A walk around and suggestions for Pondicherry.....

            After enjoying a long Skype session with the ‘folks back home’, I headed out into the heat and humidity that is Pondicherry this mid-November Sunday morning. Noticed yesterday that November is wettest month of the year in these southern parts, with 11 inches of rain (equals a 3 ½ metre snow fall!!) as the ‘northwest monsoon passes through. Having said that, the day was cloudless the with a high level haze. Just in case, I took the opportunity to invest in a collapsible umbrella.  Since arriving nearly two months ago, I have only seen an hours precipitation total, in a couple of locations—both times it was extremely heavy rain with the positive of providing a much needed slooshing (my spelling!) to sidewalks and outside surfaces where it was much needed.

Attractive verandah at French Chambre de Commerce....

             The central tourist area of cobbled streets and yellow stucco French colonial style buildings is only a small portion of metro Pondicherry. The original old town has burst at the seams and spread extensively, following the seemingly universal style of Indian cities, extremely raucous and chaotic. The city fathers seem to be without a plan to capitalise on the history of the town & have mostly failed to preserve the old town core and all that was there under the French, is rapidly sadly fast decaying in the tropical humidity. I happened to glance down a narrow alley off one of the main streets and could just about see, behind the tacky storefront facades, some interesting 18^th century French ornate stone work on buildings hidden from view. What a pity to lose this valuable heritage—but also lost, is the chance to wrap the Pondicherry brand destination in lucrative tourist appeal. My strong suggestion to the city fathers is to make it a priority to bury the open sewer ditches that line the streets in the tourist district and which create rather all pervading ‘rich’ odours in the high temperatures.

Those waves were bigger than they look here....

             Thanks to the former Gallic colonial power, the streets of the old town are laid out in grid fashion, making it is easy even for those with less navigational aptitude. With the knowledge that the ocean is to the east, I was able to carve out an interesting circular amble northward along the sea front and back down through the town. The sea front, and I believe the entire local coastline, is protected by massive man placed rocks that have been positioned to limit shore damage. Today the sea was calm, with little wind, even so, the rollers crashing in on the rocks would have meant instant death to anyone stupid enough to swim.