A fully loaded pizza with extra cheese and extra toppings — well, that’s one way to describe this weekend! Try taking your pick from a bicycle marathon, a line-up of sunset concerts on the beach, and deliberations and performances in over a dozen heritage spaces scattered over town. Now, we’re a small city and can be covered quite easily on foot, but don’t you wish you had a Time Turner?
Swing to music at sundown on the beach: Pondy Freedom Jam
This weekend, the waves crashing on the Promenade beach have some big-time competition. If you’re strolling or lolling on the rocks in the evening, expect to be slowly serenaded or pulled up to your feet with a merry medley of music that is the Freedom Jam. Usually held on Republic Day weekend, the annual festival, though late by a month, has stayed true to its roots and pulled together an eclectic line-up of bands and performers.
The salt-laden sea breeze, sunsets and a truly cosmopolitan crowd that laps up open-air performances, have egged on artists to never shy away from experimentation here. While a child pianist opened the festival on a classical note on Friday, the evening continued with V Take Off, lyricist and rapper Xstasy Sash, who mingled rap with hip hop, and Chennai-based Tamil folk and alternative band rock, Oorka. On Saturday night, bringing some earthy tunes your way is Carnatic vocalist Mahesh Vinayakram, collaborating with Australian DJ Astro, while Arul Mani will ensure there’s enough local flavour with Tamil folk songs. To find out how a potpourri of Tamil lyrics and hard rock and metal sound, watch Chennai-based band Jhanu in action. At another venue down the same road, catch some rap and reggae by King Jassim or follow Bangalore-based band, Morbidence that will take you on a journey from guttural rock to soft jazz and everything in between,
Sunday night begins on a melodious high with Prakash Sontakke, a composer who has worked on a Grammy-winning album, presenting a neo-classical Hindustani concert. Jazzing up the night next are percussionist Manon Guerin and keyboardist Mishko M’Ba. Kids can get a jump start on their musical aspirations with a session by Alan Rego from Bangalore. Ending the note with some head-banging, hip swinging music are Lucid Dreams, followed by H20 and NS Production House.
The Gandhi Thidal and the Tourist Information Office on Beach Road are the venues for the music festival organised by the Department of Tourism.
Pedal through Pondy: Puduvai Cyclothon
If you have a squeaky clean bicycle and want to end the weekend on a super fit note, then strap on a helmet and cruise through the streets of Pondy, this Sunday morning. The Puduvai Cyclothon covers a 30-km trail that will kick off at the Mahatma Gandhi statue on Beach Road. Participants will have to ride past heritage monuments, circle the Muthialpet Clock Tower, cross a line of statues at important junctions, skirt both the bus stand and railway station, stadium, and pedal outside the city to communes like Ariyankuppam before winding up at Vaishnavipuram. Organised by the Rotary Club of Pondicherry and supported by the Department of Tourism, the cycle marathon and the cyclothon have separate categories for men and women and for teenagers above age 14. For registration and details, visit puduvaicyclothon.com.
Breathe among the blooms: Annual Flower Festival:
Begin the weekend on a floral note by walking through greenhouses and going gaga over roses, orchids and tulips at Farm Fest 2015, the annual flower, vegetable and fruit show. Get a glimpse of what exotic plants the over-the-century Botanical Gardens nurtures, pick up herbal medicine secrets, try your hand at vegetable or fruit carving, learn about organic kitchen gardening and get tips on all things eco-friendly at the festival. The show, organised by the Department of Agriculture, is on at the AFT grounds, on Cuddalore Road.
Puducherry Heritage Festival
Pondy’s heritage has never been embodied by a single monument or landmark. Rather, it runs through the streets and breathes in every old thinnai- fronted house in the Tamil quarter or high-walled colonial villa, every still-standing statue and every aesthetic turn of the road. Over three days, the city celebrates its richest legacies, not just heritage but also art, architecture, theatre, literature and crafts. The Puducherry Heritage Festival is a collaborative initiative among major educational institutions, citizen groups and welfare organisations.
Performances, exhibitions and discussions are all planned around heritage spaces in the city, allowing you to get up and close with the city’s unique living heritage. Some highlights:
Saturday:
9.30 a.m. @ Sri Aurobindo Ashram Library, Rue St. Martin.
Find out what Pondy’s spiritual heritage means today.
11.30 a.m. @ Institut Français de Pondichéry (IFP), Rue Saint Louis: Listen to conversation experts hold forth on the Yin and Yang of heritage — the tangible and intangible that needs to be cherished.
7 p.m.: Head to the beautifully maintained Cluny Embroidery Centre, housed in what is perhaps the oldest existing French building in the city, to watch an Odissi performance by Aneesh Raghavan.
8 p.m. @ Academy House, north of Old Distillery: Pondy’s own theatre troupe, Adishakti presents a musical.
Sunday
10 a.m. @ 9, Laporte Street: Some of Pondy’s sons of the soil, including Hidesign founder Dilip Kapur,Judge David Annoussamy, Dr. Nallam and Mannar Mannan, son of poet Bharathidasan, try to unravel the fascination that the city has held for people — what brings and keeps people here.
10 a.m. @ 25, Rue Dumas: Walk amidst the ceramic creations by the Golden Bridge Pottery and find out how its legacy has seeped into the city.
3.30 p.m. Visit the Rangapillai mansion, one of the heritage buildings worth exploring in the Tamil Quarter, to hear more about diarist Ananda Rangapillai’s narrative of Pondy under French rule.
6 p.m. @ Gratitude, Romain Rolland: Tune into a performance of singing stones by Aurelio,
7 p.m. @Gingee Salai Thidal: Watch as verses of Bharatiyar and Bharatidasan come alive through music and dance,
7 p.m. @Maison Colombani, Rue Dumas: Catch international artists performing mime and jazz by international artists before curtains down.
