The Gluten Free Travel Blog

Okay, any one of the Beatles, but George was the coolest by far. I’m sitting outside my bungalow in Auroville. It’s this crazy commune linked up to the Ashram in Pondicherry. People here are nice and it’s super relaxing out here. It’s home to this golden temple (not like the one in Amritsar). This one looks like a giant golf ball and its actually plated in real gold. New age ashram living is funny to watch. I saw this very Nordic looking Viking type white dude driving a tractor. It reminds me of The Beach (the movie with Leonardo DiCaprio). People come here and work in the fields for ten years before they get a chance to become a citizen of this place. Gotta pay your dues apparently.

Okay, I’m more than a bit surprised. The previous trip to India I made was rough. I stayed in the north the entire time and it was one notch under brutal. So, this time I was prepared for everything to be hard. I’m quite happy to see that south India is a completely different country. It’s still India, and the good and bad that comes with that, but the south is a really laid back version of the north. I like the people, the food, the weather. It has a Southeast Asia feel to it. After landing in Chennai, it was a four hour game of chicken until reaching Pondicherry. The lines in the middle of the highway are only a suggestion in South Asia. I must have seen fifty tech colleges on the way here as well. There is definitely an educated middle class here. The city of Pondicherry is very nice with a colonial French history. The food is spicy and cheap. The city revolves around the Sri Aurobindo Ashram near the water. A beautiful place that is non-denominational and gives off a feel good vibe. More to come…