Article #70 : Travel Reloaded

What do you say if someone asks you why do you travel? For Recreation? For Break? Or as a hobby?  I would say out of frustration. Whenever I encounter with the worst situations in life and lose hope on the next day, I would prefer to take a solo trip to leave everything and everyone behind and roam as if there is no tomorrow. It teaches me so many things and brings back my lost hope and confidence. 

Well, this article is about a similar experience that I encountered recently and how travel helped me to forget everything at least for some time and come out with flying colors. 

It was the month of December, when the cold wave started gripping the country and unfortunate events started gripping me. After one and half year, I started crying as I felt helpless and was undergoing the punishment that I deserved for my wrong choice. I had no idea on how to come out of the situation and went deep down into depression.  

But one fine day, based on my past experiences, I realized that whenever I encountered with a problem that affected me a lot and I couldn’t know how to get out of it, I always created another bigger problem to come out of the initial problem. In fact, that’s how my first solo trip started in the year 2018 when I thought that I was in a comfort zone and have to move out of my place to get rid of the things that I was taking so seriously to heart. 

I decided to go on my third solo trip, that’s it, without thinking much, I have chosen a destination, booked the flight tickets, hotel, created my own itinerary through Google, prepared the checklist of things and all set for the trip. 

It was the New Year Day 2023; I woke up at 5 AM after some years. Just in one hour, I got ready and was on my way to the airport. The roads were so silent after a thunderous party on the new year night. All of sudden, from nowhere I got the excitement from inside that finally after 4 long years I was on a solo trip, I felt as if I got my wings back to fly with freedom.  

As soon as I reached the airport, I got the first New year wishes from the man who was the security at the entrance verification. I felt so good and wished him back. I checked-in my luggage and had an amazing breakfast at the airport. The atmosphere itself instilled an adrenaline rush in me and I kept my fingers crossed for the trip ahead.  

Soon, the flight arrived and I got in. Luckily, the one who was supposed to be at the window seat beside me was absent, so I got the chance to view the city, clouds and the sun closely. It’s the magic of flight experience that after you get close to the clouds, you would feel like taking a short nap. So, I did the same for some time and opened my eyes to the smile of a hot sun along with some amazing beach views down the location. I tried to capture them in my phone with a video. 

Finally, I arrived at the destination, Pondicherry, the French capital of India. Although it was January 1st  morning 11 AM, it was so hot in the town. My first impression was not so good, the demanding auto drivers simply added insult to the injury. On my way to the hotel, I noticed the old small streets that reminded me of my hometown. The humidity due to the coastline, the unhygienic roads, the uncomfortable ride to the hotel created a question mark, why did I even choose this place? 

All thanks to the hotel management for providing me a room in the top floor during the hot and humid climate. I took some rest for a while before the bells started ringing in my stomach. I thought of ordering the food online, but again felt that I came for exploring the place. So, I started on a walk to see if there are any good nearby veg restaurants. Honestly, I didn’t like the unhygienic roads and hotels. The question still remained the same, why did I even choose this place? After roaming for half an hour in the hot sun, I could find an AC Vegetarian Restaurant. I quickly went inside and had the meals which was neither good nor bad. I came back to the hotel and slept for a while. The climate was miserable, I never thought that in the month of January, I had to experience summer at that place.  

Evening, I went out again and started exploring the place. It was a busy town with busy people. You can find tourists at every corner of the town; the two-wheeler vehicles were eagerly waiting for their temporary owners. Although I got the idea of renting a vehicle, the feeling of maintaining and roaming along with it in the humid climate dissolved the thought immediately. The unavailability of coconut water around the hotel disappointed me because that was the only thing which would protect me from the hot and humid weather. After an hour, my shirt started crying and I reached the hotel, ordered Ghee Roast Dosa and Lassi from Swiggy and slept for the day. 

My second day started with my favorite breakfast, Poori. I must say, it was an amazing tiffin that I had, smooth pooris along with even smoother potato curry served in a banana leaf. I bookmarked the Atherai Veg Restaurant from where I ordered the food. Finally, started with my checklist of places to visit, it was so strange that there were no Ola or Uber services in Pondicherry. I took a separate auto from my hotel and visited Aurobindo Ashram where I got my most awaited coconut water first.  

