Where is french india

Would it have been different? One would presumably be led to the conclusion that India would now be Francophone with French as its lingua franca and administrative, judicial, as well as educational institutions modeled on France.

The colonial experience would probably have been different in as much as the spirit of French colonialism was different from that of British colonialism. There would now be no cricket playing, gentlemanly Indians but rather ones with a Gallic outlook of a different kind.

We do indeed have an actual laboratory in South India. What if we decided to focus on this laboratory? But then it would be a laboratory only in terms of our initial question.

Can we say that it has a distinct reality which is different from the rest of mostly Anglophone India? In the context of linguistics, creolization occurs when two or more languages converge to form a new, indigenous language.

On the one hand, it can be viewed as an enrichment to the extent of enhancing diversity but on the other hand, it can. What can be said about the former French territories of India? The level of intensity of creolization in the Caribbean, for example, is very high. Creolization occurs at different levels of the continuum in other parts of the world. When we reach India, in particular the former French territories, creolization is perhaps not very clear cut and evident at first glance.

The time span for the French presence in India is very long: nearly three centuries from to It will be emphasized that the element of unpredictability distinguishes creolization from hybridity and that creolization is considered to be an extreme form of hybridity. It was initially a lodge which he developed into an enclave and then into a town. According to the definition at the time, a lodge was a commercial installation in a place of which one was not the proprietor whereas an enclave was a territory of which one was the proprietor.

In , the French obtained a piece of land at the mouth of the Mahe river with the right to keep in place a garrison. In , an enclave was created in Yanam. It became a headquarter. The Company, considering that owing to the increase in the extent of its commerce and of the number of its establishments the sovereign council established in Surat was not enough for its purposes, created another independent one in Pondicherry.

Its jurisdiction extended to all those establishments which it had and could establish on the Hooghly and on the Coromandel coasts. As a result, the jurisdiction of Pondicherry extended to Chandernagore in Bengal, Karaikal and Yanam on the east coast and Mahe on the west coast.

They also included eight lodges: the five lodges of Cassimbazar, Jougdia which has now been submerged by the sea , Dacca, Balassore and Patna all of which were dependent on Chandernagore, the lodge of Masulipatnam which was near Yanam, and the two lodges of Calicut near Mahe as well as the lodge of Surat on the Malabar coast. This was because the productions from Asia formed the essence of the commerce of the Company, in value as well as in volume, and then it consisted of densely populated regions, having a coherent political organization.

That is because it offers many advantages. Undoubtedly the harbor is very accessible, as all those of this region, and the coast is low, sandy and cluttered with lagoons, but the mouth of a river created the possibility of penetration towards the interior, and above all the drinking water came naturally out of the land through artesian wells, a unique situation, which contributed to the richness of the region. After , the French attempted to settle in Pondicherry; dislodged the following year, they tried on several occasions, during the 17 th century, to re-establish themselves, in spite of the hostility of the Danes and the Dutch.

French occupation became definitive in , when Holland recognized it through the Treaty of Ryswick. It consists of a series of enclaves, acquired at random due to circumstances in three great phases. In the second phase in , the Nabab, in order to thank the governor Benoit-Dumas for his protection against the Mahratta invaders, had granted him everything which he could extract from the lands of Archiouac, Cottecoupom and Villenour.

The head of the French establishments had hastened to cede these territories to the Company. In the third phase in , the French received the lands of Bahour and Valdaour with their dependencies.

At this time, the total area of the territory was It is difficult to form a precise idea of the nature and the extent of the ceded rights. According to the terms of the grant, the trader had the right to collect the existing taxes of all kinds, that is in general the basic tax, indirect contributions, customs duties, and he could also create new ones; he could put in place a police force and administer justice, mint coins, consolidate the lands of which he had become the proprietor.

In fact, these concessions became what the traders wanted them to be: under the authority of an active Company and under the flag of the King of France, they became, in the face of the weak Indian authorities, foreign territories. On the sea side was the elevated zone of the white town, established on the ancient dunes at the center of which was erected the fort; to the west of the white town was a depressed middle zone, an ancient lagoon which was being filled in and which was moderately drained by the Ariancoupam river, then the land rose towards the Indian town, which was previously located to the south of the white town, and transferred to the West, on more stable and available land during the course of the 18 th century.

