'Pondicherry' my little haven of India, staying there for over two weeks everything became relaxed, chilled and very familiar. I was even able to venture out all by myself and not get hideously lost, an absolute first for me as my sense of direction is appalling! If i say 'we go right' it is safe to assume that actually you need to go left....place a map in my hand and it doesn't seem to make a damn bit of difference. Well at least i had Ant and Sharon with me, they seem to have homing devices instantly built into them...
What is lovely about staying in a place for a long period of time is the relationships that you build with the locals, across the road from our hotel a lovely man has his 'chai' (tea) stand, where you can see him at work from morning until night. Every morning without fail whilst the boys were still sleeping i would sneak out in dire need for my two fixes, a cuppa chai and a ciggie. He soon began to recognise me and before long as i dodged my way across the road he would have a brew ready and waiting for me. Wonderful, i love the small things like that. In a bustling town its nice to be known (even if as a tourist i do stick out like a sore thumb!).
We did actually manage to venture out of good old Pondicherry, in fact we had a wonderful adventure, making a road trip we ventured to Auroville and Mamamama ( i could never say it...its something like mamalaparam). Meeting early one morning we headed to rent bikes, not bicycles....we weren't feeling that energetic...mopeds were on the menu of the day. We all doubled up, Andrew and Rachel, Pam and Sharon and Ant and i, ready and excited we all went on a hunt in search of our own speed demons. The others quickly managed to secure their bikes, however ant and i seemed to be having our own issues, every time we told the guys where we were going they informed us that we wouldn't make it there, which in fact didn't really bode well for the others.... So backwards and forwards we hunted inspecting bikes, looked at millions of bald tires and decrepid bikes etc. This mission that we were on was taking on a life of its own and getting quite boring...finally after seeing nothing road worthy we decided on getting a motorbike. I must admit i was a little bit twitchy but seeing as Ant could ride one and i totally trust him we went for it. You could say i was putting my life in his hands....
Finally we were all set, in our biker gang we weaved in and out of traffic. I think Ant was quite pleased when i released my vice like grip on him, enabling him to breathe...very important.!Fortunatly for us ours was a speed demon but unluckily Pam and Sharon had a right puffer of a bike,chugging out smoke as we cruised along so we had to keep the pace reasonable. Honestly we looked like something from the wacky races!!!! I loved it, on flat parts Ant let loose and we bombed it.... i couldn't help but squeal with delight, I would like to say the wind through my hair was amazing but seeing as i don't have any it doesn't really seem to fit..but i think you get the idea. I felt that need for speed, that adrenaline rushing through your body, surging through my veins.. At that moment i didn't actually care about our destination, i was truly living in the moment. A few bum reviving stops later and one conked out bike (Pam and Sharons) we found ourselves in Mamalpuram, dinner by the ocean, sand between out toes and full tummies we were replete, emotionally and physically.
Watching the sunrise in the morning wasn't as impressive as we anticipated but it was peaceful and relaxing sitting on the rocks watching and waiting for the day to break. Later in the searing sun we visited a rock park, where a HUGE boulder sits, peetering on a slope. Loads of tourists come to visit and try to push it off its precarious position, of course i had a go but honestly what are the chances that little ol' me would manage it? Old buildings and carved stones mine the park and its beautiful except for the bastard monkeys roaming around stealing peoples water bottles (god i hate them SO much)...
Making use of our bikes we also visited Auroville, an odd town with an underlying vibe, it was kind of eerie.... the belief of the town instigated by "the mother" is that everyone is equal etc etc, almost trying to recapture what life was like in the cave days before we all evolved. It was an interesting concept to learn about but i am not sure how well it works, it was a nice place to visit but i am not sure that i would want to stay there for a long period of time.
So our road trip was over....our bikes had done their job, offering us a new sense of freedom and exploration. It ws so much fun espeically when we rode about 'Indian style' ie three on a bike, i was the filling of this sandwich squeezed inbetween Sharon and Ant, hanging onto Sharon for dear life so we didn't leave her on the tarmac somwhere!!! It was certainly 'cosy'!! So all in all it was a wonderful trip and one i would definatly like to repeat..sometime...i feel like a junkie... when am i going to get my next fix????
