During our first day in Pondicherry we went to a commune called Auroville, which is about a 20 minute auto-rickshaw ride outside of the city. It was very peaceful- a nice break from the loud, busy city. It had a really cool hippy vibe that I liked. The idea of the commune was about reaching divinity in life and not in religion. The communal meals are cooked by a solar powered kitchen and they practise meditation in a beautiful golden globe building. We also rented bicycles and toured around the commune to a small village.
On the second day that we spent in Pondichery we went to a huge market, which sold fruit, tons of flowers, vegetables, and some decorative dyes and powder. I loaded up on lots of fruit (the safe kind) including red bananas. I did not feel overwhelmed by people trying to sell me something as I have when traveling to other countries. The Indian people seem very passive and polite. They will try to make you feel guilty before they will pester you into buying something.
After the market we found our way to the French district of the city, which was unlike what I would expect to see in India. The streets were very clean and made of cobble stone and there were beautiful, colourful buildings that I would expect to see in Europe. The french district is located just at the beach and there are plenty of open cafes overlooking the water. We took a quick visit into an ashram in the french quarter. There are no shoes or photos allowed in the ashram and in order to enter you had to be silent. The entrance was a beautiful garden and as you enter, the staff quietly guide you through to a courtyard in the middle where it seemed as though some people were making a kind of offering or praying/meditating at a pond with decorative flowers. We were guided to sit along the outside of the courtyard silently in the shade. It was very calm and it was nice to take some time to take in the beauty of the ashram. There was a huge tree in the middle of the courtyard and several small gardens and ponds.
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