Pondicherry:Trying to unravel the mystery

Part of the problem in trying to unravel the enigma that is the Pondicherry, is that the layers just don’t seem to peel off, and very few people with insider knowledge would be walking among people like us. But the fact remains that the legacy of Sri Aurobindo is what has put Pondicherry and Auroville on the world map. For starters it's important to know that Auroville is not in Pondicherry but in neighbouring Tamil Nadu. The French legacy is on evidence in Pondicherry town. 

 

Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry

I decided to use this trip, primarily designed to give a Birthday Surprise to my daughter Divya, to also try and unravel the mystery for myself.

 

Pre-visit reading did reveal the many fascinating aspects of the real life story of Mr Aurobindo Ghosh, the son of an anglophile Indian doctor who was born in the latter part of the nineteenth century in Calcutta. 

Sent to the UK, with the intention of training to join the ICS, he came back to India in 1893 and turned a Nationalist instead, and during one of the jail tenures, had a spiritual awakening.   

He landed up in French governed Pondicherry basically for political asylum and went on to pursue his spiritual path from the Ashram here. The lady, now known as the Mother, was herself a European painter and found spiritual enlightenment at the Pondicherry Ashram. 

She became a permanent resident and is referred to as a “spiritual collaborator” of Sri Aurobindo. De facto she managed the whole place and developed the concept of Auroville.  Though the Auroville website is quite comprehensive, still many questions remain unanswered even after an actual visit.

What is very striking though is that, other than Goa, possibly this is the only place where a white man/woman walking or cycling down the street would not evoke the tiniest of curiosity. They have become part of the cultural fabric, historically being a French colony, and currently fed by a stream of foreigners who are attracted to the Ashram.

 

Moonlit Promenade, Pondicherry

A casual tourist, before embarking on a trip to Pondicherry, would be quite disheartened to know that there are no beaches to talk of. In fact there is nothing even remotely “touristy” about the place. But if one were to be here anyway, it would be a wonderful experience to visit the “Promenade”, an incredibly appealing walkway along a rocky sea face which extends several kilometres. 

The area called “white town” is scrupulously clean and safe and is dotted with cafes where the entire town seems to descend in the evenings.

White Town, Pondicherry

The Aurobindo Trust, which now manages the affairs of the Ashram, has several properties in and around the Ashram area located in the heart of the white town, which are called Ashram departments. 

The large blue grey building on Rangapillai Street called “The cottage” houses the guest accommodation and their travel agency called Autocare  (not Aurocare). 

One can book the rooms at the guest house and avail the various facilities. The website says that there is a three hour conducted tour of “Ashram departments” costing Rs50 and of Auroville for Rs100. 

Autocare

It was immediately clear to me that the motive here was not commercial at all (considering that a one way taxi ride to Auroville costs Rs 700 as per the taxi tariffs). But that’s when the fun starts.

Can you book the tours online by e-mail or telephone? - No. 

How do you book?  - come to the counter. 

If I come to the counter will you give a firm booking and can you confirm if there is a trip tomorrow?  - No booking will be given. Only a stamp sized scribble confirming that you came. Trip will go subject to a minimum number of passengers.   

Can you book a visit inside Matrimandir?  – No, only for the viewpoint.  

How do you get inside?  - Go to auroville and ask for availability for any day except that day. 

Is there availability next day? – You will know if you go there…….    

It is very clear that casual tourists are to be discouraged. 

 

Only if one is interested in unraveling the mystery, would one embark on this path. In fact now my desire to visit became even stronger.

As it turned out,  when I reported to Autocare in the morning for the Ashram department tour, there were loud arguments going on with a techie couple from Bangalore who wanted to visit Auroville in the morning and had delayed their departure for this very purpose,  but were told that there was no trip in the morning. I was plain lucky to get the last seat available on the coach!! Incidentally the entire staff were Bongs.. And so were all the visitors! 

Charkha

The Ashram departments turned out to be cottage-industry- like units, making handloom cloth, batik paintings, handmade paper,  ayurvedic medicnes and perfume etc and selling them from the showrooms which were all closing for lunch at curious timings like 1100 and 1130 etc. 

 

Handloom worker

In fact when we reached the Museum dedicated to the mother, the helpful but stern volunteers welcomed us by saying “you have five minutes before we close at 11”.   

That was such a pity, because this museum is filled with personal effects used by the Mother including a fabulous pencil sketch done by her. I think that would be the single most important reason to visit Srismriti. 

 

The famous Marble saree centre had closed and the final stop was the dining hall where lunch was to be had against a Rs 40 cupon which you were supposed to have bought in the morning at the Cottage, if you happened to know about it.!!! 

