[Joy]

Originally Posted by MX6

............
Also find link for interesting read.
The secret of the Seven Pagodas

Thanks MX6. Nice Read.

Arindam, Nice photography.

[arindamray]

Reposting 5 Rathas post (post#39), as the photos are not showing up there

Five rathas (from left to right in the picture - Draupadi, Arjuna, Bheema, Dharmaraja, Nakul-Sahadev Rathas)


Close-up of Nakul-Sahadev Ratha


Close-up of Bheema Ratha


Close-up of Dharmaraja Ratha


Bheema Ratha from a different angle


Sculptures adorning the Dharmaraja ratha


Dharmaraja ratha from different angle


Arjuna Ratha, Draupadi Ratha in the background


Arjuna Ratha


Passage in Bheema Ratha


Arjuna Ratha


Inside Draupadi Ratha


The lion


The elephant


Just the thought of these temples cut from monolithic rocks is very humbling.

[MX6]

You seem to have spent a considerable time admiring the sculptures. It's very evident from your photos ARay. Good photos.

[Joy]

Arindam. very detailed photographs and crisp narration. Love the sculptures, beautiful. Keep those coming. Great.

[arindamray]

Originally Posted by ampere

Best solution for this would to be a Garmin GPS device. All these details, plus a lot more you get, by downloading tracklogs from the device on to you computer.

Thanks for the suggestion. Even I am thinking of a GPS (mapmyindia???) for sometime. But won't that take the adventure part out a bit. I really love playing with google map in free time

@Joy: Thanks for your continuous encouragement.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by arindamray

Thanks for the suggestion. Even I am thinking of a GPS (mapmyindia???) for sometime. But won't that take the adventure part out a bit. I really love playing with google map in free time

@Joy: Thanks for your continuous encouragement.

Who asked you to stop with Google maps?
Never stop with that. (By the way thats even my favorite pass time)

Buy a Garmin Nuvi + Satguide.

You will still need to continue to re-check with Google maps to ensure all the roads are correct!

[arindamray]

So after slight detour in t'log (due to the re-post and the hotel review), I am back to the point - So with this we complete the Mahabalipuram, rush to hotel, get the baby ready, settle the bills, and roll towards Pondicherry.

It's magnificent ECR. Two lane, but with very smooth tarmac, an absolute belter. It has also nice scenery to complement, the salt fields, back waters, glimpses of the Bay of Bengal hitting the shores, canopies of trees in both sides. Random shots on the way -




And random moods of the angel while travelling on this route -

[MX6]

You have stunned your baby by hitting the flash right in her eyes.
Your angel looks cute. And google maps is always open in one of the windows when I'm online. it's fun.

[arindamray]

The French Compagnie des Indes was a latecomer compared to the Dutch and English Companies. Founded by Jean-Baptiste Colbert in the 1660s, it had expanded rapidly in the early 18th century. Pondicherry, the French headquarters, challenged Madras on the Corromandel coast, and Chanannagar aspired to rival Calcutta in Bengal.

To quote from wiki -

Joseph François Dupleix became the Governor of the French Territory in India on 15 January 1742 and brought Madras also under French control in September 1746; Madras continued under French rule for 30 years. An attack on Puducherry by the British in 1748 failed. Dupleix's help to Chanda Sahib and Musafer Jung in 1750 added Villianur and Bahour, a group of 36 villages, to French control. This was the peak period of the French regime; thereafter there was a decline in their sovereignty.
Internal disturbances in Puducherry gave the British the opportunity, in August 1793, to gain control of Puducherry; it was administered as part of Madras until 1815. However, after the Treaty of Paris in 1814, the British restored the settlements, which the French had possessed on 1 January 1792, back to the French in 1816. French rule continued until 31 October 1954.

