Pondicherry

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Its a sleepy town with a french influence, though not as french as you would think! I can assure you the people here are very much Indian, though we have met a young male on the streets who is studying french to act in a film.

Lots of restaurants, some really upmarket ones, and a very nice (but a little unshaded) Beach road running beside a sandy strip. Where the land meets the sea, however, is a very rocky stretch, so swimming and sunbathing isn't the order of the day here.

Though there isn't much here in terms of touristy attractions, we end up staying for 3 days in the Park Hotel owned by the Aurobindo ashram. We were very lucky to get a beach facing, well ventilated and spacious room without a prior booking! The hotel filled up the next day and new guests were turned down. Actually the ashram seems to own just about everything in Pondicherry.

My latest antic included discovering that I left my passport behind in a shop in Tiruvannamalai one week ago! I had only discovered its loss when asked for it by the reception staff. It was a mad bus trip back and alot of help from the Dhyanapeetam in Tiruvannamalai, coupled with Masha's encouragement that saw me through! Thanks to the grace of existance and Swamiji the passport is now back in my hands.

Our trip to Auroville, the model community founded by Sri Aurobindo's main disciple - Mother, did not happen. Masha received an opening in Kerala to do some volunteer work feeding the homeless, and after some soul searching, I found my ache to return to the Dhyanapeetam ashram to be too strong to supress.

Bye Masha!

Byebye Masha 8*(.

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