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Tuesday, September 30, 2014

White light..expressions..the purity of emotions

My first photo blog..its a story through pictures..!!


White Light..purity..woman's heart

The White light of purity, of transparency as it envelops everything in its wake, purifying everything. Its the essence of being a human!!


Colours..and white light

The colours of undiluted laughter, of myraid hues as they spread over, the creativity of soul and of life!!

The soul of food, salt

The life giver and saver, it is what spices up things, the small white unit crucial to taste and to life!!

The captured shadow
The strangulated shadow of white light as it peeks from the curtains of darkness, watching the transformation of itself, of its essence, of the humanity.

Light at the end of tunnel
The long wait at the end of tunnel for the illumination of white light, of justice and of happiness and of peace!

A short trip to pondicherry..

The magic of a sunset, is the orange hues
splashed across the bronzed sky
as the wide leaves of the coconut trees
sway in the cool mystical sea breeze!!


Sunset at Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu, India 

The story started from a friend's wedding in Chennai, and with the long weekend around the corner. We decided to go to Pondicherry, the land where time stops. Unlike the beach capital of Goa, a pondicherry holiday is about relaxation and cafe hopping and shopping at auroville!!

We took an AC bus from koyambedu bus stop in Chennai, and got lucky as the bus was waiting at the stop. With the ticket cost of only Rs.135, it was an awesome bargain and the bus didn't disappoint at all. We started around 9.30 pm and by 1.30 the bus had dropped us to our destination, pondicherry bus stop.

Our earlier booked hotel, a bed and breakfast Inn in the french quarters had cancelled our booking at last minute and we stayed at hotel sathya sai, which turned out to be a great bargain again at Rs.800 a day for 2 person stay. The room was clean with a big enough bathroom and a functional TV, and teh staff was helpful and cooperative.

To roam around the city, you can easily hire a bike or a bicycle. A bike would only cost around Rs.400 for a day and you can bargain for 2 days easily.

Here's my summary of the Best Cafes I liked in Pondicherry:

1. The Indian Kaffe Express
- Absolutely great for breakfast with innovative options and really tasty food. The service takes a bit of time but then pondicherry is for relaxation. It is well situated within the french quarters and you should definitely give it a try!!

2. Zuka
- For all chocolate lovers, this is nothing less than heaven and absolute must try!!

3. The Hidesign Cafe
- An absolute bargain with delicious food!! and a great location being inside the pondicherry bazaar
Much better than the expensive options

4. Le Cafe
- Awesome location right beside the beach and good snack options

We also tried LB2 lounge and cafe Shanti, but they were ok nothing great as such! and you can try so many other cafe options available!!

Coming back to attractions, we did roam around the majestic french quarters, its a must see. And we did some shopping around the bazaar, if you like leather bags, definitely try hidesign factory outlet where you can get as much as 60-70% off.

Pondicherry Market, pondicherry, Tamil Nadu

I loved this small bazaar with mud objects, they were a treat to watch.

Next day we started off in morning to auroville, on our rented bike and reached quite easily in about 35 minutes. We walked to the statue, which was nice and then shopped around for incense sticks and hand made soaps. We had a nice quite lunch and then moved to serenity beach in pondicherry.

Coming to beaches, there is obviously the promenade, the rocky beach but it is mostly crowded. Serenity beach was a great discovery. It has less crowd, you can do surfing here and it's great to just sit on the rocks and watch waves crash by. Its quite clean, littered with fishermen boats.

Serenity Beach, Pondicherry

Pondicherry is a great weekend break, for relaxation! For just roaming around!!
Serenity Beach, Pondicherry



Saturday, September 27, 2014

A Monsoon love story: Me and the Andaman Islands!!

Monsoons are romantic, monsoons are colourful..the pallete of colours that appears on sky can put any colourful painting to shame. I am a hopeless lover of the monsooons..so my first travel post is a monsoon post to the Andaman and Nicobar islands.

So yes, I travelled in the off season, of late july, which has both pros and cons. The tourists were still there but much lesser than the peak season, and you are free to enjoy the island beauty in its stillness in its charming loneliness!! On the flipside, a few of the beaches were closed and there is no private ferry, although I really enjoyed the charm of the government ferry, also was way cheap on the pocket.


Port Blair, Andaman Islands

So on a five day trip..this is how our iterinary went
- Landed in port Blair around 1..spent the day there
- Day 2 to havelock Island in a government ferry
- Day 3 to Niel from Havelock and spent the day there
- Day 4 Back to havelock, entire day there
- Day 5 Morning back to Port Blair and flight from there

The highlights of the trip or the things you should definitely do, in part images and part words..


Cellular Jail

1. Cellular Jail
Its a sad tragic story with a beautiful architecture and in the rains it just becomes more magnificent!!
Architecture of cellular Jail, Port Blair
The architecture with massive lines is just imposing, it narrates a tale of perseverance and strength. Its the main thing to see in port blair. It was an afternoon spent well.
View from the top- cellular Jail
We spent the evening at Rajiv Ghandhi park, which looks beautiful in evening with monsoon clouds There is nothing much to do here just stroll around and relax.
Rajiv Gandhi Park, Port Blair



Then started the journey to Havelock, the governemnt ferry leaves at 6.30 am and second at 9.30, we missed the first one


Boats at Havelock Deck, Andaman Islands
Havelock is just beautiful, to describe it as anything else would be just not true. Radhanagar beach, vijaynagar beach and kalapathar..the white sands, crystal blue water and untouched natural beauty. Radhanagar beach has truly been described as one of the best beaches in Asia, but I loved Kalapatahr becah even more, its just pristine, yet untouched.
Kalapathar Beach, Havelock Islands
Kalapathar Beach, Havelock Islands, Andaman
It's very easy to roam around in havelock using a two wheeler on rent. Personally I didnt find much in Neil island, you can easily roam around using a bicycle. We did snorkelling here, since the crowds are lesser. You can give it a miss, if you don't have much time.

I hope you like reading it and was somewhat helpful, would love to hear your comments!!



Andaman Islands