World Cuisine at Auroville

I am not a foodie neither am I a connoisseur of food. But as far as I can remember I liked watching cooking shows, trying out new dishes happily being a mini Nigella in the kitchen(minus the B****). So when I landed in Auroville, I was quite happy to eat out at the different multi cuisine restaurants run by expats settled there.

The first morning unfortunately was a little disappointing. There were no continental breakfast place open on the ERC road. So found a small little place called “CHANDRU’S RESTAURANT” serving Dosa , Idli and regular South Indian food. The Pongal I ordered (which by the way is one of my favourite dish) was non- descriptive, whitish, more rice than dal (thanks to inflation). Oh well, at least our hungry stomachs were full! As we made our way back to the guest house, we promised ourselves to eat better for the rest of the trip.

And we did…at “GIORGIO’S”. We had Mozzarella fritters, frankly you can avoid that. But the pièce de résistance was the Gnocchi con Frutti di mare….Gnocchi, which is a kind of pasta (available in markets in Bangalore) cooked with sea fish. It was light, fresh, slightly thickened with cream and parmesan. A dash of lemon juice after which it promptly disappeared into our waiting stomachs. Strangely Giorgio himself was absent. So we were done with Italian or so we thought.

For dinner, it was time to turn French! We were at “MANGO HILL”, a beautiful hotel with a charming restaurant lovingly run by a French family. The swimming pool of the hotel was especially inviting. We ordered Roasted ham with lightly grilled vegetables for moi & Fish a la Setoise with french fries & garden salad for mon amie. Sadly though, no drinks on the menu ….so had to make do with half a bottle of wine back at the guest house.

The next day afternoon we made runs & reruns to & fro Matri mandir in the quest of finding our next cuisine, Greek! But when we reached there after crossing endless silent forests and lonely roads, the café was closed…for 15^th August!!!!! Now what can possibly be the connection between a baklava or a moussaka & our Independence Day??? Ah well sometime can turn out to be a blessing in disguise…for then we settled for a restaurant called “TANTO’S”. Now we were not looking for Italian again but the fresh wood oven baked pizza at Tanto’s were delicious…So was the grilled grouper with fresh salad…Che Buono! The Mango sorbet was to die for!

The last evening at “LE CLUB”, Pondicherry was the time for Creole food washed with good beers. Who would have thought of Creole food in India…I guess India can surprise Indians too at times!!

Food for thought: Some people say that while on a holiday, food should be the last thing on the mind. But amidst the thrill of seeing new places, meeting new people, starting a journey or arriving at a new destination… isn’t trying out different food & cuisines also a part of the experience, another chapter of the exploration? I think so….

Quick thrills @ AuroVille.

We landed in Pondicherry on the morning of the 14th August. After a 20mins auto drive and 200Rs poorer we landed in Samarpan Beach house on ERC road at Auroville, right beside Repos beach. The guest house is not your regular Taj fare. Since the Italian owners were not in town, the caretakers were lazy, immovable and I thought sometimes a bit unusually unresponsive. But the guest house itself was very nicely located just beside the sea and the lounge of the guest house had a divine view with the gentle breeze of the sea fanning us continuously in an otherwise hot weather. The studio we stayed in was decorated with inexpensive but tasteful adornments and it did carry a lot of charm.

After a quick shower and 3 hours of waiting (courtesy lazy staffs again) we came to Repos / Auro beach only to be hugely disappointed by the beach. Unclean, unkept, lack of space to sit, no shady spot compounded by the gawking Indian tourist and the even more gawking local fishermen. We soon realised that a nice relaxing swim was not possible. So we counted our loses and went back to the guest house. Keeping in mind the objective of relaxation we had decided for this trip, we stayed & enjoyed the indoors thereafter.

