Pondicherry was on my cards ever since I settled down south here in Karaikudi. It was about 300km away but one year went by and it was still in the bucket list.
September 2016. A three day long weekend on Ganesh Chaturthi - I finally convinced myself for the trip.
2nd September 2016. Friday. I boarded the Cape-Pondicherry Express from Karaikudi Junction at 7:40 pm. I had a waiting-list ticket which luckily had got confirmed to sleeper class (SL) upper berth.
Day-1. 3rd September 2016. Saturday. Woke up at around 4:10am. The train was at halt at Villupuram Jn. Here the locomotive reverses its direction to pull away from the main route to Pondicherry. It was pitch dark but the Indian Railway vendors were already into business with their tea-coffee.
An hour more and the train finally pulled into Puducherry station. I made out of the station and headed to Rock Beach. As I walked the 700m distance I could hear the loud roaring of the waves and then the pitch dark Bay of Bengal lay before me. The Goubert Avenue runs along the rock beach. No vehicles are allowed from dusk to dawn leaving it solely for pedestrians. The beach was pretty filled with early risers. I found a place to settle down at least till it's time for the guest houses to open.
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| Rock Beach |
