Pondicherry Trip

2025 had been a peaceful year overall and hence the joy that came over all of us when we knew we are going to be doing a trip with Aditi coming down to india for her Christmas vacation was greater. This started feeling sweeter from inception probably because it was unanticipated !!

Location choice was between Goa and Pondicherry, given other choices were ruled out due to the time of year and expenses involved.

Sneha and I had been to Pondicherry once before and it was feeling nostalgic for us. That trip had been a spur of the moment trip after watching the movie Paap that had some beautiful locations in Ladakh and we felt like just getting up and driving to Pondicherry after watching the movie ! It was a great experience and we were als keen for Aditi to see Pondicherry.

After Aditi arrived we just had a single day before we stayed on the trip and we had booked the movie Dhurandhar for us to watch. However what happened next was unexpected. Sneha had an upset stomach and didn’t come to the movie. Aditi and I went to the movie - enjoyed it as much as we could and then got back home after getting some food and medication for sneha who was being a bit stubborn and refusing to take medication. Night arrived and it seemed unlikely that we would be able to go on our trip as Sneha’s situation wasn’t improving and she hadn’t yet taken medication. We collectively decided to wait for the next day and see how she recovers to plan our next steps.

Trip morning arrived and we were still at home and then went to Sneha”s parents and stayed there till lunch. Miraculously after taking a dose of medicine and giving the body some rest Sneha seems better and what was looking almost impossible seeed possible now.

We started trip at around 2 PM from Bangalore and drove to Pondicherry. The drive was okay - not the best as we passed through many villages and the roads weren’t the best and the driving of others on the highway was tormenting. As we neared the hotel in Pondicherry I also managed to save ourselves from an accident by acting on my reflexes which were thankfully still sharp after a number of hours of driving.

After checking in - we had dinner and drinks at the hotel and went to bed. In the morning after breakfast - we decided to go to White town for walking around the French quarter in town. We discover that other than the fact that the roads had some French names and the walls of certain old mansions were coloured in a fancy way - there wasn’t much pleasure in walking around. The promenade area was impressive though with waves lashing on the rocky shore. We took some great pictures and went to lunch at Cherry Pond. After lunch we got back to the hotel and the next couple of days were spent going into town, eating lunch and dinner as well as engaging in a sesión of sound therapy that I partly spent through.

We spent some time in the afternoons napping, snacking, reading - Sneha took a couple of work calls and we relaxed very well. Aditi really enjoyed the sound therapy session. Dinner at the anthe retaturant was great too !! We also visited the Conscious cafe and the Villa Shanti as well as Coromandel cafe. Food was good and prices were okay as well.

Took some relaxation massage at the hotel. Played some time in the pool and had lots of time spent together at lunch, breakfast and dinner. At the end - it was a well spent holiday and everyone felt they relaxed at the end of it !

Some photos below.