Pondicherry, Puducherry, Pudicherry

This past weekend we went to pondicherry, auroville, and mahabalipuram. i put three different spellings for pondicherry in the title b/c we've noticed that indians love to change the names of their cities (bombay -> mumbai, calcutta -> kolkotta). i believe they usually do it b/c they want to shed the influence of their past foreign occupiers (see britain and france). it's not biggie, you just have to make sure you know all the possible names of the city you're going to. This is also important because all names are usually used interchangeably. In Mumbai for example, there is a university still known as ITT Bombay.

We spent most of the weekend with Derek, another exchange student from Kellogg (Northwestern). we rented a car and driver for the weekend (cost about $130). i called our driver milton b/c he looked like milton from 'office space.' he spoke about as much english as i do hindi, but i find that always makes things more interesting and he was a friendly guy, so it was all fun.

the drive from the Chennai airport to pondicherry was an experience. as i have previously mentioned in posts, the indians don't pay too much attention to traffic laws. in hyderabad a lot of the streets have medians separating the oncoming traffic. well on the drive down there were no medians and the drivers here will pass anyone, anytime, anywhere. large bus coming, no problem. people in the street, no problem. cows in the street, no problem. another interesting trait is that people turn ON their brights when they pass you, in fact they flicker them at you. and, of course, the horns are in full blaze. we were constantly amazed at the risks milton and every drivers on the road took. at one point we were passing a motorcycle with no lights (it was pitch black out), milton is honking his horn which didn't fully work, it made kind of a sad defeated sound, the oncoming traffic is flashing their brights and also honking away, and the three of us all just started laughing. nothing had to be said, we just let out a good laugh.

Seaside Pondicherry was formerly the capital of a french colony and you can see the French influence in the architecture. the buildings and cobblestone streets because they all definitely remind you of france, that and the french restaurants and french speaking people. it was interesting b/c the outskirts of the town are all indian, but as you move towards the oceanside things become more colonial. you go from super busy streets with cows and rickshaws and bustling markets, to quiet streets with trees and old buildings. it was a fun town to spend a couple nights. the best part was getting to eat meat, and not just a few morsels swimming in sauce, but a big 'ole steak or plate of shrimp. i have enjoyed the indian food thus far, but it was nice to get some variety back in our diet.

Seeing some street vendors and sitting down by the Bay of Bengal:

French pastries in India:

Pondicherry has a very active night market, reminds me of some of the night markets we went to in Taiwan, filled with people strolling around, food vendors, bright lights, sidewalk shopping and small eateries. On Saturday night, we found this clean, fun confectionary/restaurant. It was mostly filled with Indian sweets, and we sampled about 5 of them - I don't remember what they were called, but they were extremely sweet (in fact soaked in syrup) and creamy. They were very perishable, melted almost right away after coming out of that refrigerated display case. There were many varieties and flavors, and the place was just packed! I actually found their website: http://www.aabsweets.in/index.html. Neat place, I hope we can find another branch and sample 5 more different sweets!