March 2024

Six months after my last visit, I wake up one morning and decide I want, no, need, to be back at the Hermit Crab. I want to see those lovely people I met last time, and just spend a quiet weekend in contemplation. To just escape the city.  Feel the sea breeze and taste the salty air. I have to go.

Five hours later I am boarding the first available flight to Madras / Chennai and wings up, I am leaving dusty Pune behind.

Madras airport is quite huge and this time, my bag comes soon. I have a lovely taxi waiting for me, and I settle in to munch my Pune bought Vicki’s sandwich, something I never travel without.

A long drive along the pretty East Coast Road later, I reach the Crab. I feel I am home. Greeted by the Patron, Arnab Bose, himself, and happy to find a room so unannounced, I quickly accept his invitation to dinner on the wild side. 

I hesitate when Arnab says, “Let’s go for egg dosa,” It sounds like a Sri Lankan egg hopper, which I love, but its not, he says. I am intrigued and so despite the long day and the muggy weather, I agree. 

We ride to Rolex, at full speed on the Enfield.  I’m told Rolex is legend, a local institution: it is everything  and more.  Not for the faint hearted, Rolex is a no frills and zero charm roadside diner.  I am one of two women at 10 pm.  It is absolutely safe and the hospitality is stellar, maybe because Arnab is a local and a regular. 

Rolex serves these amazing egg dosas.  Two men manage the large tava at the entrance, frying fresh rounds of batter. One cracks the egg onto each circle, and the other rubs the masala on it with a large metal spoon.  It’s like a baida roti but on a rice pancake.

We are seated at a shared table, lucky to beat the queue even at this hour. A banana leaf is slapped down before us. We proceed to drip water from a glass over it and wipe the leaf clean. We are immediately  served with two steel plates of gravy.  Arnab has ordered one prawn gravy and one paya / trotters gravy.  We get to choose sides with the dosas, I opt for pepper chicken and he chooses masala prawns.

The hot dosa arrives, large and eggy, Thus begins an orgy of eating egg dosas dipped in the most delicious Paya gravy; it is unctuous and sublime in its velvet texture and delicate spice meter.  I dip away, barely managing to enjoy the sides, the paya gravy is so incredibly  good.  I close my eyes and slurp every last drop if it, licking my fingers with abandon. I love these masala prawns, spiced with a red paste, no coconut and lots of curry leaves.  Arnab insists I keep eating and to my horror, I gobble three ……and a half dosas!  I am absolutely replete and content, aghast at my appetite so late in the night. But I cannot complain, the meal is so delish. 

I deliberately send a vague food photo to my foodie friend Ishan, and he immediately guesses its Rolex. I am impressed. I havent even said I am back in Pondi!

The ride home on the open highway back to Serenity Beach with the wind blowing through my hair makes it a perfect ending to a long day, and no surprise, I sleep happier than I have in a long time.

Morning breakfast is a pilgrimage to my favourite Bread and Chocolate despite recommendations for Coffee Break and Marc’s. 

I soak up the Auroville  side of Pondicherry- tourists like myself, the foreigners, the locals who are mostly white, and the buzz of chatter as the coffee machine hisses. A little girl orders a bun with honey, her mother an almond croissant.  We are next. Arnab orders his favourite Melba sandwich and I meekly order the same.  There are far too many delicious choices and viennoiserie at B&C. Mason & Co the Pondicherry chocolate brand beckons tantalisingly next door, the aroma of fresh cacao adding to the coffee and bakes already heavy in the morning air.

I dive into my Americano, gulping it like the water of life. I can feel the coffee rush, my brain cells firing up.

The sandwich is a favourite, pickled onions lending the cream cheese and veggies a tangy undertone that tickles and delights the palate.  This is just the most colourful, happy, flavourful ciabatta sandwich. It fills me up and welcomes me back to Pondi.

My  croissant is perfectly  french and perfect with my coffee. 

But we are in a hurry and have to return to the Crab sooner rather than later. The morning speeds by as I melt into my solitude and a good book ( See you at the Piazza by Frances Mayes) 

It is so hot, we order lunch in from the local Amma on the beachfront, and stuff ourselves with fried prawns and rice in the guest house kitchen. And then I nap. Like a baby. Content and satisfied and dreamy.

Sunday lunch is super special, in-house. We are a bunch of happy people- the Nair sisters, a danseuse named Namaha, with big expressive eyes and such a mobile face it is a joy to talk to her, Arnab ‘s old friend Ani, down from New York keeps us entertained with his banter. 