The Ashram was so silent, they didn’t allow active mobile phones inside. In fact, there were people who were controlling the traffic and horns outside the place so there wouldn’t be any sound coming inside. It was a perfect place for someone like me who was looking for some peace of mind. I could see people sitting idle without talking to anyone and there were even some people meditating inside. I sat there for some time and visited the library where I could find so many books in various languages. I bought only one photo of the Ashram to keep it as a memory.  

My next place in the checklist was Bharathi Park. But in search of it, I found Arulmigu Manakula Vinayagar Devasthanam, in short, Lord Ganesh Temple. It was very beautiful. There were so many sculptures of Lord Ganesh inside the temple.  

After that, I started towards Bharathi Park, the French colony was indeed good. You would get altogether a different feeling when you roam in the picturesque streets of the French colony. I went inside the Bharathi park, but couldn’t find anything here. Still fail to understand why it was one of the popular places to visit in Pondicherry. I took rest for some time and went to Rock Beach. It was 12 PM in the afternoon, the horrible sun was straight on top of my head and the only sign of relief was the cool breeze coming from the beach. I sat at the beach for some time and started searching for a restaurant to have lunch. On the way, I found Pondicherry Museum which was closed since it was a Monday. The public library pushed me towards itself to have a break.  

After roaming the entire French colony, I landed at a Delhi Veg Restaurant to have Biryani as lunch. Again, I would say it was neither good nor bad, but the price was extraordinary.  

After lunch, I planned to visit Serenity Beach. The auto was also ready, but the driver spoke about Auroville which was there on my checklist for the next day. But again, I thought why not to cover it as well on that day itself. So, I went to Auroville which was the first and only internationally endorsed ongoing experiment in human unity and transformation of consciousness. I visited the Matri Mandir which was a long walk in the forest. On the way, I encountered with the arts, crafts, knowledge center and food. Thought of buying a kurta, but again dropped the idea due to lack of best fits for me.  

When I stopped at a point to take a break, one guy came towards me asking the distance to Matri Mandir from that point. I told him that I was as new as him to the place. That’s how the conversation started and soon, we became friends. Kunal, that was his name. I felt it was not the places that we visit that create memories, in fact it was the new people that we meet. So, Kunal was my first friend on the trip, along with him was Aditya who was the chatterbox. He tried to include his keyword for the day “lady Chatterley” in each and every conversation that created some fun only to some extent. We got to know each other, exchanged our mobile numbers, took some snaps, had some food and decided to visit the Serenity beach. I created the Whatsapp group with them named, “The Three Musketeers”. 

All three of us visited the serenity beach which was calm, pure and pollution-free. We played on the beach waters, sat on the rocks, had some useless conversations, took some more snaps and left for the day. I felt great to meet two new people on my trip. 

When we feel happy about something and think that we had a great day, that’s the time life becomes the spoilsport. In my case, it happened in the form of auto driver who cheated me by saying one price at the beginning and came up with another price at the end. I was not in a mood to quarrel and gave him whatever he asked believing that Karma would take care of everything. My day came to an end with Kuzhi Paniyaram and Uttapam from the very famous Atherai Veg Restaurant. 

Third day, as planned with Kunal and Adithya, I started my journey to Paradise beach. This time I opted for the local city bus and reached chunnambar boat house. Since I didn’t know Tamil, I kept on alerting the co-passenger to let me know when my destination arrives. I took the boat ticket and waited for the boat to arrive. In the meantime, there was a mutual exchange of smiles between me and a family from Delhi. I could even find group of guys talking in my native language Telugu. We got into the boat; it was a wonderful experience. The Paradise beach was another clean and tidy beach. I started playing with the waves like a small kid, forgetting all the worst things that were happening back at my home. Kunal and Adithya arrived late after their drowsy night with their drinks. We played again together, had some chitchat and had lunch at the seashore which according to me was worse. Due to lack of proper food and the hot climate, I was unable to stay at the place for not more than 3 hours. These guys planned for a rain dance at the nearby resort whereas I felt like escaping from the scorching heat. We took the reverse boat ride and I got into the bus to reach my hotel. I was quite unsure of those loud old Tamil songs in the city buses. Why were they torturing the passengers with such a loud music? Of course, I could remember my childhood days with those songs since most of them were already in Telugu, but the base only kept irritating me until I reached the hotel. It was a sunstroke, I got headache and slept for some time in the evening. Even after waking up, I could still feel the headache. So, I ordered my uncompromising food, this time tasted Poori, chole and Idiyappam with coconut milk. What a dinner it was, simply superb. I loved the Idiyappam a lot. Felt the day was little wasted due to the weather. 

