rampant honkaholism

so i had mused in my last email if the plans that had come so well together in my preparations would be just as clean and easy in delivery. and OF COURSE not! what would be the point of that!!!! it would leave out all the fun and spontaneity of a freedom 35 tour.

the perfect bus (big and air conditioned, my seat in the ladies section - seats 3 and 4 - up at the front looking through the wide window..) headed off to pondicherry from bangalore yesterday morning. and lo and behold, the bus driver turned out to be a honkaholic - one who honks excessively and obsessively, and even worse, can be characterized by a strong tendency to HONK ALONE (as in when there is absolutely no one in sight to need a honking of any sort).

the noise pollution only increased when the sai baba video (a well known guruji here) then turned into really bad indian film music videos played too loud and then progressed to murderous, extremely violent films played so loudly that for most of my trip in the comfy front seat, i was plugging my ears and averting my eyes.

we took a detour through villages (beautiful! green! lush! bustling!) and the driver didn't clue into all the looks he got from pedestrians and other drivers as he HOOOOONKED his way through main streets and tiny neighbourhoods. it was TOOO MUCH.

and then it started to rain.

so i arrived in pondicherry, rattled but smiling nevertheless at how a good thing can go so wrong, and in the pouring rain which is totally uncharacterstic here at this time of year proceeded to find a guest house. after the 3rd attempt, i decided to stay at the international guest house (part of an ashram, located in the bustle of the main part of town) in a big room, sparse, with a window that looks onto a wall, but a bathroom with hot water to warm myself.

it surprised me that an ashram residence would feel so lifeless, but even as i took a reservation for tonight at their other place near the ocean, i realized that that one struck me as even more lifeless. so i paid for both (150 rupees for one and 300 for the hot water - total maybe $12 for 2 rooms! i will stay in the first one for tonight and just take it one day at time. i actually quite like the contrast from ALL my other rooms thus far.

on the bus, i sat with jyanti, a 27 year old indian woman who works at IBM, unmarried, and on her first trip to pondicherry. as we talked, i realized it would be nice to have a local person in pondicherry to REALLY see the place.

so that is who i found today. as i was wandering, being a flaneuse (je m'baladais sur l'avenue), i found myself on a beautiful side street. a voice asked me in french if i was from the aurobindo ashram (just outside of town - a whole story in itself). i said no and a friendship was struck. i was a little wary at first, as it was indian man on a motorcycle (and those who recieved emails from my last stay in india know that this can be a single travellin' woman's nemesis!), but this man was different, he actually didn't seem to want anything from me, he just wanted to know if i knew about a performance at the ashram which would save him a trip out there - turns out he is French as in he was born and schooled in French in Pondicherry and has lived in France for the last 20 years. his name is Jean Michel Byron (!) and he speaks only french and tamil. no english! no hindi! so we spoke french. how wonderful!

we zipped off to see the aurobindo ashram on his motorcycle and checked out the sadhana forest where i had planned to go for the week (eco forest retreat that i keep mentioning - whoa it is NOT what i expected). it was a totally great day; among my favourite things are wandering a city and getting lost; being on the back of a motorcycle and seeing EVERYTHING; and sitting in a comfy place and watching the world go by. so i did ALL those things today!

with pondy being a french colony, there are many places here that serve french food (read: fresh salad! roquette/arugula!), but it also brings a certain european feel. the sea side of the city is referred to by locals as White town and is clean, colonial and there is pretty much NO ONE around, while the other side is called Black town and is wild, colourful, lively and chaotic and very indian with people sleeping on the street, peeing in the puddles - you just WOULD NOT see this in the former part of town. no way. interesting spatial analysis.

so my plans for the eco forest - the ONE thing i had planned so much around and the one thing that brought me to pondy - may have changed. my friends from nasik are no longer going to be there (injury and health reasons) and i didn't LOVE the vibe out there today. so i may have one week to do some other things, OR see about changing my ticket and heading to bangkok a bit earlier! only time will tell!