Pondicherry! Part 3

So after dinner, we went to the Promenade, the hotel on the beach road, that Ranjith and Sabita were staying. It was almost midnight, and we were the only ghosts on the road. The silent city, slumbering in the dark was truly a sight to see. There's something magical about a little town when it's sleeping.

So we took the elevator to the roof, without anyone's knowledge, Ranjith got the champagne that was chilling in their room.
The roof was pitch dark, illuminated only by the street lights below, and the stars in the sky. This was exactly the kind of night, that I'd like to spend with my husband, lying on the roof, neither of us speaking. This was the night to 'be'.

We climbed up on the parapet wall, something that was definetely a 'no' in any hotel.

I dont know if it was the alcohol coursing through us, counting in the uncertain afternoon, undecided trip, the long journey, and the late hour, but we were all so awake, so alive, and we made so much noise, that I'm sure that anyone awake would have heard us.
We broke open the bottle of champagne, shared two glasses among 8 people, and stood there watching the stars.

Then we went down to their room, ordered ice cream at 1 am, chocolate.
Smitha, the star of the night, was so high, she started seeing the floor swimming under her. She started saying stuff like, 'I wanna swim on the floor'. It was so hilarious

So finally, after finishing the bottle of champagne, we finally left for the night.

Happy Birthday Sabita. You made our day! Thanks for being the amazing cool teacher that you are. And Ranjith, Cheers! :)

 

Pondicherry! Part 2

The main reason that we or 'I' went to Pondicherry, was to sample all the great French cuisine and wine. Well, turns out, I'm a coward. I'm a sissy little girl when it comes to trying out new food. I was all excited about trying oysters, and lobsters and snails(yup! apparently 'escargots' are a delicacy en France!)

So we enter the restaurant. It's almost 10. We were hoping to see empty tables, but no! Sabita and her husband were in the waiting area, glass of white in their hands, talking to this French woman.
Gentleman he is, Ranjith got up to give us his seat. I was offered a glass, most of the others took it, but I'm more of a red wine person, so I politely refused.
Smitha was holding the glass by the stem, and the French lady began to teach us how to hold the glass.
With champagne, you hold it by the stem, to not raise the temperature with your body heat. With wine, you cup the glass in your palm, the heat brings out the flavour, your swirl the glass and take a whiff of the amazing smell, before you savor it.
Amazing. I already knew that, but what was amazing was that, she said all this in French, and I UNDERSTOOD!!!!
Guess I wont be in that big a mess if my flight crash landed in Paris. :)

We finally got our tables, it was a little too warm, and the wine wasn't helping cool us down. The waiter arrived, and you know what? He spoke French, and he learnt it just by waiting tables! huh!

We all ordered stuff that sounded harmless enough...
I tried shrimp cocktail for the first time. I tasted everything but the shrimps. So technically, I had Shrimp cocktail sans the shrimp.
Then Aparna got her Ratatouille. For those who have seen that movie, you know what a big deal it is. So i try it, with all those expectations, and poof! It's worse than bad. It's watery, and for all I know, it tasted like Indian gravy.
But hey, maybe my 'senses' weren't developed enough to appreciate fine cooking! w-a-t-e-v-a-h!
Since I was a red wine person, a bottle of red was opened just for me. Bordeaux 2009. It wasn't too strong. Fine. Just fine.

After more weird dishes, we left the restaurant. Ranjith was gracious enough to pay, after 'promising' us we could split tomorrow's lunch bill.

The whole dinner thing was made special, particularly by the happy couple adorning our table. It was a delight, they had so many wonderful stories to tell about their trips to France. It was simply amazing!

-To Be continued...

Pondicherry! Part 1

You know, this time last week, I was in a car, on my way to the little town of Pondicherry.
For those of you who dont know Pondicherry was a French colony, and there is still part of the town thats all French.
So it seemed only fair that we, at our French class, make this pilgrimage once to honour all that's good and French.

My teacher Sabita's birthday was last Saturday, and a few weeks earlier, she invited us to spend the weekend with her in Pondicherry. She was going with her husband, and she invited us to spend sometime with her there.
I must say, we got a better share of that bargain. Sorry Sabs.

Originally, the plan was to drive to Pondy, in Sharath's car. But then, last minute he dint have a driver, and we were all at a loss of transportation. It was the worst plan for a trip ever. That's because there was no plan.

So we all went to class as usual, Saturday, and gave Sabita her birthday surprise. So we said, Hi Saita, here's your birthday surprise, we're all going to be coming with you to Pondy in your car! Yeaah! :P
As sweet as she was, she agreed. SHe had planned on leaving to Pondy immediately after class, and one of us couldn't make it that early... there was a lot of drama, that might have been interesting to recount if you were there. So since you weren't there... let me just say, it was a complete mess... But finally, at 5:30 p.m. we were all packed in Sabita's car, on our way to Pondicherry.
I hope they won't mind me giving out names, I'm not rich enough to be sued!
It was Sabita, her amazing husband Ranjith, Smitha, Aparna, Vidhya, Sharath, Hiral et moi!
8+ driver = 9 of us packed in a car. WOW!
It was really sweet of Sabita and her husband. They were truly amazing. All the way, I kept thinking, if me and my husband will be so much fun when we hit their age.
Anyway, we reached sometime after 8:30. We got dropped off at the inn, 'Le maison blanche', checked in, changed, washed, and ran out for the dinner that we were already freakin' late to.

-To Be Continued....