 

Could you buy it now at 1130? No because that’s when the office closes. Our guide (it was a guided tour) was indignant when I asked him why he didn’t tell me about it in the morning, but was even more surprised when I asked him why the tour did not include a visit to The Ashram itself ….

Notwithstanding the fact that the perfumes and papers were quite nice, and it was fascinating to see a live charkha and loom, I was left wondering why a spiritual organization was running cottage industries in the heart of town employing a handful of locals (There were six employees in the handloom factory and about ten employees in the paper factory). 

 

Was it a remnant of some Grand earlier design? Was it meant to generate employment? Was it meant to preserve some local traditions and skills? Surely if it was meant to augment Ashram income, the entire thing could be far more professionally managed. 

Ayurvedic Tea making

After failing to avail of the Ashram sponsored langar, I found my way to the local branch of A2B and ended up in the Naturals ice cream parlour next door. Before embarking on the afternoon trip to Auroville, each of us was individually given the most important instruction. The bus will leave Auroville at 4 pm and wait for none. Luckily everyone took this quite seriously…

The Big Banyan Tree. Centre of Auroville

The approach to Auroville, located 16 km north of the Ashram in Tamil Nadu, is through a beautiful winding jungle road. It is dotted with cafes where one sees foreigners sitting with cups of coffee, reading books and every now and then one sees them zipping around on two wheelers..especially women. All of them bear an expression of sublime happiness, which is rather captivating.

 

Visitors Centre, Auroville

 

The visitors centre at Auroville is very well laid out and informative. Again one is left wondering what exactly the 1800 odd “residents” of Auroville actually do and whether they continue to be citizens of their own countries and if so for how long. 

What is the status of the villages which continue to exist there? The other interesting nugget that I gleaned earlier on the net was that this is an “autonomous organization under the Union Ministry of HRD” and is actually run by a serving IAS officer. 

Walk to Matrimandir

The blissful 2 Km walk to the Matrimandir viewing point along the jungle path is punctuated by several bird calls. The Giant Banyan tree short of the viewing point was infact the only tree in this barren piece of land when work started in the 1960’s and more that 6 million trees were planted to make Auroville this idyllic jungle resort like place.

The Matrimandir with its spectacular golden façade looking like a giant 20 storeyed golf ball is really a sight to behold. Said to be completely devoid of contents, it is a place for meditation and is part of the grand design of the temple surrounded by petal shaped gardens each with its theme flower, conceived by the Mother and is still under construction. 

Matrimandir Viewpoint

One would have liked to sit there for a few hours and take in the concept, but remembering the stern warning, I decided to head back using the free bus ride. The boutiques at the visitors centre very well stocked and offered a spectacular variety of gift items at not so unreasonable prices. The cafes also looked inviting especially after a long day, but it was nearing 4 pm so I headed back to the bus. 

On the way back from Auroville, we were taken to a Hanuman temple on the Tindivanam road, for no particular reason I think. There was a sea of red, as devotees dressed in blood coloured sarees and dhotis, poured out of their loud colourful buses and thronged every possible temple. This temple constructed a few years ago boasted of a five headed three storey high Hanuman statue carved out of a single black stone. Somehow for me, temples constructed in modern times seem too angular and plastic, and lack the grace of temples constructed even a few hundred years ago. 

Once back at Pondicherry, I made one last attempt to visit the Ashram, which miraculously was open. This was the actual place where Sri Aurobindo lived. There is a Samadhi and a small meditation area. 

 

The place is very peaceful. There were no garrulous tourists and people sat in quiet contemplation. I struck a conversation (in hushed tones) with a volunteer who took me aside when I said I had a lot of questions. 

 

He was very helpful but when it came to the final question; where would one turn to, if one had to learn the practice of “Integral yoga” as practised by Sri Aurobindo, he cheerfully informed.  “There are no gurus or courses for that. You just have to figure it out”.

Travel Date: 27-28 Dec 2015
Travelers: Dr Dattakiran , Dr Sanjeev Saxena and Nidhi

Travel Tips:

Tiruvanmalai Temple

 

In spite of extensive research and enquiry about the route to be  taken from Bangalore to Pondicherry and having GPS, we ended up taking many wrong turns though we did manage to visit the Tiruvanmalai temple on the way. 

The signposting is terrible and the highway numbers, so prominently marked on the maps, are conspicuous by their absence on the ground, except on the NH. 

 

Though slightly longer, the fastest route seems to be Hosur - Krishnagiri – Vellore – Tindivanam – Pondicherry.

 

Carving on the gate of  Arunachaleshwar Temple, Tiruvanmalai 9th Century AD