Bonne Annee de Pondicherry

Well friends, here in Pondicherry it is 2008, while most of you are still living in 2007 (although not my family in Newfoundland, they are just a little ahead of everyone else in North America).

Last night we celebrated the New Year early. At 6:45 we heard sounds which we first interpreted as noise from the bar next door to us, but after it had gone on too long we realized we must investigate. We headed out, dressed for the evening and walked over to the seaside promenade where we were in time to see the last few of a 15 minute salvo of fireworks.

Everyone was out celebrating it seemed. There were thousands on the street and on the promenade and when we got down to the Gandhi statue we discovered a live band playing their loudest for us. There were few other tourist faces in sight, this was a show for the locals obviously and they were enjoying the music too. There was a ferris wheel in the background going around at far too fast a pace I thought, but then I find merry-go-rounds fast too, even playground ones. It was the first time the ferris wheel had been in operation so it felt like that much more a celebration of the new year.

We spent at least a half hour watching the large band perform and sing their Hindi Bollywood songs (the band leader said they were!), and then wandered into the streets to find our last dinner of 2007. We found it at Le Rendezvous, a nice roof top place where we were seated right next the stairway and me opposite the waiters so I got lots of entertainment watching them do very little. One of them was a dead ringer for a very young Clark Gable, with the moustache and the sideburns of Gone With the Wind, except for his very dark skin - yes, even his facial features were Clark Gableish.

Dinner was seafood - Geordie had the Silver Pomfret, a whole fish, that looked just a little like a find from the aquarium, while I had Tiger Prawns grilled in garlic butter sauce. We could have had turkey, but somehow I felt that having turkey in India would not be a substitute for turkey at home - I didn't want to risk it.

We enjoyed our meal with a couple of beers, not exactly champagne but it was bubbly - a local Kingfisher for me and an Australian Foster's for Geordie. They were just fine! I even had dessert - a rather vapid chocolate mousse, but it was only 60 rupees, what's to lose?

After our celebratory dinner we went back to our apartment. I know, I know, why weren't we going back to the seawall for the fireworks, the party, the fun, fun, fun? Well, we have read that it is not always wise to hang out with the locals when they are in a party mood, and after our walk this morning I think it may have been wise. Mind you last night just after we arrived we were witness to the arrival of about 50 policemen, armed with their ever-present lathi sticks, a nice bamboo weapon which I would not enjoy raining down on my back (I'm always good, so it wouldn't happen, don't worry.) This morning when we went for our lovely after breakfast walk we discovered that the poor mosquito thingy had taken quite a beating - it's proboscis was no longer in place, and its sides were now bare of their plaster. Something happened to it last night and I guess we might have found out if we had been there for the fireworks.

An explanation of the opening picture is in order now. The decoration you see was created freehand, probably by a local woman who uses first white salt to outline the design she plans and then coloured salts to fill it in. The designs are all over the streets - they seem to be a welcome to guests who arrive at your doorstep and are often painted on the street itself, just as the one illustrating this blog entry is. We saw others being made today, and it was amazing to watch the women creating the complex designs so effortlessly.

Finally, a couple of pictures of Geordie and I which I though you might enjoy seeing. I thought it was a good time to show them off since the camera was still connected to this computer. The first is with Geordie, me and our tour guide Rudy at the Taj Mahal. It was sent by one of our group in England and I couldn't resist including it, but then when the camera was already connected I thought I should include the second one which shows the Taj much more clearly. In both pictures we are seated on what has been labelled Lady Diana's Bench since it was here that she sat for her portrait when she visited the Taj some years ago. As you can imagine it is now a very popular place to be photographed by everyone.






So there you are, friends, our Happy New Year 2008 greeting to all of you. We wish you the best in this new year that is before us. Happy trails, happy days. We hope the New Year brings you all joy and peace. Our thoughts are with all of you while we travel in far flung climes. Thank you all for your greetings and wishes now and in the past year. We are so happy to have friends like you in our world.