Scooting around in Pondicherry

"Peaceful Pondicherry - Give time a break" was the best slogan that the Pondicherry tourism department could come up with. When i visited Pondi, it had become Puducherry, the last thing on my mind was peace and relaxation. It was Deepavali (or Diwali ) and with my hosts - Sendil and Balaji - around, i was sure to have a blast.

Enjoyment is good only if it is 'Omaaale' enjoyment.. Omaaale is a term which is metaphysical (?!?) and it represents a state of being that can be matched only by an orgasm.. the beauty of 'Omaaale' enjoyment, like an orgasm, is that it feels the same no matter where you get it or with whom you get it or when you get it. Its secular, ominpresent and blah blah blah

S. and B. were waiting for us at the bus stop and S. gave us ( me and my friend Vishnu) a 12 roll cap salute, we were on our way to attain 'Omaaale'ment. S. already had the plan of action ready.. we burst crackers on friday (today), saturday is deepavali, so we burst crackers tmr as well..and we catch a movie in the night.. the rest we decide as time goes..

Aye Aye S., Now B. cut in, guys today we have dinner out, tmr breakfast at S. home and lunch at my home. I realised that we had to coin another metaphysical term that exceeded 'Omaaale' in the ecstacy factor. So now, we walk to S. joint to drop off our bags and then we move onto Harsha's (S. homey) house where he has 'night-outs' ready. 'Night-outs' is a term used to describe fireworks that have been designed for 'after dark activities'. They mainly consist of rockets, flower pot varieties and chakras.

And as we were the guests, we got to most of the bursting..and after all the culinary exercises we got to do in Puducherry over the weekend even the toilet got its share of BOOMS...

It was not the crackers that made the weekend Omaaale...the food was one factor...Idli, Vada, Adhirasam, Dosas for breakfast....Chicken, Mutton, Halwa, sumptous vegetables, super pickles for lunch..and brilliant dinner in a couple of restaurants...my waist jumped from 30 to 32 in two days i swear....and all the hogging really did up the ante towards 'Omaaale'ment...and also the places we visited. Be it Auroville (on sunday), or the lovely nights at the lovely beach, or the Ashram, or the swimming pool...they all really did add to the 'Omaaale'ment. Especially the beach, the tourism dept of Pondi have done some good things and one of them is the landscaping of the beach...of course, the slogan and ad campaign could do with a bit of a change.

But looking back, a month or so, at the wekend we spent at Deepavali..what really made the trip - 'OHHMAAAAALLLE' was the way we commuted to the various places... four hetereosexual guys on two scooters from the 1980's, the scooters were no relics mind you. They were in super condition and it was fun to just 'phat-phat' around in those things..initially sitting on a scooter was painful as i got muscle catch.But once i got used to it, or rather once i was shown how to sit properly on the scooter..commuting became super fun...

My tips to the Puducherry Tourism Agency is - 1.Put up scooter rentals for tourists and 2. Change the slogan to OHMAAALLEMENT and 3. Take tips from Balaji and Sendil on hospitality..