In , Father Bouchet observed that the houses of Europeans were built of bricks whereas those of Indians were built only of earth coated with lime. Eleven years later, the mayor Simon de La Farelle remarked that this town had gained much. Earlier, the people used to construct their houses in wood and in earth; Mr. Lenoir decided to build only in bricks and to cover only with tiles; and one built magnificient houses and in large numbers.

The verdant appearance of the town struck an officer who said that all the streets were planted with trees on both sides, which was of a charming aspect and soon after the sailor J. This optimistic picture was nuanced by the long description of a specialist, the engineer Charpentier de Cossigny, who was closer perhaps to reality, even if his judgment was often characterized by systematic denigration.

He said that there was no minister, no engineer in France, who, seeing the plan of Pondicherry, would not imagine that this was one of the most beautiful cities in the world: it was a multitude of symmetrical houses, of long and wide aligned streets, straight as a die and mostly planted with trees; they were dressed canals, gardens, ponds.

By the middle of the 18 th century, this potential reached its peak. During the 19 th century, the scope for French expansion was drastically curtailed by British constriction of the powers of the French. The French territories of India were relegated to the same scale, if not an even smaller one, as other overseas French territories such as Martinique, Guadeloupe and the Reunion Islands.

The former French territories of India could perhaps be viewed as the extreme case of the situation in the other overseas French territories. The scale of priorities given to the former French territories of India by the metropolitan government in France can be judged by the fact that the formal transfer of these territories to the Government of India did not take place until , that is, after the withdrawal of France from Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam.

Furthermore, the cession of these territories was not legally ratified by the French parliament until after the resolution of the Algerian crisis in The insignificance of these enclaves in the larger French national interest can thus not be denied. This implies that there was no scope for them to develop either their own national identity as a function of their history or to reaffirm their nexus with France, its language and its culture.

They were instead absorbed by the Indian Union. During the period of installation and of expansion, even though there may have been narrow individual relations between the French and the Indians, the relations between the communities remained very distant: buyers-sellers, rulers-ruled, employers-employees. The event also frightened somewhat the Governor of Pondicherry. On this occasion, the French population and the Indian population sent him messages.

The one signed by the Europeans, numbering 61, asked him for arms and ammunitions to organize an uprising against the eventual invasion of the town by a group of looters. That of Indians consisting of signatures expressed complete solidarity. They wanted to be recognized as full members of the city. Their representatives asked the representatives of the Europeans to accept them among them.

They met the governor on more than one occasion. They expressed their loyalty and support in this time of turmoil and announced their demands. The parliamentary representation attempted under the Second Republic and continued under the Third Republic was the first tangible expression of the desire of France to have a democratic link with the colony.

The population did have to pay a price for it. Each time that there was a question of the transfer of the Establishments, voices were raised vigorously in opposition and to express the profound attachment of the population to France. In like manner, France had given money when big natural disasters such as cyclones and food shortages had devastated the territory.

The general mobilization during the war of took place against this background of strengthening ties. The Pondicherrians fought with the French to defend the mother country. On the day of the armistice, they participated together in the general euphoria and exhilaration. Pondicherrian soldiers were embraced by Parisians. All those who took part in the war were no longer the same men when they returned. France was no longer a mythical country for them whose history and geography one studied in books.

It somewhat became their own country whose people and landscapes filled their memories. At the beginning of the Second World War, the general mobilization had already been decreed and preparatory measures for sending the soldiers were in progress when news of the capitulation reached them, provoking a general consternation.

As soon as the free French forces were put into place, a large number of volunteers took part and fought in the Middle East and in Tripolitania. French education was modeled on the spirit of the local elite. Hence, when India attained its Independence, the Establishments were very well knit to France sentimentally and intellectually. They were also very well knit to India viscerally and culturally. Furthermore, the establishments were not self sufficient in essential products; they depended for everything on India and lived in a symbiotic relationship with it.

Essential services such as Posts and Telegraphs were in the hands of India. The media were all Indian. This double belonging was well known to France; it banked on pro-French sentiments when it wanted to prolong its presence.

