A Trip to Pondicherry and Environs - Part 2

On Sunday the 20th we went to Mahabillipuram and visited some shops before going back to see some of the stone carvings in the middle of the town. A guide offered his services at a very high price (by Indian standards) to describe all of the sites in the center of town. We said no, but asked how much just to tell us about the largest one- "Arjuna's Penance". He came back with a high price for that too, so we said no. He kept coming back with lower prices as we saw the sites and walked away. We hope that he might start at a more reasonable price the next time, but this is doubtful. We walked through the mountain near the twon center to see the carvings and it was hot and humid again, so we did not manage to endure for long. We made our way back to the A/C in the car and left town to go to our hotel closer to Pondicherry.
We arrived there about 3:30 PM, but seemed that our room was not ready yet, though they did not exactly say that to us. The staff asked us to have a seat and wait. Meanwhile, two other groups of people arrived and complained fairly vigorously that they wanted to go to their rooms. They ended up going before we did even though we were there first. We are not certain whether it was because our room really was not ready or because they complained more. It was a rather poor introduction to what we were told is a nice place. We got to the room to find it interesting. It was a house from the state of Kerala that was rebuilt here, but it was dark inside and only the tiny sleeping rooms at the center were A/C'd. We decided to visit the beach and have a simple dinner at the small restaurant near the beach. This was reasonably pleasant.
On Monday the 21st we road to Auroville. This is a "utopian community" near Pondicherry with about 2000 members- many are not Indian, but most are. We went to the visitor's center and the craft shops to find rather nice items. It was, of course, hot and humid. We too a battery powered shuttle to a giant golf ball shaped building near the center of the lands and then went back to the car as quickly as we could.
We got a bit disoriented on the roads and it took awhile to get into the city of Pondicherry. This area was a French colony for a long time and many people seem to speak with a french accent. The town was laid out more like a French city and is generally nice looking. We visited the Sri Aurobindo Handmade Paper Factory, which was not operating on this holiday, but the shops were open. One can get very nice hand made paper in India at reasonable prices. We enjoyed looking. We had a good lunch at a rooftop restaurant that had fans and was shaded and visited a few other shops before trying to make our way out of the city. Once again we got a little disoriented, but eventually made our way to the road back to our hotel.
We had dinner that was good and went back to our room. We watched part of a movie on DVD but got bored with it. As we prepared to go to bed Janet put some vaulables in the safe in a cabinet in the room and was shocked to find a tiny kitten in the cabinet too! The poor thing was very small and looked weak. We called the reception desk and they sent someone who took it away. It was very shocking. In the morning we asked if the kitten was ok, but no one on duty knew about it. They said that they try to protect all life forms living on the property, so we hope it is well.
Our checkout from the hotel was almost as slow as the check in. We could not find a battery charger for the mobile phones they insist on giving you at the place, so we had to pay about twice what they are worth in order to leave. Of course, Janet found the charger in her bag when we arrived home.
We came home by a somewhat different route. We took some smaller roads to go through a town named Gingee in order to see the ruins of a huge fort there. Of course it was very hot and humid, so we did not walk about as much as we might have liked. It was very interesting to see the place stretching across hills and plains. The guide books correctly state that few people come to this place, so one can walk around without bumping into many people. But, the heat was oppressive. So, we did not venture far from the car. The most interesting looking part was on top of a peak- with a LONG set of steps to get up there, so we did not attempt it. We were told that it would be best to start out before 8AM. Still it wa interesting to see the huge stone walls and remnants of buildings. It is supposed to date mainly from the 1500's, but some parts are said to be 200-300 years older. It does not seem like a pleasant place to have a fort.
We drove onward through temple towns and countryside until we rejoined the highway at the city of Krishnagiri to go back to Bangalore. As soon as we crossed to border from Tamil Nadu into Karnataka the roads got much worse and lots of construction going one. We stpped for coffee and snacks and got home just about sundown.
It was an interesting trip, but the phrase that keeps occuring to us is "too hot and humid". We are told that it is always that way along that part of the coast, though some times it is hotter than other times. The heat and humidity take a lot of energy away from you, so you can't do as much as you might like. The stone carvings and ruins were very much worth seeing.