Pondicherry, or Puducherry is a district located in Tamil Nadu which was a French Colony in the British Colonial era which is promptly reflected in its streets and old residential areas. I have got the chance to visit this coastal city twice and the second time was for a longer duration for a 7 day course in Earth and Bamboo Institute in Auroville, which is located in the outskirts of the city.
Apart from the course we had one day in hand before and after to explore the city.
Four girls and 0 inhibitions.
We decided to take a detour to drop our luggage in Auroville in our accommodation and come back to the city after arriving on a Sunday morning. We started walking around the streets near the Rocky beach with a view that looks no less than a painting and discovered a pretty French Cafe called Cafe des Arts. After this we headed to Serenity beach enjoying the clear blue waves with our failed attempts at sand arts. After tanning ourselves for the entire afternoon we went for an hour of Kayaking in nearby back waters. This eventful day was over in no time and our course started.
The course was a hands own workshop that taught us about sustainable materials and building sustainable structures and a separate course on bamboo structures. Being a fresher in architecture I was taken aback by their research and infrastructures which was also built of the same material as well. With an interesting course came a whole new set of people i.e. a batch of about 30-40 individuals who were from different parts of the world and at different stages in their design fields. The trip ended in no time and we returned back to the city's chaos. Being born and brought up in a city I could not imagine myself to push my boundaries even for a week, but this short trip taught me more than I expected. Also, I found a new family of like minded girls who continued making memories since then.
P.S. All the pictures in this trip were clicked by Havana Gowda who use to be an amateur back then. I have kept these photos unedited to respect the photographers interests.
Scroll away for a few more snapshots.
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