Puducherry and Auroville: Two Different Worlds at one place

During the lockdown, I am sure you don’t have much options to travel, but lots of time to read. What’s even better is to get yourself prepared for the adventures when the world heals itself again. Let’s talk about one of the favorite locations in India I have been to. There is so much to explore that I had to take another trip to explore them. I am talking about Puducherry and Auroville:

How to reach: Puducherry has a small airport with limited connectivity with Hyderabad and Bengaluru. However, you can get plenty of options from Bengaluru or Chennai. You can take Bus, Taxi, Rental Cabs, Self Drive or even lift (if you are lucky). Time and Money are inversely proportional here. If you are travelling solo or as a couple, take a bus or negotiate with cab driver for individual seats. Travelling cost reduces significantly if your group strength is equal to the number of seats of the Vehicle. Once you reach the town. You can always hire a scooty for Rs 300/day (Petrol excluded). It becomes more convenient and easier considering narrow parking space, roads and frequent red light around the town.

Where to Stay: This gets interesting. Map below represents our two location of stay. One of our stay location was almost in the centre of town. Lots of traffic but full of life, Easy access to important locations and eateries within the town. We stayed in a hotel with room service and used all our time exploring the city. Our other stay location was somewhat away from all the adventure. It was at the outskirts of town in Tamil Nadu. Also, much closer to Auroville and Aurobindo Ashram. We rented a Villa with Kitchen. We explored the less traveled paths by tourists, went to local markets, meat shops, Village shops and temples. We bought groceries from local vendors, ate breakfast and lunch at new places and prepared dinner to ourselves in our rented villa. Honestly speaking I enjoyed both my stay.

What to see: On internet, you can find several places to visit in Puducherry. Don’t waste your time on each of them. Lots of things are just as ordinary as you can find in your own city/town, especially Gardens and Museums. Invest a major portion of your stay to explore White Town, Rock Beach (Promenade Beach), Basilica of Sacred Heart, Auroville Beach, MatriMandir and Aurobindo Ashram. White town is a French styled town in front of Rock Beach with some really beautiful structures and amazing visual experience.

There are some visiting tips for Aurobindo Ashram:

• If you must attend a meditation session, you have to register a day prior. Also, they have limited seats to try to reach early.

• If you are visiting most significant structure of Auroville i.e. MatriMandir, you have to take a walk for almost a kilometer. So, make sure you have some buffer time before you reach there as the site closes around 5 PM.

• There is no fancy eateries or café in the Ashram area, so you should fetch your own water bottles and food if you don’t want to eat idlis, pineapples from local roadside vendors.

What to eat: In a nutshell, White Town area has a lot of options for your appetite. There are lots of amazing cafeterias in white Town serving Italian, Indian and Continental cuisine. You can have liquor on terrace of few of these cafes as well. There are some open shops from where you can have some amazing milk shakes, tea, coffee and snacks. Fish can be tricky when it comes to taste, so be cautious while ordering them.

What else: Buy some souvenirs, follow traffic rules, be kind and awesome. Enjoy!