India never ceases to surprise me. Its food, its people, its different locations, its very diversity. For the Gourmet destination this quarter, we at UpperCrust decided to go to Pondicherry. What a surprise it was. Were we in India or at the French Riveria! My colleague Mark Manuel and I couldn’t get over the ‘Frenchness’ of the place.

You will see in 80 pages or so how quaint and pretty Pondy is. Its French and Creole cuisine, its charming little restaurants, its architecture, its local people both Tamilians and French, and obviously its Auroville. How does one best describe Auroville, the township built on the vision of Mother, that great soul? One doesn’t. You can’t really describe Auroville, you can only go there and imbibe it’s essence. And by go there, I mean go and stay there a while. As a guest of someone or as a resident, which is possible once you fulfill the necessary requirements. Unfortunately, all we could do, keeping the race with time in mind, is spend just a day at Auroville. But we packed in quite a punch. Went to an organic supermarket, a cheese farm, had lunch at lovely Roma’s Kitchen, visited Naturellement, Martina’s wonderful jam-making place, to the Matri Mandir and the Auroville Boutique, where you can pick up really lovely things.

We also went for a pancake breakfast in the forest house of the popular Jacqueline and Dilip Kapur with their soon to get very, very, famous daughter, our cover girl, Ayesha, the little Rani Mukerjee in Black, which is currently sweeping all film awards.

Now that the French Creuset is making its presence felt in India, I couldn’t resist doing a feature on this most versatile, heavy duty (also heavy), cooking pots and pans, dishes I have been collecting for 20 long years, lugging them from London, Paris, and Baltimore. I strongly recommend this cookware.

From the places I have just mentioned to Hemkund Saheb in the Himalayas is quite a distance, geographically and mentally. That’s where I was in Spring (yes, we have that season too, in India), and all I would like to tell you is please go there if ever you get an opportunity. As a pilgrim, a trekker or as a nature lover. It’s a great experience. Read about it on Page 146.

Strawberries are everybody’s fave fruits. This season, thanks to the creativity of Joy, Executive Chef at The Oberoi Hotels and Resorts, Bombay, you can rustle up an exotic strawberry menu. Don’t forget to invite moi!

Farzana Contractor