Yesterday we visited Pondicherry in the afternoon, also known as Pondy. Pondy was run by the French for a long time, and today the French Quarter is like a little Paris. Even the street signs are like the ones in Paris: blue tiles inlaid on the buildings at intersections.

On the road to Pondy, our bus driver scraped a pedestrian. There was some yelling, then the pedestrian jumped on the back of a motorbike driven by another man and off then went. The bus driver never even bothered to get off the bus. The injured guy was still hanging his leg and rubbing it as they zoomed off into traffic. As usual I was up front, so I had to see the whole thing.

Take it from me when I tell you that hitting a person is much more upsetting than hitting a cow (two years ago our taxi hit a cow on the road from Chennai Airport to Auroville.)

In a few short hours we visited the Sri Aurobindo ashram, drank peach iced tea at the Casablanca store cafe, toured the regular market and the silver market, then visited the Ganesh temple and got blessed by an elephant named Lakshmi.

How do you get blessed by Lakshmi? You drop a rupee in the elephant’s snout when she curls it toward you. The snout has four holes, so you pick one to drop in your coin. Then bow your head, and she whacks her trunk on top of your head. It feels a little creepy but you do feel blessed afterwards, if only because you survived the blow to your head.

Outside the temple, a small group of Indians befriended me: two adult men, two schoolgirls and a young boy. “Please madam may we know your name?” asked one of the girls. We started a conversation and I learned the girls were there for the science fair held at a local high school. They have never been to Pondy before. The two men were the girls’ teachers (Life Sciences).

At one point they asked for my phone number. I figured if they wanted to call me international long-distance some day, that was fine with me. All five of them whipped out their cell phones and programmed my number into their cell phones.

During our conversation, one of the teachers was videotaping me like some local news videographer. I found a business card, and they took a photo of it. Every time I spoke, they leaned in and hung on every word. I really felt that I should be delivering a speech rather than making small talk.

The teachers also told me about a famous temple near where the live in Utter Pradesh, and I now have an invitation to visit any time. I can stay with their families, and they will show me around. They promised to email me all the details.

Now I know what it’s like to be a rock star.

The market had any and everything. I bought myself a supply of bindis, those little stick on thingies that go on your forehead and emphasize the wrinkles. The bindi lady opened up the stickers and placed the bindi so now I know where it goes. The location is lower than I thought, almost at the eyebrows.

From the spice guy, I purchased garam masala for my mother, and turmeric, cumin, cardamon, and curry powder for my husband. My mother had asked for the garam masala two years ago on my first trip here but I never came across it that time. The spice guy scooped the spices into small plastic bags, carefully stapled them closed, then gave us a black magic marker to write the spice’s name on the plastic.

In the silver market, I bought silver ankle bracelets, which have two tiny bells. Now you can hear me coming just like a cat with a bell on her collar.

After all this running around, we feasted on a buffet of Indian and Italian specialites at the Promenade Hotel restaurant.

Then, when we could eat no more, we took a leisurely post prandial stroll down the promenade which faces the Indian Ocean or maybe it’s the Bay of Bengal. The temperature was embryonic, neither hot nor cold. The full moon from two nights ago was still full, and the moonlight fell across the water like a lace shawl.

Just another great day in Pondy.