We both are from different religions and our wedding was a mixed one with all kinds of traditions and customs bundled together and it also included trips to holy places from both religions(I am pretty sure God thought we were stalking him!!) and 3 weeks after our wedding, after non stop rituals and travel, we needed to get away from it to protect our sanity.And out of the blue, I suggested we should go somewhere really far from our families.(Guys we love you, but it was getting crazy!!)
So as usual , planning of any trip is my responsibility, and after choices of Goa, Kerela and Pondicherry. We decided pondi, less crowded, no rush to see everything and mostly beaches which I totally love. For some reason I really love this place, maybe its the beaches, but cant tell for sure why, but I keep going back to that place ever so often. I am a water person, any moving water body uplifts my spirit. And there is something about this place which draws me towards it ever so often.
Then came the challenge, every single hotel in Pondicherry was booked. After lot of searching we found a guest house, a very very pricey one available.We took it, money was more important than our sanity you see!
Flew to Chennai, went to Pondi from there in a taxi.It took a while to figure out the address,obviously this wasnt one of the popular places! This is run by a couple(strange eh!, we end up in places like this more than often).It was a 3 floors house in a very residential setting. We could see the beach from our bedroom window and could hear the sea.
View from the guest house we stayed
I was excited.It has a rustic antique feel to it.The windows in the main living room were made from stained glass giving it a unique look and feel to the whole place.
And this place wasn't as commerical and artificial as hotel would be. It seemed pretty unoccupied.When we asked the caretaker there, he said some people were in the floor below ours.We dint care, we had the whole floor to ourselves.
It felt good, home like setting with no-one other than "us",the background score of the waves in the sea, and the beautiful artwork in the guest house, the hear each-other's breath silence, it couldnt have gotten more romantic than this.I was so glad we found this place rather than a hotel.
Some of the paintings in the guest house
Nothing is more beautiful than a mother and a child.
We decided to go out and explore the place.After getting fresh, went out to beach, ate nice dinner and came back to rest. We were sleep deprived. We had to get our sleep before we did anything ;). Both of us were so tired that we fell aslepp as we hit the bed. I woke up at the middle of the night with the sound of people talking, I think it was around 2 at night. I wondered who was still up at that uneartly hour and then thought that it must be the guests in the floor below. And then the window we had left open to let the sea breeze come it, started beating.At night, when the whole world is engulfed in darkness, the sound of the sea sounded like the background score of a horror movie. I got up, closed it and went back to bed.But couldnt sleep, the constant sound of people speaking was an annoyance. I just hoped that they could shut their big mouths and get some sleep.
And just when I was going back to sleep I woke up again.This time it was the crows..constanly cawing. That dint sound usual at all.Crows arent supposed to caw at this time of the night, are do they? They just wont shut up.Now all my sleep was gone.I was laying there hoping to see a white figure floating(yeah right,was expecting a ghost to show up).It was the first time I was scared of ghosts.Its not like I dont believe in them, but I never thought they needed to be afraid of.I thought dead people were less dangerous than the live ones!!! But this time, I surely was frightened , I slowly slid under the bedsheet.From a small peephole,I turned around to see D.He was blissfully asleep.Dint feel like waking him up.
There was a big argument going on my head, the brave side of my brain was admonishing the frightened side of my brain.How can you be afraid of something you cant even see,reasoned the brave side.'Oh shut up, if I cant see it doesnt mean it cant see me', replied the frightened side.I mustered some courage, got off the bed, rushed to my purse, and scrambled through stuff until I found the Lord Hanuman's picturecard(there are so many holy things in my purse from all those trips). Got it and slowly stuck it under D's bed.Lay in the bed, waiting for it to be morning and every once in a while, opening my eyes half to see if anything unusual was happening in our room.
I must have fallen asleep around early morning and D dint wake up until the caretaker came in with morning tea. The irony was,I had came running from our families to get some sleep and guess what I was sleep deprived here too!
Now this paining below dint feel scary until I spent a night at the guest house.I should have known when I saw this that it had much deeper meaning to it.
After we had leisurely breakfast, I spoke to the caretaker if someone was in the guest house last night. He said "No". I asked if he slept in the guest house last night(supposedly he was to sleep just in case we needed anything), and he hesitantly said 'No'. Now my palms started to sweat. And I told him about the voices, he said 'Oh that must be neighbours, they are always fighting'...hmm...wonder what kind of neighbors fight at 2am.Well, I was not ready to believe whatever he said.
I told D about my last night ordeal and he said "Come on...I slept well, its new place, maybe thats why you couldn't sleep".But I was not ready to go through it another night.The very thought that I had lay in my bed all night long awake and peeping through the bedsheet to look for a floating white figure was ruining the fun of the trip.So told D, we should go out and explore the town a little bit and while we are there, we could check if there is availability in any of the hotels. I was ready to forego the money we paid for this guest house.D saw I was really upset and agreed. We spent most part of the afternoon roaming around the town, got into rickshaw after a long time, and checked in a few hotels and they were all jam packed.
Looked like the whole decided to come to Pondicherry while we were there!! I knew we had to spend next 2 nights in that haunted guest house. I kept telling myself, nothing would happen, but honestly I was kinda freaked out.I should have known why this place was empty when all other hotels in town were fully booked.But I decided wont let my fear spoil our trip.