But the Indian authorities were completely ignorant of the reality and could not understand that the inhabitants of French India could hesitate even for a single moment to merge into India. Not realizing that newly independent India still remained English on many counts, it was annoyed by the desire of inhabitants of French India to retain their French character for an entire generation. It was the main cause of the useless and unpleasant events preceding the transfer.

The local nationalists brought their modest contribution to the liberation of India from British domination. Indian leaders advised them not to do anything hostile to the French as the latter gave shelter to Indian patriots who had taken refuge in the enclaves and who continued the struggle from these secure places. Suddenly, when independence from Britain became certain, the Indian press began a violent diatribe against what they called foreign pockets in India.

Soon after independence, the Indian Government declared in its turn that it did not recognize the rights of France on the enclaves.

Local nationalists pointed their guns at French colonialism. The rest of the population became aware of the problem. The French government was aware of the situation created by the British. It quickly realized that it would probably be compelled to follow them out of India. Therefore, it has become necessary for these possessions to be politically incorporated with India, and no other solution can be stable or lasting or in conformity with the will of the people.

The Congress trusts that this change will be brought about soon by peaceful methods and the friendly co-operation of the Governments concerned. Furthermore, in as much as the Establishments were concerned, it was not simply a question of giving them independence. India claimed them by right. The issue became more complicated due to the fact that there were three concerned parties instead of two.

The most interested party was naturally the population. What was the opinion of its representatives? The elections in Pondicherry took place before independence from India; they revolved on the administration of the territory and not on its future. There were two tendencies within the Representative Assembly elected in , one which was anti-colonial and the other conservative.

They all had in common the desire to merge with India with a large autonomy and to perpetuate the French heritage. Each reacted in its own manner to the turn of events of which both the governments held the strings. As events proceeded, the majority would lean towards decolonization. The third party, which did not exist in the other colonies, was India which wanted to get back the territories.

It was then torn by partition, exposed to the problem of Kashmir, and busy assimilating a large number of princely states which had been semi-independent until then. Its primary preoccupation was to get back the foreign possessions which seemed to pose a threat to its victorious nationalism. Even here there were two trends, one wanting to rapidly incorporate the French establishments dispersed in their respective neighboring states and the other not having any objection about keeping them as a separate entity for some time.

On 6 October , the eight lodges were returned to France without any preconditions. There remained the five enclaves. The French Overseas Ministry declared on 18 June in the French national assembly that the government would grant the population of the enclaves the right to self-determination; in this regard a consultation would be organized in accordance with the municipal councils of each enclave; the results of this consultation would be valid for each enclave separately.

This decision was accepted by the government of India by an exchange of letters dated 29 June The enclave was declared a free town in the administrative framework of French India by a decree of 7 November On 20 January , the town claimed its right to secede for deciding its future subsequently.

On 4 December, it asked to be merged with India as soon as possible, a transition period of five years and, subsequently, a maximum of administrative and financial autonomy. The assembly of the free town of Chandernagore was united on 10 March to determine the date and modalities of the referendum which was fixed for 19 June There were votes for merger and against.

The cession of the territory was to take place in two months pending the signing of the treaty. As the law and order situation had deteriorated, France requested India to take de facto charge of the territory on 2 May The need to consult the population had been recognized by both parties.

But India retracted when it seemed that the result would not have been favorable to it. The population was not interested in the referendum for various reasons. The Members of the Congress Party in a resolution of the convention of the people of French India had declared in The rest of the population was in favor of a cession agreement drafted by a tripartite commission which would be submitted for popular approval.

They estimated that the referendum which would require a choice between France and India would lead to a campaign of denigration of France on one side and of India on the other and which would be unpleasant for everyone. In France as well, some politicians thought that the political relations between France and India risked deteriorating.

But circumstances forced the Minister of Overseas France to declare to the National Assembly on 27 August that the consent of the population scheduled by the Constitution was not a synonym for a referendum. The Minister, who found himself in an impasse, could validly state that circumstances did not permit such a consultation and furthermore, that this being a de facto transfer and not strictly speaking a formal cession of the territories, a prior consultation of the population was not necessary.

The logical and legal solution would have been to submit the subsequent Treaty of Cession for approval by the population. In this case, the treaty would have been drawn up while taking into account the wishes of the population. Everything would then have been legal. However, the Treaty of Cession was subsequently ratified without this consent of the population. The Treaty of Cession is considered to be a mere formality.