More can be read from Joseph François Dupleix - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The french influence can be evidenced, again quoting from wiki:

Puducherry still retains much evidence of its history as a French colony. The design of the city was based on the French (originally Dutch, the plans of Pondicherry dating from the end of the seventeenth century (1693–1694) are preserved in the National Archives at The Hague) grid pattern and features neat sectors and perpendicular streets. The entire town is divided into two sections, the French Quarter ('Ville Blanche' or 'White town') and the Indian quarter ('Ville Noire' or 'Black Town'). The history of French India is led by Joseph François Dupleix, governor general of the French establishment in India, and rival of Robert Clive. Dupleix was primarily responsible for the Carnatic Wars. At first Dupleix was successful in resisting the attacks of the English East India Company, but he lost in the later battles.
There is also French influence in the layout of the city. The numbering of the houses is unique compared to other cities in Tamil Nadu, in that the even numbers are on one side and the odd numbers are on the opposite side of the road.

Pondicherry's reference dates back even further. In 1st century AD, it has been referenced in the greek Peryplus of the Erythraean Sea, which contains detailed navigational, commercial and even political information on the ports of Indian ocean, many of which reliably identified with the maritime outlets on India's coast. Near Pondicherry what has been described as 'one of a series of Indo-Roman trading stations' has been excavated at Arikamedu.

[Damu]

Arindam,

I waited for this portion (Mahabalipuram) of your T/L to finish, and it has been worth the wait. Excellent details with very good photos!

The details of the route from Bangalore are also very useful, as we intend going there soon we can follow the same.

Booking the resort, was it over the net?

[arindamray]

Thanks Damu.

The resort booking was over the phone (got the number from the net though). Now I have the concerned person's cell number as well, somebody who is higher up and can take decisions on discount .

When we called on Monday, I could not book as I had planned for Sunday night there and there was no place available, and I had to rejig the plan - first mahabalipuram and then Pondicherry. At that time, he was speaking about doing a advance payment (transfer to their bank account) for confirmation of booking.

Later after booking Pondicherry, I called them on Wednesday for a booking on Friday, they took the reservation without any advance and confirmed the reservation over the phone itself.

[kala]

Originally Posted by ampere

Who asked you to stop with Google maps?
Never stop with that. (By the way thats even my favorite pass time)

Buy a Garmin Nuvi + Satguide.

You will still need to continue to re-check with Google maps to ensure all the roads are correct!

And then double check with HVK as to whether the roads shown in Google Maps really exist !

[arindamray]

@kala: well said
@mx6 and ampere: thanks for checking the threads regularly.

[Joy]

Arindam, eagerly waiting for the photographs. Let there be raining photos. Good sense of photography...... loving it. Please continue.

[arindamray]

Starting at 12:30, it took us exactly two hours to reach our hotel at Pondicherry. Though we reached, the Annumandai Toll booth in 1 hour 15 minutes covering a distance of 78 km. The next 20 odd km took the 45 minutes owing to the traffic and stopping and asking for directions to the hotel. Our hotel, Hotel Mass was located near the 'new bus stand', far away from the attractions of Pondicherry :(

We get settled in the hotel and had the lunch. The regular restaurant was closed, as it was past 3:00 pm, however the 24 hour coffee shops serves from the same menu. The crab masala tried, was pretty good.

We took a little rest before venturing out in the evening to the main attraction of Pondicherry - the Beach Road. Both the evenings, and the Sunday morning we spent some time walking on the promenade, soaking in the atmosphere. The beach road, about 1.5 km in length is bounded by North and South Boulevard. Most of the Beach Road is vehicle free between 5:30 - 7:30 in the morning and 5:30 - 10:00 in the evening.

Some of the attractions on the beach road:

The monument of martyrs


The beach road


A french styled bunglow


Dupleix Monument


Le Cafe Restaurant


Inside Le Cafe


Old lighthouse


Gandhi Statue




Another French style building


Notre Dame De Anges Church (not exactly in Beach Road, but on next parallel road - Rue Dumas)


Dr. Ambedkar Monument


We thought of having the dinner at Le Cafe. And had a whale of time selecting the items from the menu, only to know that their kitchen closes at 9:00 pm and only thing available was tea or coffee.

We sipped in the coffee watching the waves breaking into the bouldered beach, and the full moon playing hide and seek behind the cloud cover. Checked the dinner option at Promenade hotel, which had a lavish buffet spread, but voted against as we didn't had that much appetite. So headed back to hotel, ordered some soup and sandwiches through room service.

Good night.

End of Day 2.