It was during my stay in Hyderabad I utilized an opportunity to visit Pondicherry along with my friend Bhattacharya and his wife for the first time. Later on I had gone there few times on weekend tours, sometimes with my cousins of Bangalore or friends from Delhi. Last time I visited this town was a few years back when I had gone to my brother's home at Bangalore. We were three in the group. My elder brother, sister-in-law and me. The day before the journey we engaged a cab. It was on a weekend summer morning of mid-July we started our journey and within no time we were on NH 46 the highway that will take us to Pondicherry. We went past beautiful scenic beauties on both sides of the highway. Our cab followed the shortest and best route of Bangalore - Mysore - Krishnagiri - Vellore - argot - cheyyar - vandavasi - tindivanam – Pondicherry. After a stopover for breakfast at Vellore and coffee breaks enroute we reached Pondicherry covering a distance of nearly 381 km in six and half hours.
On the southeast Coromandel Coast of India is Pondicherry the other name for Puducherry With the advent of French colonial powers the place came into prominence. It used to be a place for trade and business with India that was exploited by the Romans and French. French found the place suitable from business point of view and arrived gradually in large numbers and established their colony here. Later on the local administration of the town was taken over by the representatives of the French Government. Till 1954 it was a French colony The buildings, memorials, churches, monuments and statues reflect architectural patterns as in European cities and scrupulously followed by the French colonials. Being a coastal town Pondicherry attracts tourists from all over India and abroad. The place suits both category of people, those who want to enjoy beach holidays or those who want to witness the cultural heritage of French colonialism. Presence of many colonial buildings and churches made it look like a European city and for this reason it is popularly known as The Europe of India.
The main tourist attractions are Sri Aurobindo Ashram and Auroville, the International City of Unity about 6 km away from Pondicherry. Another place of interest is Plage Paradise beach which is thronged mostly by the weekend visitors. If you have faith in Jessus Christ then you must visit The Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, one of the most beautiful cathedrals of India, Some of the places that we covered during our weekend tour are :-
Shri Aurobindo Ashram
As we reached our first stopover at Aurobindo Ashram. A representative of the Ashram volunteered to explain us briefly about Saint Aurobindo and role of Mother Mirra Alfassa in setting up the Ashram. Shri Aurobond Ghose, an Indian freedom fighter who later transformed himself as a spiritual saint used to live in Pondicherry and impart spiritual knowledge to his devotees from India and all over the world. While in India, Mirrra Alfassa, a French origin lady ( who later became famous as The Mother ) came in contact with Shri Aurobindo and became fascinated by listening the spiritual discourse of Shri Aurobindo. The spiritual tenets representing a synthesis of modern science and yoga inspired this lady and she decided to stay in Pondicherry forever. She later founded this Ashram in consultation with Saint Aurobindo and named the ashram as Shri Aurobindo Ashram which is located at 12 Rue De La Marine. Till death of Saint or Rishi Aurobindo in 1950 , she handled the activities of the Ashram as its head. We completed our visit here and left for our next stopover Autoville.
Auroville
Auroville (City of Dawn) is an experimental township which is situated 8 km north-west of Pondicherry in East Coast Road. It was founded in 1968 by Mirra Alfassa (also known as The Mother), the spiritual collaborator of Sri Aurobindo. As per the Mother's vision and guidance Auroville was designed by the French architect Roger Anger. Auroville is meant to be a universal town where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony, above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities. The purpose of Auroville is to realize human unity. During the inauguration ceremony of Auroville on 28 February 1968, soil from 124 countries was placed in a lotus-shaped urn and mixed to symbolize universal oneness. In the middle of the town is the Matrimandir, which has been acclaimed as "an outstanding and original architectural achievement. It was conceived by Alfassa as "a symbol of Universal Mother"
Although originally intended to house 50,000, the actual population today is 2,007 (1,553 adults and 454 minors), coming from 44 nationalities, 836 of whom are of Indian origin. The community is divided up into neighborhoods with Tamil, French, Sanskrit and English names like Isaiambalam, La Ferme,. , Arati, and Aspiration, and The residents are involved in agriculture, administration, commerce and handicrafts, alternative technology, education, healthcare and development projects, the latter including AuroRE Systems, an international award winning unit involved in solar photovoltaic and thermal systems. While returning from Auroville we decided to visit some of the other interesting places of tourist interest in Pondicherry. These are :
Mahatma Gandhi Statue
Surrounded by granite pillars which were brought from Gingee a fort at a distance of 70 kilometers from Pondicherry, the statue of Mahatma Gandhi near the sea beach is four-meter in height.
The calm and quite environment around the place charmed us so much so that we spent a full hour sitting under the blue horizon remembering our Father of the Nation's and his struggle for our independence.