’
On the way back to the mess at about 1 am, it seemed as if the whole of Chennai was outdoors. The roads were crowded, churches overflowing with people attending midnight mass and cafes open with people indulging in snacks and coffee. On New Year's Day too, Marina beach had massive crowds and you could just see heads of people and not a grain of sand!
The boys were keen to visit a naval ship and the only one that happened to be in Chennai at that time was the survey vessel ‘Darshak’. So we visited it and the Duty Officer took us around and explained the methodology of preparing naval charts.
Before departure on 3rd January, Akhila and I paid a call on the Flag Officer Tamil Nadu Area, Rear Admiral Sai Venkatraman, to thank him for the arrangements made for us by him and his staff in Chennai. He gave us a warm welcome and presented us with some souvenirs. The expansive view from his fourth floor office overlooking the Bay of Bengal and the Chennai coastline was fascinating. Incidentally, he recalled meeting Ruchir at the US Club, Mumbai, in the late '90s.
All of us returned to Delhi on 3rd evening after an enjoyable trip.
