Solo

Well, for a day at least.

From Bangalore I took a sleeper bus to Pondicherry. I guess this was my first real experience of independent travelling. I lasted about a day before I decided I hated it. It started badly. I was apprehensive about the bus journey, mainly because I was feeling queasy and there is nothing worse than travelling when you are ill. I had a long wait for my bus, so of course I found the nearest Cafe Coffee Day (India's answer to Starbucks) and started my book Eat, Pray, Love. I think this was when I fell in love with Bangalore. In no other city in India would I feel comfortable sitting alone, reading a book over a coffee. And in no other city here would at least 3 other Indian women be doing the same! In 'Eat, Pray, Love' the author uses the Italian phrase bel far niente meaning the beauty of doing nothing. It is something most European countries have mastered, and it is also a trait repeatedly found here in India. At any given time there is an army of Indian men standing, sitting, squatting and staring. I find it endlessly amusing. Even on long-distance trains, passengers will passively sit for hours and hours. No book, no paper, no cards, no ipod.

I arrived in Pondicherry early in the morning, found a guesthouse and slept until lunch (making up for the lack of sleep on the 'sleeper' bus). Pondicherry was pretty and clean, I loved exploring all the rustic streets resembling a a slightly decrepit French town. There just wasn't much to do there apart from eat expensive western food. It felt very much like a middle-class Indian holiday resort. It took about a day for me to get bored of my own company. Thankfully, I met Will that evening and we spent a couple more days in Pondicherry. We took a moped to this crazy place called Auroville, this weird Utopian village built with the soil of 126 countries. According to Wikipedia "Auroville is meant to be a universal town where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony, above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities. The purpose of Auroville is to realize human unity." But in reality it is a hippy enclave in South India of middle-class Europeans.

After Pondicherry, Roxanne and I spent a couple of days relaxing by the beach in Mamallapuram. Great place, but there was certainly an off-season feel about it. I loved it there, it had a similar vibe to Hampi. We didn't do much there, mostly just relaxed, read, shopped and drank. Perfect.