The Ashram - our stay

The Evening:…..Hitting back to MG Road back to where the car was parked, we drove to the place where we were going to stay. Just a few kilometers along the ECR and after crossing the Pondy-Tamil Nadu border, we reached the place. It was kind of an ashram for the Jains but also offered accommodation for other people as was apparent from a signboard which said some hotel name. I am not able to recall the hotel name though now. We were to stay in a large hall on the first floor. Later we came to know that the hall was an art gallery or workshop. There weren’t any bed or such. This was “not” a great accommodation, but was kind of different and we liked it. The “Ashram” as we called it was a place for art (paintings). There were loads of books on art in the library which was in fact also in the hall where were to stay. Apart from that, a large dining table with few chairs and a heavy study table were the only furniture there. There were a couple of large paintings towards the long end of the hall and just a sink at the other end. One or two Ashram guys came and set up four beds on the floor for four of us. There was however one problem. There wasn’t any scope of privacy; there being no curtains over the large windows. We lived with that, whatsoever. In spite of all these, we were charged a decent amount as in any other hotel for our stay. New Year bonanza!

Downstairs was a nice restaurant managed by the ashram itself. From the first floor, the place looked very neat. There was a small open area in between all the constructions with a medium sized tree with nicely constructed base around it for people to sit around. It was like a garden with small shrubs and bushes here and there. It made a nice landscape though being a small area. While there was the compound wall on one side of the open space, on one end of it was the restaurant while in the opposite side there was a small statue of Lord Krishna with focus lights to keep it illuminated during the night. The end opposite to the compound wall was the art museum.

We got fresh and spent sufficient time relaxing and it was now time to satisfy our tummies. We all went to the restaurant downstairs. This being a Jain ashram, there were only veg items available. The restaurant also had its unique appeal. There were perfumed candles on one end of it for sale. This, along with the beautiful lightings created a pleasant environment in it. After the dinner all of us were too worn out to go out. One of us got a vodka bottle. Drinks were of course prohibited there but we had it camouflaged it in a 2 ltr sprite bottle back in our so called room – the art gallery.

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