The trip from Puducherry to
Chennai is not very long unless you stop by some interesting places of interest on route. I
loved the road trip, because it was very scenic, specially during sunset when
the red globe reflected on the calm waters that ran parallel to road. There
were many interesting places we saw on route but ‘India seashell Museum’ was
the highlight of this trip.
Seashells museum is located at southern side
of Mahabalipuram. A short walking distance from 5 Rathas (just follow the sign)
although we did take a longer route by our vehicle.
There was entrance of course,
Rs50 for the seashell museum and Rs30 more for the aquarium and an extra Rs100
if we wished to click pictures. But we spend more money in the seashell
boutique that had amazing handcrafted thing made of shells like vases, boxes,
key chains, fridge magnets, flowers, frames and also wall hanging.
It was sunny afternoon, the
beautiful bright white entrance with rock garden and pond on one side and large
shell installations displayed in the compound and on roof top of each building was very inviting, the compound itself had tiles in the shape of waves with embossed sea-animals and fishes. All
around were the murals and graphics of shells in different shapes and form.
Far end, at the back side was a
sea food restaurant, which we didn’t visit cause most of my friends were vegetarians.
The AC salon has amazing shells
of different shapes and sizes, all in their natural form.
They were just cleaned and
exhibited in large showcases against the wall and the tiny ones in the center showcases. There were display of
wide range of sea shells, about 40,000 of them, collected by the founder (K
Raja Mohamed) of the museum and their history.
How beautiful must be that bed
of sea where they grow in cluster. The divers are so lucky to be able to go
underwater and find them in their natural habitat.
This shell really amazed me.
Inside the shell were compartments shaped like a leaf….nature to be admired!!
There were four sections of
display and in every section was a large handcrafted piece.
The aquarium was a smaller room
with just few fish tanks with rare kind of fishes.
But the most interesting part was
the shopping area and fish pedicure corner.
Came back home with few souvenirs
from the shell boutiques, that included a shell box too.
