Road to Chennai-cum-Pondicherry
One has truly said, “Engineering
life is the best time to explore as many places as you want because after that
there won’t be anything to be called as life”. Well I am still searching for that
one person!! But in this search I have begun to realise that whatever has been
told is true, though I had made my mind to prove it wrong. However please note
that the term “Engineering” can be replaced with “College”: a disclaimer to
avoid racist allegations! With this small introduction let me unravel a memory,
shaped from the bazaars of Chennai to the streets of Pondicherry.
“It all began” as an idea popped out from the curious mind
of Sourav. It was a dull day, I was rotting up at office and Amartya busy with
his studies when all of a sudden, Sourav pinged in “Zoo Kingdom” (A Whatsapp group
comprising of me, Sourav and Amartya) saying, “Hey Bhaiyon!! Suno...we haven’t
been to any place together after completion of engineering. So let’s plan to go
somewhere. What about Pondicherry? Let us plan it on 2nd, 3rd
and 4th October (2015)”. “Yes” was served within seconds and finally
it was time to dream something else instead of the code which went to
Production yesterday.
Plan: Amartya and I shall first reach Chennai to meet Sourav and from there we will head to
Pondicherry and follow reverse pattern on return journey.
And so after a month of dreams and too many plans, 1st
October came into inception. We were to board a bus to Chennai from
Shanthinagar Bus stop at 9:00 PM. So after calculating the distance of my place
to Shanthinagar plus the traffic density, I planned to work from home. I didn’t
know that this planning would cost me frustration. The day began with packing
and by afternoon I was done with all work except for the laptop because I was “working
from home” (apparently though). I had planned to log off by 4:30 pm and move
out by 5:00 pm. At exact 4:15 pm I saw my inbox getting popped up with failures.
So I started solving them and after a series of repeated prayers to almighty, I
managed to get out of my room by 6:30 pm. I reached Shanthinagar by 8:10 pm (so
called “lucky me”) and somehow managed to board the bus at 9:00 pm. The journey
began......
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| CMBT |
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| At Absolute Barbeque |
Chennai: It was
4:30 am in the morning (the first day of vacation) and we were busy looking for
a sign board inscribed with the name “Ponamallee” because as instructed by
Sourav, when we see this word, we can make sure we are near to CMBT. We reached
CMBT by 5:10 or 5:15 am. We were welcomed by a sudden sensation of heat as we
were walking towards the terminal. The “awestrucking” beauty and “mesmerising”
aroma of CMBT compelled us to call Sourav to come quickly and take us somewhere
serene. Well Sourav came to our rescue at 8:00 am and within next half an hour
we boarded a bus to the bazaars of Chennai. We had to buy few clothes and most
importantly we were hungry. As per the plan (which was not included in the
actual plan) we checked in at “Absolute Barbeque” by 11:30 am and ate till 2:15
pm. It was one hell of a meal covering 2 meals of the day. With this Chennai
tour came to an end so we moved back to CMBT as we had to board another bus to
Pondicherry at 5:30 pm. But as luck works 180 degrees apart so due to some
unknown reasons the bus was delayed by an hour. We finally managed to
kick-start the actual journey by 6:30 pm.
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| Unique French colonies |
Pondicherry: We
reached Pondicherry at 10 pm and took an auto to Annai Residence (as booked by
Sourav) from the bus station. We were left with only one work to do that was
retire to bed as soon as we reach there. In this way first day ended with a
promise of adventurous tomorrow.
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| Aurobindo Ashram |
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| Rocky beach |
3rd October began with a walk into the boulevards
of Pondicherry. “Rue de la marine”...”Rue Laporte”....”Rue Basleu”...and many
more were the names of the beautiful French streets that came on our way as we
explored Pondicherry. At end of the each street was a beginning of a new world on
its stance with full of surprises. And so these roads took us to yet another
wonderful creation, “Aurobindo Ashram”. I would term it as a spiritual garden
enriched with so much of knowledge, serenity and most importantly an abode of
content.. We reached the end of the streets to find ourselves at the
start of Rocky beach. Nothing could be more captivating than the waves hitting
the rocks. This reminded me of the saying "Your name may be 'writ in water', but for now, you have the great
advantage of being a wave that can think"
As we were exploring more things in and around (for example
The Secreteriat Building, Gandhi Statue) we came to know about another beach
named Paradise Beach. So that was the new entry in plan stack. We took an auto
to Chunnambar Boat House, the place where we were supposed to get into boats to
Paradise Beach. We boarded on motor boats which sailed through the Chunnambar
back waters finally reaching Paradise beach. This was the last and the best
spot of the day. Fun was at its extreme as we left no stones unturned to
unravel the mysteries of the beach. Right from strength-combat with the waves
to the making sand house, everything was well eaten from the fun platter. Fried
fish added up to the enjoyment.
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| Fried fish @ Paradise beach |
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| Chunnambar back waters |
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| Paradise Beach |
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| Le Chateau |
As
the day came to an end, it was time to eat. And in that case what could be better
than a jaw dropping French cuisine. So we were back into the streets of
Pondicherry with one hand looking the best rated French restaurants in Zomato
while the other hand ready to search the restaurant. And finally here it was “Le Chateau”. ”.
To savour in the best French toasts along with a combination of mashed potatoes
and steak was a dream come true. In this way the second day got its best end.
What about the third day? Well we only slept on that day..by afternoon we had to check out...ate at another French restaurant and back to Pondicherry bus station.
This marked the end of one of the most beautiful memories that I can ever cherish post employment!
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