After sharing the wonderful video about Pondicherry yesterday (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dBotWLUO7U), a journalist called up to ask why I loved it so much. Here are my answers in today’s DC along with views from fellow Pondicherrian Sankaranand Balaradjou.
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A five-minute video documentary on the city and its lifestyle titled, When you’re in Puducherry, is going viral on YouTube
Photographs were, for the longest of time, a medium through which to relive moments. But thanks to the digital era that notion has changed. With people having access to video cams and a good story line, it has become easy for one to shoot a documentary or a short film at their own free will, upload it onto YouTube and simply wait for reactions. This is precisely what one such person in love with Puducherry did.
A video documentary on the city and its lifestyle titled, When you’re in Puducherry, has gone viral on YouTube and many believe it’s because of the manner in which the person behind the camera was able to capture the essence of the city in those five minutes. Though the person behind this video remains anonymous, people for whom Puducherry is home have warmed to it. Says Kiruba Shankar, entrepreneur, who grew up in Pondy, “There are so many memories I revisited when I watched it for the first time. The person behind this documentary has done an amazing job of locating landmarks of the city, he understood the diversity that exists within this small state.
From the narrow roads near Pondy beach, to the quaint temples that pass you by on your way to Auroville, those were places we frequented growing up and to revisit them through this video was simply remarkable.“
The cycles, cafés, walking down the beach, sharing a beer with friends at the end of a long day, the expats who move around on scooters and cycles -Kiruba points out that the video captures it all without glorifying it in the least bit. “One look at it and you’re bombarded with memories, which is something truly admirable,“ he says. Sankar anand B was another viewer who was cast in nostalgia mode on watching the video.
“Puducherry is all about the ifestyle, the different faces it has, the person behind this video has captured this quite beautifully. If I were to describe Pondy, it’s as though he took the words right out of my mouth and put it in the screenplay,“ he says.
