Tamil Nadu is usually described in terms of its temples, its food and its classical arts, all of which are real. What the description leaves out is that the state contains two of the most architecturally distinctive places in the country, sitting a few hours apart, and that between them they cover a breadth of Indian experience that very few single trips manage.
Pondicherry
Pondicherry was a French colonial territory until 1954 and still carries the arrangement in its streets. The French Quarter, locally called the White Town, is a grid of boulevards with houses painted in ochre, yellow and terracotta, bougainvillea on the walls, and a promenade facing the Bay of Bengal that the French called the Boulevard de la Marine. It is unlike anything else in India and it is at its best between five and seven in the morning before the traffic.
Auroville, about ten kilometres north, was established in 1968 as an international community built around the teachings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. Its centrepiece, the Matrimandir, is a golden sphere of meditation open by prior appointment. The community gardens and the quiet roads around it are accessible without one.
Pondicherry has the best French food in India as a direct consequence of its history. The cafes on Rue Suffren and Rue Dumas are the reason to come for people who have already seen the architecture.
Chettinad
About two hundred kilometres west, the Chettinad region is home to the Nattukotai Chettiar merchant community who built palatial mansions across seventy six villages using materials shipped from Europe, Burma and China in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The floors are polished with egg white and limestone and lit by Belgian glass. The doors are teak and the columns are from Burma.
Most of these mansions are being slowly dismantled for their materials, or have already been. The ones that survive are the reason to come now rather than later. Karaikudi is the main town and a handful of the mansions have been converted into heritage hotels.
Chettinad cooking is one of the most complex regional cuisines in India. The spice blends are specific to the community, the recipes were developed for merchants travelling long distances, and the kuzhambus and the country chicken preparations cannot be reproduced accurately outside the kitchens where they are made.
What nobody tells you
Pondicherry is at its best on weekdays. Bangalore and Chennai send weekend traffic that changes the character of the streets entirely. Arrive Sunday evening when they leave.
Many Chettinad mansions are in private ownership and can be visited by asking at the gate and offering a small tip. The ones listed on travel sites are not always the most interesting.
The Auroville Matrimandir requires booking an entry permit several days in advance through the visitor centre. Walk-ins are not accommodated inside the sphere, only in the gardens.