The older part of this former French colony (formerly called Pondicherry and almost always referred to as ‘Pondy’) has a lot of quiet, clean, shady, cobbled streets, lined with mustard-yellow colonial townhouses numbered in an almost logical manner. You’ll probably spend most of your time in this part of town, and if you’ve come from Chennai or some of the inland cities, old Pondy may well seem a sea of tranquillity. The newer part of town is much more typically South Indian. Here is how you will spend your time