Hues of Pondicherry...

Happy New Year Everyone!

Our December vacations last year was spent mainly with family, doing absolutely NOTHING:-)

Okay, well almost...one day we decided to drive down to Pondicherry and enjoyed strolling through the various rues or streets.

Pondicherry being a former French colony in India still retains some of the influences. Here are some colourful captures...

Traditional door colored brightly...

The temple elephant...

Fabulous shade of orange...

Loved the huge doors...

...and the grills

The door-knobs...

The street signboards with french and tamil influences...

Hope you liked the various colours of Pondicherry, coming up next is a post on a lovely heritage villa where we stayed.

( images by Arch)

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Auroville, Pondicherry

First, a big thanks to Masala Chai for the "You make my day" Award. I really appreciate it and also the post on 'The Dune' which kind of brought back lovely memories from our Pondicherry trip a couple of years back & inspired this post on Auroville:-)) My door obssession in Pondicherry, when I didn't have a digital camera, scanned from old photographs:-) The history of Pondicherry can be traced back to 1672 when the French bought this port town from an India King. The French connection grew when Sri Aurobindo an Indian scholar & mystic set up an ashram here in 1926. Mira Alfassa his French-born spiritual companion, also known as 'The Mother' established Auroville in the sixties.Image of Matrimandir in Auroville.
Auroville is a series of self-supporting communities in villages which are very close to Pondicherry. Auroville's New Age ideal drew many Indians & Westerners including French architect Roger Anger who was the chief architect of the township of Auroville.

Featured here are a couple of homes from Auroville.
A fusion of natural & modern home of Frenchman Jean Legrand & wife Joy.
Natural light streaming in through the circular shapes on the ceiling and that is echoed by the natural rocks & granite slabs in Legrand's bathroom.Love the angular and circular shapes of the kitchen & dining area, which has been designed keeping the light in mind.
Home of designer William Netter, an American Spiritualist and Sri Aurobindo follower.
The white-tiled kitchen with simple modern lines and ample natural light.The design here is Minimalist with areas designated for different purposes. Here is the space for praying with 'The Mother's' and Sri Aurobindo's photographs with a votive candle burning in the centre and his work space.

A house designed by French architect Roger Anger for Christine Devin & her husband in 1976 in a design resembling toadstool shapes.Beautifully designed circular bedroom with movable slats to adjust light & air flow. Love the red-oxide smooth flooring and a simple portrait of the Mother on the wall.Locally made paper lantern and couple of floor cushions & wooden chest adorn the dining area. I absolutely love the shape of the windows ( reminds me of railway train windows:-)

The township at Auroville is heaven for architects from India & abroad trying to create something different, something new. You can read more about the various styles of architecture in Auroville here.

(images from Indian Interiors- Taschen & Auroville.org)

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