Pondicherry

Pondicherry is a mix of East and West.  It's s fairly small place, but was the largest French colony in India and there is still a very French influence in the old part of town with roads being called Rues and Boulevards and with French bakeries and old French houses.  French is still spoken by many people - including the children.    

We stayed in a lovely old villa that had been home to the French Governors.  It was just behind the present home to the Indian Governor and opposite a rather nice little park.

The beach and promenade run the length of the French Quarter.  Much of it is being restored, including Le Cafe, right on the front where we whiled away a few hours over food and drink watching the waves crash to the rocks beside us.

Right opposite the hotel was the Manakula Vinayagar Temple, complete with its own elephant Laxmi.

One day we went to the Chunnambar Boat House and took a motor boat across to Paradise Beach.  It was very quiet and very hot - and not much to do.  The waves in the Bay of Bengal were strong, and while we paddled a bit, it was certainly too rough to swim.

All in all, Pondicherry was a great place to spend a lazy, long weekend.

Auroville

After a day in Mamallapuram we set off for Pondicherry, with a stop in Auroville on the way.   Auroville is an interesting place.  It was founded by a French woman known as "The Mother" who was a disciple of Sri Aurobindo.   Auroville is designed to be a universal town, where people of all nationalities, politics and religions can live in peace and harmony.  Auroville has been endorsed by UNESCO and several thousand people from various countries (including India) live there.

In the centre of Auroville is the Matrimandir.  It's a place of meditation and silence and you can only see it from a viewing point if you are a visitor.  The area around the Matrimandir is being planted up as a garden and is knows as a peace area.  Flowers are supposed to have special qualities.  Inside the structure is a crystal ball which glows in the sunlight that reaches it from the top of the structure.  The surface of the Matrimandir is covered with gold disks.

Mamallapuram

Over a 5 day long weekend Lex and I went to Tamil Nadu.  We flew to Chennai, but having heard not very good things about it, we went straight from the airport to Mamallapuram, which was a place recommended to us by Kevin (a colleague at work).  This settlement dates back to the 7th century when structures were carved straight out of granite.  The most important structure is the Shore Temple, which was built around 700 AD.  It's different from most of the other buildings as it is not carved straight out of rock.

Other famous sights that we visited on our first afternoon were the Five Rathas.  These are five "chariots" which are sculptures carved out of stone.  There are also enormous stone animal carvings here too.  

It was an extremely hot day, and we walked around the monuments.  Another one we walked to was called Arjuna's Penance, which is also known as the Descent of the Ganges.  It's carved into an enormous rock on a hillside.  

We walked on over the hill and back to the town, and then down a little road to the beach where it was possible to look back at the Shore Temple.  

 The following morning we went out on a walk before setting off to our next destination, Pondicherry.  We climbed back up the hill behind the hotel and first of all went to Krishna's Butterball, a giant natural rock perched on the hillside.  There's also a lighthouse on the hillside and various pavilions, caves and carvings.

Bandra and Juhu

We spent the last week with Rachel going to some local places such as Bandra and Juhu Beach.  We went to Joggers Park and had a walk around at sunset - then we went for some yummy pancakes at Crepes Suzette.

We also went to the Novotel at Juhu and had some drinks by the sea - unfortunately because of the elections it was a dry day - so no happy hour for us!

How did Rachel spend her days in Mumbai?  Mostly studying for her upcoming university exams and painting.

Rachel at Elephanta

On Rachel's second weekend in Mumbai we went to Elephanta Island.  Once again we took a taxi downtown and then took a ferry across to the island.  The caves are dedicated to Lord Shiva and there are many carvings of him and Parvati, and the three headed Shiva showing various incarnations, for example Shiva the dancer and Shiva the destroyer.

It was a long hot day.  The following day Rachel and I went to the pool at the Hyatt to relax.

Rachel in Mumbai in April

Rachel came to Mumbai for just over 3 weeks in April - what a treat for me.  Although we didn't go away, we did try to do things every weekend in and around Mumbai.  On our first weekend Rachel and I went downtown.  We visited the Museum of Modern Art and also several other galleries - the paintings were pretty weird!

The following day we set off for Marve - we'd heard that you could get a day ticket to the Manoribel where you could walk on the beach and lounge in hammocks.  We took a taxi to Marve and then the ferry across towards Gorai.

This was the beach at Marve.  It was sandy, fairly clean and fairly empty.  I spent most of the day lounging in hammocks under the trees.  It was definitely nice to spend time in somewhere green.

Very Old Delhi

Another day we took the metro down to the Qutb Minar.  This is in the site of the first of the seven cities of Delhi, established in 1060.  The Qutb Minar itself is a red sandstone tower of Qutb Minar 72.5 m high, with alternating angular and rounded flutings.  It was built around 1200. The iron pillar in the mosque compound was brought from elsewhere in India. It bears a Sanskrit inscription from the 4th century AD describing the exploits of a ruler named Chandra, believed to be the Gupta King Chandragupta II (375-413). 

The Iron Pillar is built up of many hundreds of small wrought-iron blooms welded together and is the largest known composite iron object from so early a period. The remarkable lack of corrosion is attributable to the combination of several factors, among them the high corrosion-resistance of wrought iron, the climatic conditions in Delhi, and the likelihood that it was frequently anointed with ghee (melted butter). The deep cavity at the top suggests that it may at one time have been crowned by a Garuda image. 

We took the metro back to Chandni Chowk - one of the oldest and busiest markets in Old Delhi.  The name actually means "moonlight square" and it was named after the fact that a canal used to run the length of it that reflected the moonlight.  A very chaotic place now!

We walked to the Lahore Gate, the entry into the Red Fort.  The Red Fort Complex was built as the palace fort of Shahjahanabad – the new capital of the fifth Mughal Emperor of India, Shah Jahan.  Its name refers to the massive enclosing walls of red sandstone.  

The private apartments consist of a row of pavilions connected by a continuous water channel, known as the Nahr-i-Behisht (Stream of Paradise). The Red Fort is considered to represent the zenith of Mughal creativity which, under the Shah Jahan, was brought to a new level of refinement.  The garden design strongly influenced later buildings and gardens in Rajasthan, Delhi and Agra.