A Walk Along Serenity Beach

The first Sunday we were there, still homesick and kinda lost, S and I thought we’d spend the day exploring Pondicherry. We took one of those shared auto rickshaws (lovingly referred to as Cockroaches in JIPMER) to Nehru Salai, which is one of the busiest streets in Pondicherry. There. We bought ourselves a map (which later turned out to be BS… we got nowhere as long as we relied on that map), rented a two-wheeler for the day and set off towards the beach.



Pondicherry Beach, or Serenity Beach, is a 1.5km long, rocky shoreline. Some of the bloodiest Anglo-French battles were fought on these sands. Today, however, this beach is ideal for a calm (or romantic) stroll. Or one can just sit on the parapet by the sea (or on one of the rocks) and gaze out at the rolling waves for hours and hours, or watch fishermen at work, or just enjoy the sea-spray.

Goubert Avenue, which runs along the beach, is sprinkled with a number of monuments and memorials. The most imposing among them would be the huge, impressive statue of Mahatma Gandhi, which stands on the seafront, surrounded by eight beautifully carved pillars. I remember reading somewhere that this statue is 'life-size'. Believe me, it most certainly is not. It's big, the way MG never was.

Right opposite the statue is the French War Memorial, built in honour of the soldiers who were killed in the First World War. I heard that every year, on Bastille Day, this memorial is beautifully lit up. I would've loved to see that, but sadly, I won't be there at that time of the year. Nevertheless, this white memorial is elegant and charming, illuminated or otherwise.

Next to the French War Memorial, in the Place du Gouvernement, is the 29m-tall Old Lighthouse.It was first lighted on 1st July, 1836. In 1931, a revolving lantern replaced the old fixed lamp that had been used till then. It is said that the beacon could be seen from a distance of up to 29km away. This lighthouse was later abandoned, after the commissioning of the new one in 1979.

Further south, at the end of Goubert Avenue, lies the Children's Park. Here stands the statue of Dupleix, one of the most able French Governors. Though Dupleix's tenure ended in 1754, this statue was erected in only in 1870. Originally, this 2.88m tall structure stood on six intricately carved granite pillars at the Place du Republique. However, it was later shifted to this Park, overlooking the sea. As you can see in the picture of the Children's Park (the one immediately below), there's a pier (284m long, I think), located just beyond.

At the northern end of Goubert Avenue lies the Indian War Memorial, a helmet perched on a rifle, flanked by tall pillars on four sides, This memorial was erected by the Government of Pondicherry in memory of the Indian soldiers who laid down their lives for the country.


Riding further north, we entered a small fishing village. We spent a few minutes there, watching the men fish and the women weave nets, or sort out the freshly caught fish.

After that, we were nicely baked brown, and quite tired. We found a Pizza Corner, where we had our lunch. We then went to the Botanical Garden, but that shall be described in a later part of this series of Pondi-blogs.

The Pondicherry beach surely is a lovely place to visit in the evenings too. Goubert Avenue is quite well-lit, and the whole place is a lot more serene than it usually is in the day (a lot more crowded too). On Saturday evenings, Goubert Avenue is closed to vehicular traffic. The police hold some kind of a parade... They all march along the beach road, playing 'police band music'. They then assemble at the Square near the statue of Mahatma Gandhi, and the band plays for an hour or so.

Well, that's about the Pondicherry beach. One may not be able to enjoy a good swim in the sea, but it still is a wonderful place.. a 'pleasant promenade', as they call it. Peaceful Pondicherry at its very best, indeed!

Pondicherry- India's Little France

I am home.

Those are probably the most beautiful three words I’ve ever heard. However, after learning to live in, and love, Pondicherry, I daresay I think the coming-home day came too soon!

Pondicherry is really a tiny town, packed with ‘seeables’. A well organized two-day trip should be enough to view every ‘tourist spot’ there. And I was there for forty days (and I’ll soon be going back for 50 more)! That’s long enough to make me consider taking up a job as a tourist guide. But since I have my work at JIPMER to think about, Pondi-blogging is about all I can do, for now.

Often referred to as The French Riviera of The East, this little town on the Coromandel coast is where the French dream of an Indian Empire began… and ended. French Pondicherry was a Boulevard Town, an oval with straight roads intersecting at right angles. The town was encircled by a boulevard, and split by a canal into Ville Blanche (White Town, the European side) and Ville Noire (Black Town, the Tamil part). While Ville Blanche exudes old-world charm, with its graceful French villas, paved streets and quiet, tree-lined lanes, Ville Noire is a realization of every Indian cliché- the bright colours, the dust, the heat, the flies, the noise and the people, the smell of sea and salt and fish thick in the air, enjoyable nevertheless.

Once called Vedapuri, Pondicherry is said to have been home to the sage Agastya. Excavations at Arikamedu, an archaeological site barely 4km from Pondicherry, reveal vestiges of a port town, and Roman settlements over 2000 years old. Vedapuri’s trade links with Rome and Greece continued till the Cholas took over Pondicherry (around 10^th- 11^th century). In the 13^th century, the Cholas were overthrown by the Pandyas. Later, the Vijayanagara Empire, which encompassed almost all of South India, ruled here till 1638, after which the Sultan of Bijapur took hold of Gingee (pronounced sen-jee, a fortified town 75km from Pondicherry).

In the early 16^th century, the Portuguese started a factory in Pondicherry. They, however, were routed out a century later by the ruler of Gingee. Then came the Danes, and the Dutch, who set up establishments here. The new ruler of Gingee invited the French to open trade centres in Pondicherry, so that they might compete with the Dutch.

On the Fourth of February, 1673, Bellanger, a French officer, took up residence in a Danish lodge in Pondicherry. Thus began the French hold over Pondicherry. A year later, Francois Martin, the first Governor, transformed Pondicherry from a tiny fishing village to a flourishing port town. In 1693, the Dutch took over Pondicherry and fortified it. However, six years and a peace treaty later, the French regained Pondicherry, and developed it considerably.

Under ambitious Governors like Lenoir (1726-35), Dumas (1735-41) and Dupleix (1742-54), Pondicherry grew into a large, wealthy town. But all plans of creating a French Empire in India were thwarted by Robert Clive. The British defeated the French at war, and all peace talks failed. Later, France sent Lally Tollendall to resurrect the French Empire. Tollendall seemed to be successful at first- he managed to raze the British Fort St. David in Cuddalore. However, his success was limited to his initial endeavour only, as France was later forced to cede the Hyderabad region to the British. Moreover, in 1761, Pondicherry was razed to the ground in an act of vengeance, and the city lay in ruins for the next four years.

For the next 50 years, the British and the French took turns occupying Pondicherry. Finally, in 1816, the French regained permanent control of Pondicherry and ruled there for the next 138 years. Long after India attained Independence, Pondicherry, in 1963, became an integral part of the Indian Union.

Today, Puducherry (yes, we do love going back to the Indian names our cities once had) is a Union Territory, and it includes Pondicherry (the town), Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam. Puducherry is considered a tourism hotspot.. Over 55 languages are spoken here. Walking down a busy street, one gets to hear snatches of conversation in Tamil, English, French, Telugu, Malayalam, and sometimes even German. Here’s a place where people from all over the world live together, where people reportedly speak French with a Tamil accent (!!!), where restaurants claim to serve Franco-Tamil food, where policemen continue to wear red military-style caps, the French kepis… India’s Little France.

P.S.: If any of you want to see all the pictures, click here. Some of these pictures may appear in future blogs, too.