Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu, for the holidays

After pondering the guide book and opting not to be cold, we decided on Pondicherry, on the eastern side of the country. We booked a taxi in advance (with seatbelts) that took us the approximate 160km distance from the airport in Chennai. Pondicherry is a city famous for yoga, the Sri Aurobindo ashram and a French, post-colonial air. For this out-of-sorts middle-aged Canadian (moi) it is very welcome.