TRAVEL ... PONDICHERRY BY NIGHT
The
best time to explore India’s best-known French town is from the moment the
cafés begin to light up
Many
have been waiting for this night, the night when the full moon rises over the
bay. The surf-tipped waves of the brooding sea crash against the rocks of the
revetment. The first silhouette of the cheese-coloured moon appears slowly on
the horizon. Some tourists in the sparse crowd on the road realise what is
happening and hands go up, pointing to the impending spectacle. The others look
at each other knowingly, and smile at the animated expectations of the
tourists. The moon seems impervious to what is happening and continues rising
steadily above the horizon with monotonous precision. And then it happens. In a
Mackenna’s
Gold movie moment, the moonlight reflects off the sea in a narrow swathe of
silvery light, almost touching the shore. The wind has picked up speed and the
sea continues to crash against the rocks. The road, also known as the Promenade
and now closed to traffic, has an orange glow to it, while the sea in front is
lit up like a silver stream. A lighthouse behind the pier intermittently emits
a white flash and a voice from somewhere seems to say, “Welcome to Puducherry.”
SO MUCH TO DISCOVER
Puducherry
has been explored and conquered by many since ages. The Portuguese came first,
the French were the last and now it’s mostly the tourists. But even with the
weekend invasions of Bacchus lovers and its increasing civic issues, Puducherry
has retained its old-world charm possibly because of the ashrams, Alliance
Francaise, Auroville and the annual French migration. But there is another
facet of Puducherry waiting to be discovered, and that is Puducherry by night.
At
around 6.30pm every day, the vibrant colours of the town transform into a
twinkling landscape of muted shades and yellow lights. Comparatively cooler
than the days, the nights set free the town’s chained spirits, and nowhere is
this more visible than on the Promenade, where dusk merges with the sea on the
eastern frontier. The cafés start getting lit up, places of worship are active,
cake shops do brisk business and the bars begin to overflow.
Le
Café, a 24x7 café run by the tourism board, is a white, multiarched building on
the Promenade, and dates back to the late 17th century when it was a harbour
office. In those days, this building must have been Puducherry’s lone sentinel,
with a sandy beach and boats docked nearby. Now there is no beach since it was
washed away by a tsunami.
Opposite
Le Café is the beautifully lit memorial of the Unknown Soldier, which
acknowledges Puducherry’s role in World War I.
This
part of town, known as the White Town or the French Quarter, is a quadrangular
grid between the canals and the sea. Planned by the Dutch and improvised by the
French, White Town is what everyone comes to Puducherry for. The colonial
houses in sunburnt yellow, peach or white take on different colours at
different points of the day. Further beyond the canals are the equally alluring
Tamil and Muslim Quarters, as they were known in the olden days.
On
Dumas Street is Our Lady of Angels Church, painted in pink and yellow. At
night, the church dome stands beautifully against the glittering stars.
Opposite it is the Joan of Arc statue with the Promenade and the sea clearly
visible. Two women chattering in French pass me on their cycles as I sit on the
pavement to listen to a choir practicing in a building nearby. The wind from
the sea keeps hitting me because of the funnel effect created by the absence of
structures in front of the church. My only company is the moon and the stars.
Most of the wooden doors of the houses are immaculately polished and stand out
against the colours of the walls. In the warmth of the street lamps, every
house seems seeped in history, every wall seems tinged with culture and every
street name seems to point to a past.
VERANDAH ON THE
WORLD
The
Tamil Quarter is as beautiful a place as any other with its brightly painted
kovils (temples) and houses built in the native architecture style. Quite a few
houses in this area are in a dilapidated condition. On Perumal Koil Street, as
on most streets in this quarter, tungsten bulbs light up the verandahs while
red oxide floored buildings with narrow thalvarams (street facing verandahs) and
elegant wooden railings glint mischievously.
Travelling
back in time and deliberating how the house might have been a century back is a
fascinating exercise. Would the patriarch of the house be reclining in a
folding chair, with the women of the house finishing their chores, or would
travellers have been resting in the open verandah before resuming their
journey?
As I sit on one of the verandahs of the house, pondering, a
lady comes out. “Where are you from?” she asks. She smiles and goes back inside
after
hearing the answer. I walk further up the road and notice that quite a few of
the vintage houses have been converted into heritage hotels. The irony is that
houses which were open to any kind of a traveller in the days of yore have now
become rest houses for the discerning traveller.
The
best beach to visit at night in Puducherry is Serenity Beach on the East Coast
Road. It is a clean and quiet beach on most weeknights, with a couple of good
beach restaurants. Boats are lined up and it is blissful just to sit on the
sand and star gaze, while the waves touch your feet.
The
glow of the Promenade’s streetlights is visible down the coast. But the beach I
prefer to head to tonight is the nameless area between the new lighthouse and
the harbour. I settle down on the sand and gulp my beer. There are a couple of
revellers or fishermen some distance away, but otherwise it is just the stars,
the lighthouse painted in zebra colours, and the thoughts in my head against
the backdrop of an idyllic town.
The
township of Auroville, a short drive away, is more peaceful at night. Most of
the tourists would’ve left, and the town and its establishments are frequented
by Auroville residents. Quite a few events related to art and culture are held
privately during nights and because the residents come from across the globe,
the experience can be quite eclectic. Most of Auroville believes in being close
to nature. So, whether you have a coffee or a meal, you can do so under a huge
canopy of trees with twinkling stars gleaming through the leaves.
THE CALL OF THE
PROMENADE
Mission
Street is the Connaught Place of Puducherry and houses everything from wood
fired pizza joints to illuminated bicycle shops renting out bicycles near
Kalatheeswaran Koil temple. But it is the Promenade that calls like a siren
every night. The restaurants close at 10.30pm and the streets are occupied by
dogs, and auto drivers playing games of chess. An occasional bike and a scooter
whizzes past. The Promenade and White Town see a major influx of locals and tourists
in the evening.
On
the sparsely-populated Promenade, the wind is strong and the waves hit the
rocks ferociously. The lights of distant boats on the horizon bob up and down.
The cacophonous crows, which throng this place in the daytime, are not visible.
As
I walk along the road towards Le Café for some chocolate cake, a local, most
probably of French origin, is playing a guitar on the rocks. There is
consonance in this town and it can be felt. But with commercialisation and
possible administrative indifference – the collapse of the 144-year-old Marie
building being a case in point, and the influx of tourists – the question is,
for how long?
Ram
Yeggina
HTBR 30APR17
No comments:
Post a Comment