South Indian Sunset

Living in rainy Vancouver, I don’t often have an opportunity to witness a sunset. In Puducherry however, I stayed in a homestay with a rooftop and quaint shady nook where sunsets embellished the sky daily.

Afternoon nap time

Sometimes when the heat just became too much, I headed back to my room, turned on both the fan and the air conditioner and picked up a book. After I few pages, I found myself nodding off but hey, I wasn’t the only one was I?

Anantha – a heritage home

On a quiet street on the northern end of Puducherry stood a well-maintained heritage house. The one hundred and thirty year old home had once belonged to a Tamil businessman.

The business of religion

The best maintained buildings in Puducherry were both the churches and the main temples.

Puducherry’s Ganesh Temple radiated in all its grandeur as if it had recently been painted every colour of the rainbow. Inside was more eye-popping than the exterior. As I wandered the perimeter ogling at the freezes, a queue waited to enter the inner sanctuary for blessings.

Snail mail

I love the internet and its convenience — checking maps, FaceTime, instant messaging to name a few. But I know children still get a kick out of receiving snail mail.

I headed to Puducherry’s post office to mail postcards to my grandchildren. Others dipped their fingers in the sticky glue to paste on stamps. I wiped my stamps across the glue and found the ancient post box that looked like it could easily be ripped off the fence and broken into.

India’s first car

On my first trip to India, there were no imported cars. It was India’s Ambassador or nothing. Taxis were Ambassadors. Private cars were Ambassadors. It was like the food, you ate curry or you didn’t eat back then.

Puducherry’s Botanic Gardens

The Botanic Gardens that opened in 1826 were loaded with towering trees from kapok to tamarind trees. But the tooth ache tree caught my attention because this Indian native had been used in Ayurveda medicine.

Puducherry’s ancient fossil

I meandered through the Botanic Gardens past giant trees where my neck ached when I looked up to the highest branches. With a sign ahead that proclaimed ancient fossil, I was drawn like a magnet to metal.

Pondy’s beachfront

I cooled off in a beach side restaurant because it wasn’t only the thirty-two degree heat that had me wilting, but the high humidity drenching my skin. I sat talking to a Mumbai visitor while the Bay of Bengal beckoned.

At the feet of Gandhi

How could I be in India without taking at least one photo of a statue of India’s beloved Mahatma? It seemed every Indian vacationing in Pondy wanted to do the same.