The Fourth Day, I started off to Chidambaram which is famous for the Natraj Temple. As soon as I got into the bus, I witnessed a sweet welcome smile from a French couple that made me happy. It took more than 2 hours for me to reach Chidambaram, all thanks to the undeveloped roads. It was almost 1 PM when I got down at the place and went to a nearby AC Restaurant to have lunch. The food disappointed me. I inquired at the place about the mangrove forests since the temple would be opened in the evening. After lunch, I took another bus and started to Pichavaram Mangrove forests. There I took a motor boat ride with 6 other people, 1 Tamil Family of 4 members and an old Punjabi couple. The Tamil Family was curious to know about me and my solo trip while the old Punjabi couple was happily enjoying the ride. I would say it was one of the best experiences of the entire trip. As soon as we got into the boat, all of sudden from nowhere the rain started. The boat was covered with a tent and we started taking a video of the ride since we had mangrove forests around while we were at the middle of the water. We could see so many species, variety of birds and even insects inside the forests. The boat rider kept on saying so many stories surrounding the place along with the films that were shot at the location. The cool breeze after a sweating temperature enabled us to simply enjoy the ride. I took so many pictures and videos during the ride to save them as memories. After the 40-minute ride, I took the bus and visited Natraj Temple. What an art, what an architecture, what a spiritual environment, the Chidambaram Natraj Temple was one of a kind. It had four ways to enter and exit, a large temple in terms of length and breadth. I was completely mesmerized and felt proud to be an Indian. There were so many priests in the temple doing their rituals along the lake inside the temple. They were maintaining it very well with all the decorations and rangoli everywhere. I was sure that the temple had the power to convert a non-spiritual person into a spiritual one, even a non-artistic person would definitely admire the beauty of the temple. Oh, my goodness, I met the same French couple again whom I met in the bus when I started in the morning from Pondicherry. Especially the lady was very friendly who simply waved her hand towards me. I felt happy to meet such unknown people again. I took the blessings of an elephant through its trunk at the temple and felt good. On my way back to the bus stand, I had a close look towards the streets, the people and the shops. I felt it to be similar to any other town in my state. Finally, I got into the return bus for Pondicherry and found the cherry on the cake. It was Karthikeyan, a college going guy who introduced himself to me on the bus when I asked about the bus details. An innocent and enthusiastic guy who aspires to become a police officer in future. I felt so good talking to him during the journey, he told so many things about himself, his family, his college, his friends and what not. I had to appreciate the way he was trying to communicate in English and giving his best to learn the language. He subscribed to my YouTube channel and even commented on the next day to remind me of our meeting in the bus. My thoughts on meeting new people that would make the trip memorable only grew stronger after meeting Karthikeyan. All and All, the one-day trip to Chidambaram was a super duper hit for me. 