However, the elections of the municipal counselors in had led to allegations of intimidation, violence and electoral fraud of a high degree.

The reports indicated a massive majority for the winning party. Lastly, when a text is presented to an assembly, it is normally asked to deliberate on it. India and France congratulated themselves on having resolved the question by the sole means of negotiation.

Naturally, there had been no bloodshed; but one cannot deny the fact that the population had to suffer the consequences of an economic blockade imposed by India in response to French intransigence about re-establishing a customs union between the two countries and of the shock that this brutal transfer represented in terms which precluded its participation. The government of India suffered substantial financial losses and alienated the population.

France, on the other hand, for having procrastinated had been cornered into accepting an unexpected and humiliating retreat by disregarding the constitutional principles which it had brandished until then.

However, the question was simple and easy to resolve. The population through its delegates had manifested its desire for merger with a transition period in terms elaborated through tripartite negotiations; but the High Contracting Parties proved to be obstinately resistant.

India had always been fiercely opposed to it, not wanting to tolerate any kind of foreign sovereignty on its soil. But a form of co-sovereignty took shape on its request, with France having legal sovereignty over the territories and India an actual one, and this lasted for eight years. French institutions were still officially in place and yet the Indian system began to function by adapting itself to a foreign mold.

The population had mixed feelings at the thought of being ruled by those who had just subjected them to a blockade and who were viewed as being the successors of the British, who had on many occasions ravaged Pondicherry and whom the inhabitants considered to be their traditional enemies, as they had been led to believe. The Representative Assembly and the Government Council had been dissolved, the new administration was isolated and it had to make itself accepted. In this effort, India revived development programs.

The latter were able to create a bridge with the people, as they provided jobs to young graduates and considerable aid to agriculturists. Schools and clinics were opened. The Indian government was not sparing in this effort. In high places, the officials thought that given the small size of the territory, one could invest all the money which was necessary and to make of it a trial laboratory for the development program of India.

These efforts bore fruit; the population began to forget its grievances. It was more or less the reproduction of the de facto transfer agreement. Provisions on nationality were added and provisions which had become obsolete were removed.

Many important points were not addressed. One can discern a lack of interest on the part of both parties. In Pondicherry, even those who were in favor of merger expected a clear improvement and were disappointed by the lacunae and imperfections of the treaty.

They rightly feared the overpowering weight of the Indian administrative machinery and would have wanted written guarantees. The pro-French, encouraged by the results of the election which took place after the transfer, undertook a campaign drawing attention to the irregularities of the treaty. Their main argument was the absence of a referendum.

They wanted to delay the ratification of the treaty. They claimed a modification of the treaty in order to conserve as much as possible of the past. They were in favor of double nationality, of a period of transition of 25 years, of trading privileges, and of a larger autonomy.

But in France, the ratification had to be made by the Parliament. It was admitted that there had been inadequacies in the treaty relative to the guarantees to be granted to the transferred population. An agreement of principle was made between the two governments that changes of principle could be made after the ratification of the treaty by means of a supplementary instrument. After this understanding, the treaty was ratified by the French parliament in July ; the exchange of the instruments of ratification took place on 16 August , making that the date of the de jure transfer.

As agreed, France proposed to India certain additional provisions to the treaty and India accepted nearly all of them without any difficulty. They were incorporated in a supplementary agreement signed on 13 March Hence there had actually been a brief, unexpected but useful transition period during which the population could adjust itself to the new dispensation.

There was, first of all, an important choice to make. According to the Treaty of Cession, the territory became legally Indian and the inhabitants became Indian nationals. The treaty gave the right to opt for French nationality to those who wished to remain French; in this regard, they had to make a declaration at the French consulate within a period of six months.

Little by little as the fateful date of 16 February approached after which the Pondicherrians would become irrevocably Indians, their nervousness increased. This right to opt became problematic for the French Pondicherrians to whom the two countries were equally valuable.

They were Indians by race, language and manner of living. Would they take the necessary steps to go and register at the French consulate but with the result of having to repatriate themselves in a distant country, which was known to be cold and towards an uncertain future? On the other hand, their studies had been in French, their qualifications were French and they had been imbued with French culture. Would they remain in their ancestral land but with the thought of having to adapt themselves to their racial counterparts from whom they had distanced themselves through three centuries of history and with a future which was as uncertain?

