Chunnu-Munni & us - Day 2 in Pondicherry

Day 2 will go down in history (mine, of course), as the day when I took the maximum no. of baths humanly possible for me ... no less than 3!
The day started a bit late, as a consequence of the previous day's hectic travelling. A quick breakfast & we were off to Auroville. A nice pleasant drive took us to the Visitor's center where Archana & I plunged into our shopping with venom & by the time, we breathed again, we had ended up spending close to 2k in a single shop. But we got some real good stuff. The shop had some amazing paper lamps at throwaway prices... we ended up buying 4 of them. There were some amazing t-shirts with unique patterns, from where I had to literally drag Archana away, but not before she managed to pick up a t-shirt each for both of us. Finished with our shopping, we saw a short video about Auroville & it's history & then rushed to have some lunch.
The lunch was amazing, at least for Shikhin, Archana & me, who decided to be daring & try something new. Poor Namrata, who had decided to play it safe, had to contend with a rice meal! We started off with a large slice of some yummy pineapple cake, followed by another large slice of some sweet walnut cake. Archana picked the best dish - Vegetable Mousaka, which tempted me to pick a spoonful whenever she was looking the other way! Well, my potato - au - gratin was excellent too. As for Shikhin's dish, it was some cooked animal, so I didn't register it. Dessert came in the form of vanilla ice-cream scoops with cake & left a wonderful taste in the mouth.
After lunch, we walked a short distance to the Matrimandir, which was unfortunately closed for repairs. The best part about the walk was the crazy snaps that we clicked. Archana & Namrata came up with crazy ideas to click & the men played along. We also made valiant attempts to perch the womenfolk up on a high tree branch... looks like our biceps are not as tough as our hearts are young! Don't worry ladies... there is always a next time!!! Of course, this time, we'll starve you for a couple of days beore trying again. :-)
After a brief stop in our rooms for a shower(my 2nd one for the day), we hit the beach ... well not exactly... the waves hit us & took no time to switch from ankle deep to ceiling high & back again. In fact 2 such mini tsunamis, which drenched us completely, had us scrambling for cover and after that we decided to sit & relax on the beach. The evening got more romantic with the sea resembling a huge stage & the moon lighting up one part of it, like a huge focus light. The sea played out myriad emotions for us, all rolled into one, like a bharatnatyam performance or a classical rendition. Usually it was violent... sometimes like a huge, angry, uncontrollable beast, sometimes like a fiery volcano ... spewing lava with an uncontrollable fury. At times, it resembled a huge whale, throbbing with a natural urge & responding to some natural instinct. At times, it was tranquil & peaceful, not the soundless peacefulness which we were searching for in the ashram, but the peacefulness which came from the constant drone of the ocean, like a natural music, the notes of which were either too simple or too complex, depending on how you hear it. The experience was in one word - ethereal!!! Amazing that we need external help to connect with ourselves...
The dream ended & we decided to rush for dinner. Sand, like water, has a way of getting into the most unlikely & unwelcome places. Even after a long & thorough scrubbing in the shower(keep counting), I had sand coming out of my ears & nostrils.
Thanks to a helpful shop owner, we found an authentic french restaurant & the evening only got better after that! Shikhin went crazy after all the sea creatures & ordered as many as would fit on his plate. The 3 of us, on the other hand, got to try out some sizzling sizzlers... and what sizzlers they were... !!! They were extremely tasty with a unique taste, made a little spicy to suit our palate. The house wine was quite good & coupled with the tequila shots, ensured that our heads started buzzing after a couple of pegs. The honourable exception was of course, my better (???) half, who had a constant complaint that she was not getting enough kicks. Well, I was thinking of ways of getting her a few, but some of those would not have made me popular with her, so I left it at that. The ice cream barely registered, apart from the crazy name - 'Knickerbocker Glory' - which sounded like a brand specializing in nun's ug's. Having stuffed ourselves to capacity & our heads buzzing, we went back to the hotel, looking forward to the next day.

Chunnu aur Munni ko gussa kyon aata hai?