The Fifth day, I started off to the Stupa of Sculptures, Mahabalipuram. This time, I met Bhaskar who was working at Auroville. I again had to appreciate the way he was trying to put his thoughts in English that he learned from the foreign people visiting the town. This happened when the bus was stopped in between at a hotel for the passengers to take a break. To my surprise, after another 2 hours, the bus was stopped at the high way that leads to Mahabalipuram instead of going to the bus stand. As soon as I got down there, a local auto driver caught me and we had a deal to roam across the town. I confirmed with them at least thrice the price and told that I wouldn’t entertain any cheating towards the end based on my experience on the second day in Pondicherry. He took me to a Veg Restaurant where I had a scrumptious lunch. It was the best lunch in my whole trip. The curries, sambar, especially the sweet, wow, being a foodie, I felt what else is required. I visited the shore temple first. It was so hot again; I was sweating literally. The shore temple was good along with the beach on its side. It was under reconstruction by the time I visited. I could hear so many people here and there talking in my native language Telugu. After that, I visited the five stupas, felt mesmerized by the architecture everywhere, even when I was in the auto, I could see so many sculptures on the roadside throughout the town. I took so many snaps at all the places. Later, I visited the seashore museum wherein the things reminded me of the Ludo with the shells that we used to play in our childhood. The next place was the light house which had so many stairs with very less width and could make people fall easily if not careful. It reminded of the Vijaya Stamb at Chittorgarh, Rajasthan. However, the only difference was this light house offered an amazing view of the town from the top, it was worth reaching there. You could find the beach, temples, town, bus stand, traffic, hills and what not. I was afraid for a moment by looking from the top, but the friendly unknown people who were waving me with their hands from the bottom of the light house brought my heart beat back to normal. I even visited the Krishna Cave Temple, Varaha Cave Temple, Krishna Mandap, Arjuna’s Penance and Krishna’s Butter Ball. The Art and Architecture of the town again made me feel proud to be an Indian. On my way back to the bus stop, this time I met a couple from Spain who were asking the same auto driver to drop them whom I already booked in the afternoon. I offered them the lift and didn’t allow them to pay since that was my ride. They were very thankful to me. We got into the bus to Pondicherry as it was even their destination. The conductor thought we belong to the same party and collected the tickets from me for all three of us. Initially I thought the ticket price was high, but soon I realized that it was for all three of us. The couple paid me back as soon as they got to know about it. I didn’t know why I was expecting them to talk to me although it was a solo trip. They sat separately little far from me, at the beginning I felt bad, but later left it. The guy remembered me while dropping down the bus and said bye to me. I also waved back with a smile. After the tiring journey, my Atherai Veg Restaurant left no stone unturned and made me happy with my favorite Idiyappam, in fact, this time with coconut Idiyappam. It was too good. Looking at the full moon from the window of the hotel, I slowly went into sleep. 

The Sixth day, I started lazily in the afternoon. The weather as well cooperated with me probably knowing that I would be leaving the next day. It was cloudy. I started to Pondicherry Museum that I missed on the first day. I could see many things that were left behind from the colonial times of the French and the British. Beside the Museum was the art gallery which I visited. After that, I went to my favorite Atherai Veg Restaurant directly with the help of Google Maps. The ambience was also good. I was wondering all these days how the place would be after ordering food daily from Swiggy. After the lip-smacking meal, I went to Botanical Garden and roamed around it in the cool climate. Later, I visited the Basilica Church which was quite calm and serene. The final stop for me was Varadaraja Perumal Temple. It was the temple of Lord Vishnu; I could see easily Ramayana explained in the pictures on all the walls of the temple. The attraction was again a lake inside the temple. Towards the evening, I came back to the hotel and took some rest. Again by 9 PM, I met one of my best friends Krishna Kumar whom I know since my training days at work, the initial and best days of my career. So, after 12 years we met again. He took me to an amazing restaurant facing the rock beach, the dinner was also good. But beyond everything, the best part was we didn’t run out of words at any point. We shared our 12 years of journey to each other. We spoke until around 1 AM, he suggested me some ways to come out of my problem, instilled some new view points from his experience. I felt quite happy after meeting him and thought my trip was successful with the meet. 

The final day, mixed feelings surrounded me. Although I never liked the horrible climate, I would definitely miss Atherai Veg Restaurant, friendly people like Bhaskar or Karthikeyan, famous sculptures of Mahabalipuram, Architecture of Chidambaram Natraj Temple, French Colony of Pondicherry, new friends like Kunal or Adithya, Rock Beach, Paradise Beach, Serenity Beach, Chunnambar Boat ride, Pichavaram Mangrove Forest, Varadaraja Perumal Temple, Vinayagar Temple and above all, my best friend Krishna Kumar. But life goes on and we have to move on. I ordered my favorite Poori from the Atherai Veg Restaurant on the last day and with a handful of memories, checked out of the hotel and started to airport. The place that left me with a question mark on why did I visit on the first day, itself provided me the answer with a long list on the last day. Thank you, Pondicherry, thank you Krishna Kumar for helping me forget my pain at least for some time and giving me the strength to move on.  

Solo trips definitely help us to heal ourselves. Since we would be in uncomfortable situations sometimes and we would not be sure of the next moment, our mind wouldn’t go towards those gloomy thoughts that would disturb us. Apart from this, the solo trips teach us so many things about the place, history, people, culture and beyond everything on how to take care of ourselves. So, let’s not hesitate to take the solo trips as and when required. What do you say? Let me know in the comments below.