Our experience - Pondicherry Visit 

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Visit to Pondicherry was a part of our month long tour of south India with family in the year 1982. The moment we entered the city ,there was a feeling of having reached a heavenly place . The city had the vibrations of the peaceful presence of Sri Aurbindo Ghosh and The Mother . The sea side location and influence of French architecture lend a special charm  to the city . 

At night we visited the Ashram where The saintly Sri Aurbindo Ghosh and The Mother had once lived and which houses their samadhis too . An air of divine peace enveloped the whole area .It is so true  that peace prevails eternally where a noble soul has travelled or stayed. It was ,indeed ,a memorable experience to breathe in that pious air.

We stayed in the Mothers' International Hostel  ,which was very impressive,comfortable and peaceful . At night our three year old younger son developed very severe diarrhea and we got scared in that strange place where we knew no doctors . 

On consultation we were advised to go to the nearby residence of a Bengali Doctor , a child specialist . It was 10 p.m. when we approached him ,he was very kind to open the gate,check the child and give medicine . He told us that it was the water of the city which caused  that particular problem and advised us all to take boiled water only. The medicine worked well .The old doctor left an indelible mark of his noble presence on us.

The most heart touching part was that he did not accept any fee saying that he would not charge anything from guests in the city . These are the angelic characters  who strengthen our faith in humanity .Ever since this noble gesture of the doctor lives in our heart .

 Next day we were to travel to Auroville -an International village based on Sri Aurbindo Ghosh's  dream of achieving world peace through  community living , where according to his idea thinkers  from various nations would live ,interact to find ways and means to achieve World peace . It was our cherished dream to visit this village but that was not to be  because of my sick child . My husband along with my elder son did visit it and shared their views with us . The concept is ,indeed ,excellent but lot more needed to be done to realize the wonderful dream at that time . 

We had another interesting experience .We met a young doctor in a restruarant  who very keenly listened to our tour experience ;  and finally asked us what was our gain in spending so much money on the tour which could have fetched us a plot of land .

Well ,that is a matter of individual perspective we told . Everything can not be evaluated in material terms . For us the joy we experience ,our exposure to people,places and cultures and memories we make are invaluable . And we have never regretted our decisions .There is so much to see in India and the world that one life is not enough .