Went to the beach in the evening, ate at a very nice restaurant by the beach and later walked by the beach.It gets pretty crowded in the evening, mostly with locals. And came nightfall again.We came back.I asked the caretaker if he can stay for the night and he gave some excuse to go back home. I asked him on his face, if the guest house was haunted.Then he said, no, and gave the excuse that "the neighbours dont like us, because the building blocks their sea view, so they create trouble".No matter how much he assured us it was not haunted, we were officially alone in the big guest house which I believed was haunted.
That night too, I got little sleep.The constant noices was annoying and I was freaking out.I was now convinced this house was for sure haunted.And I had found out from care taker earlier that day that it was a less than 6 years before the building was constructed and there was a very old house before in the same spot.So I kinda figured the residents of the old house still stayed on.
Next day ,Went to Aurobindo ashram.stayed there for a some time.There is a big picture of Mother in the ashram,If I remember it correct in the book store or the main entrance, when you look at it, looks like 'Mother' is looking right into your eyes.On the web you will find a bunch of information about her, some here.
After a quick stop at the ashram, we went to take a boat ride to nearby beach, well it was the 'Paradise Beach', you dont believe me? see the picture below.For the indian middle class, this was paradise.No fancy hotels,a small shack that sold bottled water for 3 times its price.
The beach here was as best as nature had intended, not many tourists and hence not much garbage.
See the crows, wondered if they were following me!!!!!
Later in the day we went the Auroville , saw the universal city, matrimandir .We couldnt go inside the matrimandir, but I had been in that before in one of my previous trips, it is a very serene place. This was my third visit to this place. For some reason I end up visiting some places 3 times, my most recent trip to chicago was the 3rd to that city.
The Banyan tree in the pic below is supposed to be very very old(do not remember how old) and is supposed to be in the center of the Auroville
The matrimandir...It seems to be taking years and years to finish it, the last 3 visits it was still being constructed.
In the evening, it was beach again.I love how the waves splash to the shore and how its water as far as an eye can see. It is amazing how nature contains its energy, it is beautiful waves for the longest time and one day when nature unleashes its fury, the waves gush up to unthinkable heights and wash everything in their path.I love and respect the sea and there is something that keeps taking me to the seas regularly.Well, the fact that I was raised in Coastal area and our family picnic's were mostly at beaches could have a role to play.(Ha...how much I miss those days!!)
The days were wonderful, peaceful, but come nightfall my fears take over and I hardly get any sleep.Next morning, we were going back to Chennai and then flight back to Hyderabad. I felt a little sad leaving this quiet town, but was happy that I dint have to deal with weird noises and crows cawing at night.Well moral of the story is, running away from family doesn't necessarily mean you will get more sleep!!
On the way back to Chennai, the driver stopped us at small beach, beautiful no humans around, no trash, I and D played in the sea waters for a little while before we rushed back to catch our flight.All in all it was a good trip for us to bond as new couple , but the nights were 'nightmare'.
Well Pondicherry is a very nice place to be.If you want some quiet time, not run around to cover all tourist spots.Here is more information. Just make sure you plan ahead and stay in a better place than we did.Not if you fancy staying at a haunted guest house.
I usually close my post with a quote , but the below picture says more than a wise man can say.
See the crows, wondered if they were following me!!!!!
Later in the day we went the Auroville , saw the universal city, matrimandir .We couldnt go inside the matrimandir, but I had been in that before in one of my previous trips, it is a very serene place. This was my third visit to this place. For some reason I end up visiting some places 3 times, my most recent trip to chicago was the 3rd to that city.
The matrimandir...It seems to be taking years and years to finish it, the last 3 visits it was still being constructed.
In the evening, it was beach again.I love how the waves splash to the shore and how its water as far as an eye can see. It is amazing how nature contains its energy, it is beautiful waves for the longest time and one day when nature unleashes its fury, the waves gush up to unthinkable heights and wash everything in their path.I love and respect the sea and there is something that keeps taking me to the seas regularly.Well, the fact that I was raised in Coastal area and our family picnic's were mostly at beaches could have a role to play.(Ha...how much I miss those days!!)
The days were wonderful, peaceful, but come nightfall my fears take over and I hardly get any sleep.Next morning, we were going back to Chennai and then flight back to Hyderabad. I felt a little sad leaving this quiet town, but was happy that I dint have to deal with weird noises and crows cawing at night.Well moral of the story is, running away from family doesn't necessarily mean you will get more sleep!!
On the way back to Chennai, the driver stopped us at small beach, beautiful no humans around, no trash, I and D played in the sea waters for a little while before we rushed back to catch our flight.All in all it was a good trip for us to bond as new couple , but the nights were 'nightmare'.
Well Pondicherry is a very nice place to be.If you want some quiet time, not run around to cover all tourist spots.Here is more information. Just make sure you plan ahead and stay in a better place than we did.Not if you fancy staying at a haunted guest house.
I usually close my post with a quote , but the below picture says more than a wise man can say.
However bigger and stronger the sea is, a man's courage can make him ride it in a small boat.Well it clearly shows if you have the determination nothing is impossible.
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