On our last night in Pondy, we offered to cook pasta for Manoj, but he ended up cooking for us! He and Henri went to the market for the ingredients, and then passed by Choco-là for some lip-smacking desserts.
I can't show you pictures of the two because they were sweating. Here's a more appetizing sight:
We were really lucky to meet him on the train. Our Pondy experience would not have been the same without him pointing out the best places to eat and hang out. Actually, one of the best places to chill is his apartment. We lost track of time just sitting here and chatting! Most importantly, we learned more about the culture from our many talks with him.
Manoj, you da man!
Our last day in Pondicherry was a mad dash to eat as much good food as we could before we dive back into the dark crevices of the backpacking world.
This was our first and last breakfast at Kasha Ki Aasha, recommended by friends for a good breakfast. It was the first time we had fluffy American-style pancakes. We lapped those things up so fast we forgot to take pics as proof that they were real... they were so FLUFFAY!
We stayed there for about 2 hours just drinking coffee and abusing the free wifi, so by the moment we left it was the perfect time for lunch. Here at Suguru, you can get a dosa thiiiiiiiiis biiiiiiig.
Henri got his fill of the refillable thali, and we had smashingly good lemon pickle to go with everything.
We went back into the room for a moment. Henri started reading the ashram book on sleeping and fell asleep in 5 minutes. Very powerful book!
Meanwhile, I took the opportunity to hop around Pondy one last time.
I especially wanted to see Lakshmi, the holy pachyderm. She "blesses" people in front of the Sri Manakula VInayagar Temple.
To get her blessing, people buy a handfull of grass from the shops in front of the temple and offer it to her.
Even if there are 4 people giving her offerings, she remembers which one gave her grass and blesses them accordingly...
The blessing comes in the form of a playful tap on the head or back.
She has a nice career, a long lunch break, and she gets fed every day; but I can't help but feel like she would rather be somewhere else.
I went to the church again, just in case there was mass in English, but they were still praying the rosary when I arrived, and in high-pitched Tamil.
Outside, you could feel Christmas has arrived.
When I got back, Henri and Manoj went to find a night bus going to Trichy. It wasn't as tricky as we thought :) After dinner, we went back to the apartment, strapped our bags on, and Manoj helped us secure a rickshaw that would charge us a fair price.
And so, at 9pm we were at the bus station, earlier than needed because Henri loves being early somehow, and waited for our neon blue bus to arrive at 10pm, the bus that would deposit us at Trichy at an ungodly 2am.
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