24TH JAN. Thurs. Pondicherry sights first evening

We spent a couple of hours walking aimlessly around town from 5pm tonight when the weather had cooled down to a comfortable walking level.

David is disappointed with the place (so far).   Having learned about Pondicherry from watching Rick Stein's travels in India I think he envisaged a much more French environment with French style patisseries and restaurants.    Whilst there is most definitely a French influence here, it doesn't dominate. 

The town isn't huge but there are two distinct sections - Black town and White town - based on skin colour.   Definitely non-pc and not allowed in Europe!

What I find really strange though is hearing Indian people speaking fluent French.  We stopped at a 'grog' shop yesterday to buy a bottle of wine anticipating a lazy afternoon on our balcony in the hottest part of the day.    One of the customers engaged David in conversation which made him struggle a bit .... long time since we've had to think/speak in French.

So all we got last night was a few 'funny' pics ....

not the best advert for this gym methinks!

Hmmmm!

Well, maybe!

There must be 100+ places advertising medical, dental, optical care here ... to say nothing of streets full of parked ambulances ... and on the street next to our hotel, some lovely 'funeral' cars - much prettier than the hearses we see in the UK,, but funerals here are celebrations of life and very noisy with fireworks, drumming and throwing of flowers from the vehicle

one of the local policemen (gendarmes)?

We headed for the beach path, having heard what a wonderful place it is to visit after 6pm when traffic is banned.    We expected something along the lines of the promenade on Marine Drive in Mombai where there are lots of places to get snacks and drinks ... not so here.    There is one very tired place selling overpriced mediocre drinks/meals.  I queued up for 15 minutes for two cups of hot water with teabags. 

But we got chatting to a lovely Indian lady who gave us a couple of recommendations for restaurants.   We didn't find either of them so ended up eating back at our hotel.

One of the monuments on the front

and a statue of Gandhi

David has done a bit of research on the beach/promenade here and it throws a bit of light on the current state of the place.    This is  David's interpretation of  what he found online:

There's a wide beachside promenade but the beach is narrow, curiously set up higher than the road, and rocks lead down to the inaccessible and invisible ocean's edge.

There used to be wide sandy beaches (which is why Pondicherry is where it is) and a sea dotted with fishing boats but sadly Man's interference some miles away has put paid to all that.

A breakwater was built down the coast, it changed the tidal patterns and the beaches were washed away. Rocks were brought in to prevent further erosion and a strip of sand was added to give the illusion of a beach. But the tides then washed away the seabed and its life so the fish left, followed by the fishing boats. The rocks are now falling into the scoured seabed taking the artificial beach with them and the council has a never-ending task ahead

So, basically, although its a nice cool place to take a walk, that's about it really.