Quite often in life, as in cinema, it is the major actors who get all the limelight & the supporting cast is relegated to a small corner behind the dustiest shelf in our memories. Hoping to correct this anomaly, let me relate our Pondicherry adventures... giving due credence to our new friends Chunnu & Munni.
Chunnu & Munni live in a big car - spending most of the time hanging to the rear window, within kicking distance of each other. They started their lives in Archies Gallery, where our friends Shikhin & Namrata saw them & decided to adopt them. So, Chunnu & Munni became permanent occupants of their big car - a silver coloured Ford Ikon, deciding to share it with Namrata & Shikhin whenever they felt like it.
Our (my wife Archana's & mine) adventures with them started, when we landed up in the big car for a trip to Pondicherry. Chunnu & Munni seemed a little reluctant in the beginning to share their corner with us, but very courteously agreed to.
We left Bangalore around 8 on Friday & readied for a 6 hour drive to Pondicherry. The road was good & with Shikhin in full force behind the wheel, we were doing a good 100 kmph. We were treated to some wonderful & absolutely random music by Chunnu & Munni's close friend - the stereo - which took us on a roller coaster journey from Mohd. Rafi one min to Kumar Sanu the other to Hemant Kumar the next & Jagjit Singh to follow.
After the first hour, Namrata started doling out the goodies... good for us that she had just returned from Jaipur, for she had a bag full of home made 'mathrees', deliciously creamy & large 'nankhatais', along with several small boxes of varous sizes, each emanating a unique fragrance, according to it's contents. The box with the delicately sweet fragrance contained some mixed 'supari', while the one with the slightly tangy smell had some 'chatpata churan'. To Archana's immense delight, the box with no smell at all had her favourite - small pieces of hard 'supari' !!!
We did good time & our tummy's started rumbling in unison only after we had crossed Krishnagiri. Some frantic search for a dhaba before the rumbling turned into a roar, led us to stop at a small place which had a black & white television belting out the latest Tamil hits & some hard cots... distantly resembling the 'charpais' from our childhood memories. The food was passable... more so because our tummy's (mine I am sure was) were aching for some hot tandoori rotis & some decent vegetable... which we finally managed to get. The food was supplemented by some of Haldiram's 'namkeens', courtesy Namrata, some sweet papayas, thanks (should we?) Archana & some unfortunate custard apples who could not withstand the pressure of my backside & ingloriously caved in. The owner/Head Chef seemed like a filmi version of Veerappan & his overbearing presence & menacing looks ensure that I messed up with the order, showing 2 fingers to indicate one 'egg bhurji'! Dinner over, once again we took to the road.
A long time back, I had spent 3 days in Jim Corbett, frantically searching for the most majestic of all animals - the tiger. Little did I know that I would meet the female version very soon... sharing the same vehicle. We reached Pondicherry city around 1 o' clock & aided by a drowsy but courteous policeman, managed to reach the approximate location of our bungalow. Thus began an unforgettable adventure on the East Coast Road. We called up a rather drunk & drowsy watchman who had problem understanding us, we had problem understanding him & hence we ended up making friends with all the dogs, chickens, hens, cows, buffaloes on that 10 km stretch, who I am sure would have got tired of seeing us with a rather irritating regularity & would have been hoping as much as we were that we find our promised abode near the sea & disappear. Finally, after an hour's effort, came the defining moment of the trip - the tigress roared... the tiger reacted as if he was hit by a lightning... while the rest of us (Chunnu, Munni, Archana & I), did our best imitation of a lifeless object. The results came quick & fast & very soon we were nestled cozily under soft quilts, having taken up accommodation in another resort - with a rather grandiose name - 'St. James Beach Resort'. Thus ended the first half day of our journey, with enough adventure to seem much longer than it actually was.

Hello World

Fulfilling a long-standing wish... getting back to penning down my thoughts, once in a while. Takes more effort nowadays... expressing urself in Java comes more easily than in plain English. I am sure, a few more days of blogging should take care of that.
Will get back to work for now, but with the wonderful promise that media managers always make..
Keep watching this space for more...