Sri Palani Andavar Jewellery & Travels

You’ll find us at No 108 on Perumal Koil Street, right in the heart of the Pondicherry Bazaar. It’s a very active place to be. There’s always the sound of bells from the temple and the shouting of vendors nearby. Sri Palani Andavar Jewellery & Travels is a bit unique because we handle both jewellery and travel bookings in the same shop. It might seem a bit crowded with the display cases and the travel desk all in one room, but we’ve made it work for years. The shop smells a bit like incense and old wood. We have customers who come in for a gold ring and end up booking a pilgrimage trip at the same time. It’s a family business, so you’ll usually see a few of us behind the counter. We don't have a polished corporate look. The floor is a bit worn from all the people walking in and out of the bazaar. We like the chaos of the market. It keeps us on our toes. We spend our time weighing gold or checking bus availability on the computer. There’s no big mission statement here. We just show up every morning, open the shutters, and start the day. Sometimes we sit on the bench outside when things are slow. It’s a real, local shop where we know our customers by name. We just do our best to help with whatever they need, whether it's a necklace or a bus ticket.