Day 1

My brains start to fry as I immediately step into the sleeper coach of the train to Chennai. With my iPod and phone charged to full with my usual junk playlist I thought I was fully prepared for the train journey, but the burning sun was baking the whole compartment like an oven for which I wasn’t fully prepared coz by the time I got off the train I was blessed with an amazingly fantastic headache. An anecdote I almost forgot, about this cute entertaining beggar girl who is totally worth mentioning. Guess how she got money out of me after pestering for whole ten minutes and me ignoring her, by blessing me with “Acha chokra milega didi”. Couldn’t stop smiling at her smart persuasion tactics.

Day 2

After a nice cool 3 hour trip from Chennai to Auroville (Cool coz I was in an AC bus) I got dropped at a bus stop pitch dark with some shops still open at the roadside around 8 30 with a few villagers loafing around before I could start giving profanities to Raj, I see him crossing over with his bike. (He came to pick me up and drop me at the guest house I had booked, 1 km away from the bus stop). Hi Hello later we zoom to a supposedly “happening “ place in auroville(New Creation Pizza) where the “cool” people hangout, to have pizza with his so called business associates. In between the poundings in my head I could hear people talking on my table……struggle …. ….Money……. gaalis…… these aurovillians…. gaalis…. Money… money… money…. More money and I was like we don’t freaking talk about money this much when we are in the so called big city supposedly where people mint money…………………………whew my pizza arrives gobbled it up, no manners…….. Just wanted to go to my room, check in, pop a crocin and go to sleep and that’s what I did.

Day3

Got up with an amazing light feeling in my head…. The room felt nice and warm, the fan had stopped spinning I guess…. current cut… walked out to the shared facilities had a long cool shower…. Checked out the place I was staying (Youth Camp) the rooms, kitchen… dining…. Toilet block… office….. stuff I hadn’t noticed in the night…..Nice I thought, inconspicuous structures with trees all around… you hardly notice them when you are walking around unless you have to enter them. Went walking out towards the auroville bakery close by… needed strong coffee to start the day… Met up with Raj ,,,, got my moped for rent (Now I am happy :)),,, checked out his office, in a place called “Pichandikudam” nice open place with a few staff who were already working when we went in, by the time Raj settled in started to work I took a look around the place and the work they did with afforestation and preservation and some of their current rural development projects… One awesome item I saw was this library cum display room which had these glass boxes with preserved biodiversities, insects of the tiniest size of that of a rice grain to a palm sized butterfly all neatly pinned to small piece of elevated mount board with description below…. Very neat….On the way out took some time finding my bike coz I forgot where I parked it... in the process stumbled into an artiste’s workshop who was making this mammoth ferrocement sculpture of a scorpion….and then I realized I have "arrived" haha at auroville... coz I had started getting lost…..It is very therapeutic I realized to be in a place where there are no physical boundaries defined between properties……

So far did good without an agenda ….. called up Susan (an architect) decided to have lunch together… ended up meeting Deeksha (another architect) too… both of them working in auroville for the past couple of years….seemed quite at home……….. was so happy to catch up with them…… had a long lunch session at Indus (with me skipping lunch as I couldn’t eat anything after driving in the heat all morning)…..gang spilt after making plans for the evening ….. grabbed a crepe and a juice on the way to the room and had a luxurious afternoon nap. One of those lazy glorious things you can do when you travel alone…….Got up & went to Solar kitchen to meet Deekhsa and Susan turned out one got stuck at pondy and the other had to run errands at CSR where she stayed so trailed back with her to CSR (where Priya used to work previously, brought back old memories)…an hour later drove to town hall just moments before the movie started… It is very funny that I ended up watching a hindi movie, Wake up Sid, geographically in the middle of nowhere (coz if I had to drive back to my room on my own I would get totally lost) which I had consciously avoided seeing in Bombay. After the movie.. my stomach was grumbling from hunger and it being pitch dark outside Susan asked me to follow this couple in the parking lot who were going towards where I stayed… I hastily said bye to her and tried keeping up with the bike… all I was concentrating was the tail light of the bike in front which was getting farther and farther away… fortunately I hit the tar road from where I I knew the way… still hungry grabbed an apple on the way and just before reaching youth camp again got lost… with only my moped’s headlight and pitch darkness … sum wrong turns later I reached my guesthouse…. Smiled and waved gudnite to strangers in the dining hall on the way to my room…. Fan on full blast …….Zzzzzzzzzzzz………

