There’s not only a major sporting spectacle this weekend but the financial year is also inching to a close. Whether you’re in an upbeat mood or craving to unwind, combine it with a holiday where doing nothing is as much pleasure as doing some of the things below.
TUCK IN:
Cool off on the Promenade
A couple of new hangouts are in the works. We’ll bring you the details soon. But if you want to spend an idyllic summer afternoon with some peace and quiet, head to the Promenade beach, sometime late in the afternoon or early evening this weekend, when the sun is not directly overhead and before the weekend throng invades your space. The first evening breeze with a front row view of blue sky meeting a bluer sea is a simple pleasure worth soaking in, with a colourful popsicle in hand. You’ll find plenty of fruity flavours on the beach road. Solitude is rarely so delectable!
SPLURGE
Powerpuff Girls: Women’s Day may have wrapped up in the first week of Mach but Puducherry-based accessories brand Ayesha believes you should have reminders of girl power throughout the year. The brand has come up with a collection of funky stickers with sassy one-liners and colours that pop. So, if you want to make a statement that you’re unstoppable or ‘the only time a girl is helpless is when her nail polish is drying’ grab a free sticker for purchases above Rs. 500 before the end of the month.
Pile up the books: Can you say no to classics for a song or thrillers at a discount or popular chick-lit on sale? The Pondy Book Fair at Colas Hall opposite the Immaculate Conception Cathedral on Mission Street is winding up this weekend with a big sale. Illustrated children’s books, trashy romances, best-sellers and non-fiction are available with offers and slashed rates starting from Rs. 99.
Tourist ticker:
Heritage enthusiasts, who mourned the loss of the Mairie (Town Hall) on the Beach Road, take heart. Quite a few buildings of heritage value are under restoration in the city. From modernising efforts on the Pondicherry Museum to the ongoing work on the Bharathiar Memorial Museum on Eswaran Koil Street, history lovers will have reasons to extend their itineraries soon. This week, the PWD with the support of INTACH, has just begun restoring the old court building, a 145-year-old structure, which when completed will enrich the heritage ensemble on Beach Road.
What to do
In Pondy:
Do the salsa with a flash mob: Thousands of dancers across the globe will be showing off their salsa moves this Saturday at 4 p.m. as part of the International Rueda de Casino Flashmob 2015. Joining this multi-city flash mob are dancers prepped by Pondy-based La Casita, a centre for Latin culture and arts. Keep your eyes peeled if you’re on the beach road — you may see a circle of exuberant folks breaking into dance! Rueda de casino is a Cuban style of salsa dancing, Last year, participants added a spot of colour and celebration with their well-orchestrated dance performed to pulsating beats.
Rock it in white: If all the sporting action has, over the last month, left you in high spirits, crown it with an evening of dancing at the beachside lawn at Seagulls this Saturday evening. Dress up in white and accessorise before you head to ‘White Sensazion 2015’, an outdoor electronic dance music (EDM) event, organised by Boss.N.Hanz and The Global Voyage. From 6 p.m. to 1 a.m., five DJs will keep the music going. Call 08056307018 or 09567350049 for details.
End the weekend with a bang: Pondicherry DJ Sleepwalker is all geared up to make sure Sunday ends on an exhilarating musical high. The venue is La Maison Rose at 6 p.m. on Sunday.
Join the chat on mythological heroines: Can you list Greek goddesses and Indian deities with equal fervour and precision? If you’ve always been fascinated by women in mythology, here’s a chance for a gabfest on feminine heroism in Indian and Greek mythologies. Join writer Rashna Imhasly, author of the ‘Psychology of love’ who will be launching her new book The Emerging Feminine: Discovering the Heroine Within at 10 a.m. on Saturday at La Maison Rose. The author will also interact with Rajkala Partha, social worker and French psychologist Moghan Jean-Luc Mehlem on social issues pertaining to women.
Start to sculpt: Have you always wished to release the hidden angel in a stone? Get started with sculpture at the Chola Gardens Pallava Kalaikoodam, on Auroville main road in Periamudaiyar Chavadi. Painter and sculptor Geoffrey Witte, who has a rich repertoire of work spanning four decades, will conduct short-term and long-term sculpture and painting classes. For details, call 97901 64404 or write to wittegeoffrey@gmail.com.