They faced a real dilemma. Their anguish increased. When the last day arrived, the most indecisive among them had to make up their minds. At the closing time of the consulate, the line before the door was very long; the closing time of offices was reported to be at midnight.

At this time, many of them still waited, they were asked to enter and the door closed behind them. The Franco-Pondicherrians who are conversant with French culture are, in my opinion, creolized. By , the British had secured their grip on India. They allowed the retreating French to remain in four small pockets of South Indian territory.

Pondicherry was pocket central. The British were content to let this Gallic anomaly survive until it, too, gained its full independence in The French laid out their streets in a formal grid pattern.

This was White Town. Over the canal, or Drain, the Tamil quarter, Black Town, grew up in its own organic way — albeit with a great number of fine mansions built by wealthy traders. It was in one such mansion that I spent my first night. Maison Perumal is a small hotel that's painstakingly recreated the cool courtyards and covered walkways of the Tamil style. I was soon to learn that this was a good architectural deed in an otherwise naughty world.

In , Pondicherry became Puducherry — having reverted to its pre-colonial Tamil name. It was no longer an anomaly. This was indeed boomtown India. Pondi — as its long-term residents like to call it — is already swollen. As in so many Indian cities, the economic miracle has had its way, spawning a population increase of over 20 per cent in the past two censuses.

In , if it hasn't done so already, the population will reach a million. That landmark may not be celebrated by the authorities. It certainly won't be by the residents, who are increasingly het up about the threat to their slower, more refined way of life. After I settled in at the Maison Perumal, my driver took me over to Hotel de l'Orient, a beautifully restored French quarter hotel.

There I had dinner with an English resident, Michael Weston. A musician who recorded with Steve Winwood, among others, Michael now runs a project called Dance Routes with his wife, a classical Indian dancer.

He is building a new home out of town. And he's worried about Pondi. If not for enlightened individuals such as Ajit, I very much doubt that what little is left here would have a chance of surviving. It was obvious I needed to meet Ajit. I rang him and arranged a meeting for the following morning.

First, we talked more about the pressures on this special and unique place. For an area with such a history, the people governing and rebuilding the town are relentlessly short-termist: knock down that crumbling mansion, put a shiny new building in its place. There are dozens of beautifully preserved houses and streets, especially in the French quarter. But there are also as many crumbling shells. And what does every self-respecting boomtown need? An airport. Pondicherry's is due to open in February.

When those planes arrive from Bangalore and beyond, the business class seats will be full of more speculators ready to wheel and deal in the town's real estate market.

I won't go into the tangled politics of Tamil Nadu and the Pondicherry city authority. All you need to know is that those beautiful colonial buildings of "white town" and the classic Tamil villas of "black town" are not seriously protected. Some listed heritage buildings have been lost in the past decade, according to the conservation body Intach, the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage.

Ajit Koujalgi runs the local branch of Intach. His office is housed in a classic Tamil mansion in a quiet side street off the bustling Mahatma Gandhi thoroughfare. The cool, shaded courtyard doubles as an exhibition of Pondi heritage — and an eloquent plea in words, pictures, plans and drawings for this remarkable city to be looked after properly.

Ajit, bearded, in grey T-shirt and jeans, is an architect and an Aurovillian. Auroville is an experimental city, located a few miles out of town, that grew out of the Sri Aurobindo ashram that dominates social and educational life in Pondi.

Its "citizens" opt out of conventional society but remain very actively involved in its problems and challenges. That's certainly true of Ajit.

Auroville is something of an architect's dream and has long attracted idealistic designers eager to experiment with materials and technologies. But though Ajit lives there still, 15 years ago he had an epiphany. I'm needed in Pondicherry!

If you can't save the building, at least preserve the look. Take 5 Rue Perumal Kovil, once a mildewed, rotting Tamil mansion. The owner's suggested new design looked like the cross section of a Costa Brava hotel. Thanks to Ajit and his team, the final building is an elegant, classical, grey 18th-century house. When he walks around Pondicherry today, Ajit admits that he winces more often than he smiles. As I walked out of the Palais de Mahe the next morning, the streets of the French quarter are, almost, as tranquil and shaded as I'd been told they would be.