Day4

Got up again when the fan stopped spinning but as I had a early night in (in bed by ten….. can you believe it????) I was pretty fresh and ready to go have coffee and breakfast by 8 30 r so… again grabbed breakfast with Raj… and zoomed off to Pondy caught the early traffic on the highway…. Around ten km later the moment I hit the junction which enters Pondy my profanities started as old times with people driving crazy no traffic rules….funeral procession with people dancing on the main road…… whew…………………put petrol from my favourite petrol pump (hp) I generally used to feel I get more mileage from it… had a quick stop at the pondy railway station.. checkin availability to change my ticket to 3rd AC, No luck… Managed to reach Neel & Supriti’s studio ‘Nufurn ‘ (Architects who run a successful practice in Pondy, my friends from Picinic gang back in old times)….after a few wrong turns near their place… popped my head and surprised them …. Caught them in a meeting … said Hi to them and walked out to the beautiful outdoor waiting bench they have casted in Ferro -cement between their work studio and semi official conference cum lounge room…. I had some time in hand started doodling, didn’t even realize that I was sketching for around an hour or so …sketchin after a very long time… it was fun……. they got free … Had a lot to catch up with them about work,,,life…Supriti very sweetly showed me what they were upto, their more recent works… had a very nice lunch with the, which gets cooked in their office kitchen… with fruits to end with…. Took their leave as I may be on a holiday but they were workaholics who work with lot of intensity … had a quick peek at Antara’s (Neel’s sister, a potter) studio in the same vicinity… Drove back to the city area as I had a big task ahead of me “shopping”  which I had called Udaya’s list in my phone. Hunted down couple of boutiques… and some phone calls to Shrikanth (Hyderabad)… Udaya(US)….atlast managed to get her assorted stuff of incense, cones, candles…. etc.. of some weird sounding scents which I hope when she gets would be the one she was actually talking about coz there were these sub categories in them like orange patchouli, Malaysian patchouli, Singapore patchouli… etc….. hey but thank you Udaya, atleast you opened my eyes to the existence of these products… could be of help in picking out for other friends I guess if not for me…..:)..all that packed off and couriered…. Almost 4 so I could check out one of my fav places in pondy, Bindaas café.. a silent joint till 6 – 7… so I could just chill with no pressure of making idle conversations with stangers… and the sweet akka made me fabulous ginger lemon tea and nice dosa to get me going… after some alone time…..More socializing with other friends of mine, Soham, Ram and Sheetal (couple) again it was a surprise for them …. Really cool people we ended up discussing food joints all over Bombay… so that was fun… had coffee … took their leave and started driving back to Pondy….before it gets too late…… was back to Youth camp in auroville by 9….. was strangely more silent than the previous nites… realized all room lights were out… dining area empty… stepped into the guest house office to find Bharti(caretakers high school going son) having dinner .. and he casually mentions how everybody have already checked out today itself and I was the only one checking out early morning….. okkkk… other than blackie the puppy,, bharti and me the place was full on desolate.. and gloomy… went back to my room locked it .. put on the light,,, called up Raj requesting him to check on me in the morning incase I get killed in the nite…. Hahahaha…