The evening was spent in discovering pottery shops and french restaurant around Auroville. The next day we hired a bike (very lucky to found one though) and roamed around Auroville, starting from Matri mandir to the interiors .The houses in Auroville looked like the handiwork of some quirky & imaginative architects. They were very strange yet so appealing. The last evening which was also the Independence day was spent 3 hours at a pub in Pondicherry & watching fireworks in R.K Beach as a part of the celebrations.

It was a short & delightful trip.

One disgustingly crazy observation: We saw a boy casually pull down his pants and do his shitty business right at the edge of the sea. Done with his business, he simply waited for the waves to come and clean him naturally. No tissues nor "louta" required. Isn't that the heights of laziness?

View from Samarpan guest house

Bubbling away at Havelock- Part 2

The previous night we celebrated V's Birthday with rounds of whisky sours and Tom collins. Needless to say it was difficult to wake up the next morning for the scuba diving. I had to report an hour early for the same. Upon being instructed by V & V to wake them up before I leave, I took the most ungentle approach to do so....by banging loudly over their door.I must say I quite enjoyed it. After all, these ladies took the slightest of opportunities to catch a wink every now & then and it was getting on my nerves.

I stuffed myself with Pancakes drizzled with hot chocolate sauce and made my way towards Barefoot Scuba, about a km from Wild Orchid.The fresh morning air of Havelock was extremely refreshing. But I reached Barefoot with a little bit of apprehension and some trepidation. Anne, my french instructor gave me a lot of instructions, starting from the signs used underwater. I had a lot of question in mind but perhaps in addressing those I would just increase that little bit of nervousness that had started to set in. V & V joined us for their snorkeling expedition and after a bit of paperwork, we set sail for Elephant Beach.

Our scuba diving team assembled separately and we had about an hour or so of instructions. This was of course a regular practice done for safety. I was actually surprised at the number of protocols the divers and instructors have to follow. I am not going to reveal those and mar your enthusiasm. But brace yourself for the fins for in those, you will be compelled to walk backwards and not forward in the water.

With the tank hoisted on the back of your diving suits, the regulator in my mouth,the mask on my face, the sink weight around my body and the weight on my mind, I plonked in the water with the rest. I was by then seriously worried if I would be able to breathe normally in the water. As we went down meter by meter, Anne would instruct us to close our nose and blow hard. This would normalize the pressure in the ear and I could actually hear my ears pop, just like in the airplanes. My assigned buddy,Anand (who was doing his divemaster course) would now & then signal me if I was ok.

Was I ok.....?????I was more than OK. I was lost.....lost in the view the underwater unfolded as we went deeper & deeper inside the sea. The breathing through the apparatus became completely normal . The depth of the sea has a universe of its own and I knew then that I would never ever be able to completely describe the experience. I couldn't do it then, 9 months later I still can't do it now. The different color fish, the strange curious vegetation, the whitewashed corals...I actually saw a clown fish, the only fish I could identify , Thanks to NEMO! And yes they said it right, a different kind of peace prevails upon you when you have undergone an experience as such. God knows how, but I had a profound feeling of oneness when we made our way back as I sat on the tip of the boat looking towards nowhere in particular but the ever expanding horizon of the Bay of Bengal. Perhaps it was a tranquility of the life underwater, perhaps it was because it was the first time, as is with all first times....it transformed me.

After a bit of snorkeling , it was time to return and land on land. But we were not ready to finish this day yet. Over a cup of coffee and hot calamari, V, V & me along with another girl from Sweden had a hearty discussion about love, life, country, music ....the usual flow of talk that flows from one topic to another with all or no coherency. Joining us was the Director of Barefoot Scuba , Sean from Norway. Perhaps he made the discussion more lively and the evening more interesting.....I wont forget the naughtiness and the twinkle in his eyes when he spoke. Maybe one day we will meet again and talk and exchange thoughts on the various topics we left unfinished that evening.

Its amazing how there are these few days from your life you can remember clearly whilst sometimes you cannot recollect what you did yesterday.....I guess that's a point to deliberate......and that was how it bubbled away at Havelock!

From left: Anand, V, Me, Anne, Sean, V, & Elena.