When three girls plan out a trip on a shoestring budget there is a whole lot more than just chaos and uncertainty.

Even though I’ve been many times to Pondicherry with family; this was a slightly different one. A break from the monotonous work routine to just do random things with close friends you wouldn’t really otherwise sign yourself up to.

A girls trip was a much-needed one; especially because a friend was getting married soon and we wanted to savor a few moments to breathe, relax and have tons of fun. We took a bus to a city painted in yellow, whites and grey’s of quaint cafe’s, wood-fired thin crusted sinful pizzas or a shoreline that every tourist envied- Puducherry or Pondicherry as they call it.

We headed to Auroville, after we checked in, with less time on our hands. Situated on the outskirts of the city was the spiritual center, a sprawling campus of Big Banyan trees and a green space that long walk towards the Matri Mandir. You’ll probably be greeted with cute cafe’s right as you enter. We decided to pick dreamers cafe for its vegan chocolate cake, pesto veggie sandwich and a scoop of freshly churned mango gelato for that hot afternoon.

The Big Banyan tree Vegan Chocolate cake

After long hours under the sun and a pleasant evening, we decided to head back to our hotel and freshen up to ease up into the night which meant sitting by a beach facing restaurant with good food but fate had it otherwise. We ended up in a much better place which included a dance off, which I think I will remember for years to come; but the best part was walking to the cool breeze by the beach after late hours and witnessing the moon in its glory and the waves crashing ashore, everything felt very light.

The very next day we headed to Chunnambar boat house (Talk about long Que’s and an hours worth waiting time to get a ticket). Since we took this break on a long holiday, everything was full and stuffy. Once we got hold of our tickets the dilly- dally of the motorboat took us to clear skies trees dotted in a line, and lush greenery and halted by Paradise beach.

Paradise beach is a must visit, with the sea on one side and the boat’s lined up at the other, it’s a really nice spot to break away from the bustle, bring a book to read along or just get your camera for the open skies and waves crashing over. You can also savor fresh prawns/ fish even squids at open thatched huts that serve up a delicious meal.

Our next stop from there was to visit a few monuments so we hopped into an auto and halted right near the train station. What we were looking at was a church built-in 1895 with gothic architecture at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus looking at the saintly figures painted on a tinted glass, or the detailing on the roof, even pillars made me wonder about the tantamount of detailing that went into building it.

dav dig dav

Our next pit stop was a halt at a pizzeria place called Cafe Xtaci on MG road where one could literally smell the cheese wafting through the air as chefs were pulling out a large pizza from a wood-fired oven and then beginning rolling balls into thin flatbread to prepare another one with sauce fresh veggies and topped with cheese. We had a waiting time of 20 minutes and we decided to wait, and what a great decision that was.

We perched on high chairs with a view of the balcony, the cool breeze was an added plus along with the music tracks, that I was singing to. We ordered two cheesy thin crusted vegetarian pizzas and two starters. I wanted a chicken starter, to exclusively to polish it off by myself and ordered five-spice chicken, that chicken starter that was the bomb, I had tears in my eyes (Oh that lovely feeling). Pizzas were commendable and textured so well you could easily order a few more extras because why not with the cheese and thin crust and all that gluttony.

nfd nfd

You know that exhilarated feeling when food brings that warm smile on your face. I was in a food coma, something that I couldn’t explain.I was ready to take a stroll afterward to shop for books, even cheese. We found a bookstore as we were crossing a lane, bought a few at dirt cheap rates and then decided to head back to the hotel to take our luggage and finally hop onto a bus back home.