Day5

I slept off thankfully without an event , got up early coz I had planned to drive to Pondy….to try the ticket thing again…..checked out of my room with bag packed and put it in the guest house office ……Honked my way to pondy railway station well before time expecting to be ahead in line… but guess what…both the counters had already 20 or so guys in line…. Utter waste ….took my bike out of the parking and went straight to this tapri where this amma used to dish out fresh puri bhaji for breakfast near my old office (colas nagar)…. Sadly there was no amma there, they had changed the snacks place to a general store….. starting to get hungry I drive to find this place called ‘Bakers street ‘ which everybody highly recommended…….startling prices on the subs and sandwiches…. For pondy atleast……. Ordered a coffee and settled for a butter croissant…….took in the place… morning crowd was slowly trickling in….. Got my scooter out and started roaming about aimlessly in the old French part of the town for some time….near my previous apartment…… the narrow roads…….. ….. it was just 8 yet … thought of checking tatkal online …if by luck I do get ... at 8 it was highly hopeful of me to find a cyber… that’s when I saw this small signboard saying Coffe Door café (Net) at a Hotel called Coramendal….. I peeped in and a small boy (Biswajeet) asked me to sit on the travel desk and surf (30 bucks for an hour)… as I was sitting in the lobby and surfing I realized the lobby was tastefully done… with good artwork hanging on the walls… a small breakfast corner…….’realisation’ why not stay here for a day… be a tourist…..casually asked him if any room was vacant and what a non ac single occupancy costed… (500 bucks)… As my luck would have it… I go the last room.. checked it out… very clean and white with an attached neat and huge toilet cum bath… I was sold away… paid advance….. drove all the way back to auroville to pick up my bag … has a goodbye lunch with Raj and his friend… (lucky guys … their lunch break seems to be as long as they want…that was the only envious thing about their workplace)….. Bye and hugs later I started driving back in the searing sun… fully dehydrated by the time I reached my hotel checked in,,,went out to have a lassi next door at Bindaas café… met a sweet girl called Revathi… a local pondicherian… on her lunch break there…. Doodled for sometime… and walked over to where I stayed and had an afternoon siesta…. Much needed…. Got up in the evening fully energized… was sitting in the lobby playing carom sipping lemon tea.. with the hotel manager and chotu… in walks my friend Sudheesh from old times…. He gets a shocker seeing me here… that I was staying in Pondy that too in a hotel run by him….. indeed it is a very small town….. Hi hello later I drive off to one of my fav places ‘ganesh canteen’ run by a north Indian lady… the guy at the counter is till the same mallu guy… the chotu who used to serve me and my friends during lunch is also there but he has grown in height and still smiles shyly while serving….. one alu paratha and gobi paratha later….I drive off to one of the “cool” places in pondy where all the local dudes come to checkout firang girls to be brutally honest…. That’s the only way I figured I will meet all of my lukha friends together at one place without much hassle…..scene still the same… only new faces in the fishing pond…..Had a drink… befriended a cute German girl… chipkofied my bike onto her… (she wanted a bike on rent… to drive around in pondy and to travel to auroville)…and I had to somehow transport my bike to auroville the next day..and was wondering the drive back to auroville myself in the heat just before leaving pondy… so thank you ‘Negeen’ you were a blessing in disguise………

Day6

Had a wonderful last day holiday sleep in the room.. which was very airy and cool…. Got up in the morning went out to the common terrace to zonk out lazily for some time…. ventured downstairs for a cup of coffee… only half a day left for me to leave… I venture out to find another one of favourite haunts the ‘Vasavi mess’ …They had shifted so had to ask around a bit to find the place… same annas still serving and behind the counter… and the same lipsmacking Masaladosa with the different types of chutneys and sambar… geniunly peased that they still maintained their taste quality….. went to Choc-o-la’, a new exclusively chocolate place, stuffed with more calories…..drove back to my hotel to handover the bike to Negeen,… came to know one of my good pals Verma was in town for his midterm break (he is studying in France.. some background… Verma-Babu-Me were a trio…at daily bread adda the only 3 of all the lukha people who used to come there , not to ogle at girls but to pull each other’s leg and crib about life, I pledged to not step in DB during this trip unless we all three would be present)…. Met up, had a blast reliving old jokes and catching up… glad to hear from somebody that they missed India and surely had no intention of settling abroad where he felt people were cold…and not like home… 3 cheers for Verma who would be soon back …….Babu you were sorely missed by both of us….. How could I leave without meeting the ever enthusiastic Fahim always trying to please everybody with his ready smile…… caught him during his lunch break.. just as I was about to leave.. glad I didn’t miss out on him…..

In the bus while riding to Chennai.. I realized that I did not do things I had set out to do when starting out from Bombay… and ended up having the most random holiday ever....had a blast re-returning to the old places…….. people……food……..and I never thought travelling alone would be so much fun other than the train part (obviously it was a place where I have been before so it helps…and I dearly missed Payal who was to accompany me)… but still it was random….fantastically lazy and happy …searing hot on the head….holiday…..

Cheers to good times!!!

May we all find happiness in the things we set out to do (even if we end up doing something else :))……..!!!!!

(p.s- Niku plz dont comment on the grammar and sentence formation coz its freakingly long for me to sit nd do proof reading... and just sum stupid ramblings of the trip... :)