When people think of Pondicherry, their first thought is of Yann Martel's The Life of Pi, where an exotic menagerie of beast and bird is on display. Their second is of quaint boulangeries selling freshly baked baguettes to be home delivered by bicycle. Upon arrival, it isn't long before people are disabused of such fanciful notions as Pondicherry doesn't even have a zoo and the few boulangeries that are here serve poor facsimiles of the real thing in contrast to France's other colonial outposts in Indo-China, Vietnam in particular.

That's not to say there aren't echos of Pondicherry's Gallic past; the French Quarter is so named for its many colorfully painted colonial buildings, the Alliance Française and L'Ecole Français de l'Orient Est both have schools here, and there are several beautiful cobblestone streets fringed with bowed trees that, when the light of the late afternoon shines through the interstices of the leaves, could pass for a boulevard in Paris if you were to cover one eye and squint with the other.

Statue of Ghandiji by the promenade

Because of its compact size, "Pondy" as it is affectionately called, lends itself to exploration by foot and on our first day here we walk the length of the promenade as the waves break on the rocks and hawkers try to sell us bundles of candy floss. During the evenings, all motor traffic is diverted away turning the promenade into a pedestrian walkway where families meet, children chase one another and people relax to a setting sun. There's not a whole lot to see here in terms of must-see attractions; no ancient ruins to explore or grand vistas to take in and the Ganesha temple, where one can be blessed by a domesticated elephant, is only noteable by its star's absence who is away on medical leave. But that's okay because Pondicherry is an attraction onto itself and it's a pleasure of the purest kind to simply walk the streets, pop into a few boutiques, eat kulfi and take in the easy breeziness of this place.

Lots of shopping to be had here

And that's exactly what we do. Over the next three days the ladies, having been denied any real retailing opportunities since Kochi's Jew Town, descend upon the many handicraft stores and boutiques with disturbing vengence, engaging in the kind of rapacious consumerism that even an American on Black Friday would struggle to match. Shawls, scarves and pashminas of every color and variation are purchased making the locals very happy indeed. In between bouts of retail therapy we rent bicycles, check out a few small art galleries and even manage to find an Indian Coffee House. It's easy here in Pondy, which is why I suppose it's overrun with Westerners, serving as a gentle introduction to the exoticness of India while offering enough familiarity to keep things safely within comfort zones.

Since it's the tail end of December we end up spending the passing of 2014 in Pondi. I didn't know what to expect spending New Year's Eve here but was disappointed to learn that it's celebrated the same as everywhere else in the world; buffet banquets and all-you-can-drink events, electronic dance music beach parties featuring DJs you've never heard of and likely won't want to ever again when you hear their mixing and track selection. One of the reasons to travel is to experience the novel and unique. To come so far, only to seek out precisely what was left behind is perversity of the worst kind. So instead of opting for one of the many buffet EDM dance parties we chose a late dinner, a few bottles of beer and a stroll along the promenade to watch the fireworks.

We should have signed up for the beach party.

The small one in the front was calling all the shots

When we reach the promenade a half-hour before midnight, the place is packed with drunken teenagers -exclusively male- all of whom are yelling and screaming and generally engaging in the kind of puerile behavior that makes them the most annoying demographic on the planet. When one teen clad in a balaklava jumps out in front of us to scream unintelligibly, the ladies are spooked and we know it's time to leave. And so the last moments of 2014 are spent on the hotel's rooftop patio sipping rum, watching the display of fireworks and then turning in a quarter past midnight. It seems hanging around my parents far so long has aged me by twenty years.

Vignette

A quirky observation of the people of this fine country. As a traveler, asking for directions is par for the course. Even in this age of Google Maps and GPS, sometimes it's nice to engage a local and asking for directions is the most obvious of pretexts.

In most countries, even in those where English is uncommonly spoken, this is a simple matter of you butchering the name of your destination in some crude approximation of their language and them pantomiming either right or left. Not so in India. Despite English being widely spoken here, we have, on many occassions up and down the country, been left utterly bewildered by directions from locals. "Which way to the temple?" you'll ask and he will tell you "straight straight then left" but with his hand will point right leaving you completely clueless as to which way you're meant to turn. And it's inconsistent too. Sometimes it's the hand tells the truth and sometimes it's the tongue. It's not that Indians don't know their left from right. I think it's just a brainfart from being put on the spot by two Chinese tourists and one vaguely looking Indian one (Dad has been spoken to in Hindu numerous times). Or perhaps it's the same curious mechanism that makes them pronounce V's as W's and W's as V's ("wice wersa" and "vax and vane" for example) despite both sounds being entirely pronounceable in the Hindi phonology. Curious indeed.

Everyone rides bikes here

Fresh coconuts are a delight in this climate

Appropriately grainy post-processing given the subject matter

Really cool doors in this town

In the French quarter. All the street names are en Français

Not Halloween in December, this is how people in Pondi ward off the evil eye

Samosa vendor

These two were chilling on the curb and when I went to take their picture their captain made them stand-up so that they properly represent the police force. Respect

Like I said, really cool doors

He sells sea shells by the sea shore