Weekend Getaway

This weekend was incredibly amazing (and a bit hectic)! We kicked off the trip by leaving Trichy and getting on a bus to Pondicherry at 12:45 am and arrived three hours later. Neither Conner nor I thought that our bus trip would be that short and were more prepared for a six hour drive rather than three. The hotel I booked would not let us check in until noon so a driver took us to a hotel he knew that was only 600 rupees per night (9 dollars) and it was less than 300 meters to the beach. After getting our keys and taking a much needed early morning nap we headed off to find breakfast. We ate breakfast right on the beach (it was a nice way to kick off the trip). After breakfast, Conner wanted to go back to the hotel and grab his backpack the only unfortunate part was we forgot where our hotel was and what was the name. We searched for over an hour before we called an auto (kind of like a taxi) to take us there. Unfortunately its hard to tell an auto where you want to go when you can't remember the name of it. He ended up dropping us off at the beach and by some miracle we back tracked our way to the hotel. After that minor setback we called another auto to drive us around to the list of sights I made earlier in the week. The first stop was the sacred heart of Jesus. This church was even more jaw-dropping than I could have thought. Outside the church there is an intricately painted mandala. As you walk up to the church the sheer size of it is enough to take your breath away. I had to crane my neck all the way back to see up to the top when I was at its steps. As I first walked in the first thing I noticed was the large Jesus statue at the middle of the church. On each side there was a smaller statue of the virgin Mary and another person of importance (reality check that I needed to reread the bible). As I continued to walk around the church I noticed how detail oriented the entire thing was. Each part of the church represented the life Jesus had, right down to the stain glass windows. Walking out of the church there was a grave stone (I wondered if it was supposed to be for Jesus) and there were several lessons on the walls with pictures of the pope like 'feed the hungry', 'clothe the naked', etc. After basking in the glory of this place for twenty minutes or so we were off!

The mandala outside of the Sacred Heart of Jesus 

The Sacred Heart of Jesus (me for scale)

Center of the church

First statue seen on the right when I took my first steps inside.  

pano of just one part of the church!



One of the many stain glass window pieces

 The next stop was Sri Manakula Vinayagar Temple. This was a shrine dedicated to Lord Ganesha and its very obvious when you walk in the door, there are paintings and statues of Ganesha all over and inside the structure. A man who said he was a fortune teller took us inside and had us blessed by several statues. After he charged us 100 rupees to read our palms (Guess what Mom, a new relationship is coming my way) we then walked across the street to a garden set up by The Mother. The Mother is Mirra Alfassa, she was a spiritual guide for her community and worked to open up to supramental truth consciousness. In the garden there were no pictures allowed (sorry folks). As I walked in there was a path to follow and on each side there were numerous types of plants (some cacti and a lot I've never seen before). At the end of the path there was a layout of flowers in this unique design as I looked around for some guidance as to what to do I saw people saying a silent prayer, touching the flowers, and then touching their forehead. I followed suit and the flowers were still damp and I could smell them even after I left the ashram. I don't understand the religion or the meaning of the ashram completely but I do know that it felt powerful to be a part of something people believed so heavily in. After the ashram our driver took us to the Pondicherry museum (again no pictures). There were a lot of interesting statues and stones focused on the Hindu religion. The funny thing is as I read the description for each piece, I would look for a date that it was collected and from what time period and it would be blank. I guess that's just shows the mystery of this place! 

painting on the ceiling of the Ganesh Temple

#blessedbyGanesh

Our next stop: Auroville. Auroville is a town founded by The Mother. I wasn't sure what I was getting into initially. I just saw that it was a must see place in Pondicherry. When our driver dropped us off we had to go into a room in the visitors center to watch an introductory video. The introductory video said that this place is for all people of the world to share. It is a place where harmony and peace are the central themes and where people can find themselves. After the video we got our free pass to go see Matrimadir (a golden orb which contains a glass orb and is a peak place for concentration). On our walk over there we learned that the Mother renamed a bunch of different flowers and gave them each special meanings. These flowers were painted on stones with their meaning and an inspirational quote. Before we got to the viewing point we reached the center of Auroville which is marked by the banyan tree. It was there when the Mother first started planning the construction, it stood alone in a barren land. Now the tree has taken several aerial roots (grew the branches down to make new trunks) and reaches out several feet. When we finally reached the Matrimadir we just sat down on a rock for a while just looking at it. No picture will ever do it justice and the landscaping that surrounds it is impeccably done. After basking in the glory that was Matrimadir we went back to the visitors center and had one of the best lunches I have eaten in India. I ordered the seafood plate and everything on it was fresh and delicious (it reminded me of home). We then headed back to the hotel, dropped our stuff off and went to the beach. We stayed at the beach for a couple of hours then headed back to the hotel to get ready for another exciting day Sunday.

This is the banyan tree it is so large the whole thing wouldn't fit into the entire picture 

Matrimadir from the viewing point. 

Best lunch ever!! 

Sunday aka Fathers Day (Shout out to Eric Phillips and Scott Chadwick) started out by trying to find somewhere different to eat breakfast. On our way we ran into a fellow American named Alpa. Alpa is 47, recently divorced, and quite the talker. She ended up coming to breakfast with us where she spent the whole time talking about her dreams, career plans, kids, etc. Conner and I couldn't get two words in the entire time but its okay because it was just nice to have someone other than ourselves who spoke English fluently. Alpa took us to the Gandhi statue on the beach and took our picture for us while in exchange I took several pictures of her doing yoga poses (she's a yogi and no dad not the bear). We then went to a yoga conference with her and then she pointed us in the direction of the Sunday Market. The Sunday Market is absolutely hectic its at least a mile or two of just small tents where people are selling everything from clothes, to shoes, to food. We ended up walking around the market for almost three hours before we stopped for lunch and planned our next move. We decided that we wanted to go to paradise beach next (another tourist hotspot I found online). Paradise beach is expensive. There is an entrance fee just to get into the gate, another fee just to get on a boat to get to Paradise beach, and then more fees if you want to do any kind of beach activities. We decided we wanted to go kayaking. After kayaking for thirty minutes it was time for Conner to go (it was a single kayak). I took my stuff and just laid out on the beach (chairs were being rented out). It should be noted that in India nobody wears any kind of swimsuit. Most of the little kids swim naked and I saw several women wading in the water in their zaris. Overall it was a wonderful day besides Conner losing a hammock he bought in Auroville in a sassy auto drivers car. Get this while we were buying our bus tickets the sassy driver that had Conner's hammock found us. He said he had it in his office and was searching for us for 3 hours in an attempt to return it. Conner had to pull out money to pay the guy to take us to his hammock and while he was at the ATM the guy brutally informed me that if Conner and I did not have any money to pay him it wasn't HIS problem it was MY problem; its funny to me how people's attitude will change when they don't think you're rich anymore. Not to worry though Conner pulled out money and the guy actually had his hammock. On our drive back to the bus station the guy started singing Bob Marley songs and asked us to sing along (this is the craziest part of the trip). Finally we got on a bus back to Trichy and arrived at 3:30 in the morning. What a memorable weekend. 

                                      

Shot of me and the Gandhi statue! You can't tell but there is a man passed out up at the top! 

Check out all the zaris!