Arnab takes over the kitchen, making the most heavenly chingri malai kari with these beautiful tiger prawns.  As always, fluidity and economy of movement defines Arnab at the stove.  There is a poetry and intensity as he effortlessly creates magic with ingredients and a fire. I am envious and annoyed; I am not nearly as graceful. It infuriates the cook in me, Arnab is so cool and composed.  Maybe men are like that in the kitchen, so precise. I am all flair and passion in the kitchen, getting flustered and making wild guesses, peeking before time and poking till it’s done. Oh well, the proof of the pudding and all that.

We pair the delicate chingri malai with more of Amma’s Sunday specials. Fried masala squid, masala prawns, fried whole fish and fish curry.  Good Lord! I can barely move, falling fast asleep despite the plans to hang out and listen to music together. Age and Sunday snoozes are non-negotiable.

Sunday evening offers an unexpected surprise as I am invited to dine at Red Earth horse riding school in Auroville, with the formidable Jacqueline and her gifted actress daughter, Ayesha Kapur.  Ani has wrangled me an invitation and I happily accept. 

A long and bone-jarring rickshaw ride later, we all arrive at Red Earth. I fall in love. A truly serene estate with trees and paddocks and horses, such beautiful magnificent  horses. I am in awe of their conditioning and pet several muzzles, as they gently whicker at us guests.

Dinner is a large table of a beautiful mix of starters and mains, enjoyed with great conversation, surrounded by magnificent Great Danes and cats. We talk about horses, and movies and being single and the film industry. We talkmore about dogs and cats and growing up with animals.

Monday lunch is another favourite, Andhra tiffin room. Served on a fresh Banana leaf, lunch is pure vegetarian and absolutely freaking delicious, as local as it gets.  It is just papadums, and rice and sambhar and simply prepared veggies, lots of ghee and rassam. We are served generously and often and I relish the unusual preparations of spinach, lentils. The steaming rice with a large helping of local ghee and masala podi ( powder) is finger lickin yummy!

So far, I have eaten well at every single meal. There is a moka pot at the Crab for coffee cravings, with ground coffee from Pondybucks, the local cafe that is more popular than Starbucks.

My last dinner is local sandwiches from the stall next door. Their omelette sandwich is a surprise, wrapped around bread and sauce like a parcel. The omelette is just right, not zapped to an inch of its life.

My last supper, I mean lunch, was a pothi prawn biryani from Ende Naadu. It was tasty and perfect and a fitting end to my trip.

Dinner was grabbed from my parcel of sweets from Sri Krishna sweets at the airport. I didn’t realise I would have no time to eat at the airport, and it would be far too late to eat at home at the ungodly hour of 2 am. So I popped some halwa and laddoo and crossed my fingers, and did not open the mysur pak I carefully carried back home.

Did I accomplish what I set out to with this great escape? I did, I did! It was peaceful and nurturing to be surrounded by dear friends who fed me well. I enjoyed the laughter and the long conversations we had about all sorts of things. I loved going to the only multiplex to see Kung Fu Panda 4. I met horses and camels, saw beautiful places and came back laden with my favourite ashram agarbattis ( the only thing I bought). I met cats and dogs and famous neighbours, stopped for fuel at the local petrol pump, had a girl’s night out at a popular bar where they gently evicted us before 11 pm on a Saturday night. I visited beautiful homes and made new friends.

And for a short time I was part of the local Pondi tribe.

Thank you, Arnab, Natasha, Sanju.

Resources:

I stayed at the Hermit Crab https://linktr.ee/thehermitcrab.pondicherry

Arnab Bose +91 8870593589

The Crab always feels like home to me.

Red earth Riding School https://www.rers.auroville.org they also have a superb B&B on the estate pictured above, the Black Box.

Bread & Chocolate for food, coffee and bakes.

Mason & Co for the bestlocally made, Indian chocolate bars in a multitude of flavours, Heavenly.

I also got some cool handmade leather sandals from Akreti Creations, a local store. They are super comfortable and pretty https://www.instagram.com/akreti.creations/

I came backloaded with local incense sticks from the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Cotttage Industries

https://www.cottageindustries.co.in

The Aurobindo Ashram also has a beautiful:

Le Senteur/ Parfumier in White Town for hand embroidered items, scents, soaps and essential oils. Great for gifts.

An ashram handmade paper store with gift wrap and notebooks and paper and much more.

They have an ashram mithai shop with divine kaju katli.

There are tours for the paper factory, which I sadly missed. I still haven’t been to the ashram, or Matri Mandir. Saving something for next time.

And I know they are super commercial, but nothing beats Sri Krishna Mysur Pak and halwa.