Pondichéry – The Black and White City

France – 14th July in Pondichéry

The Consulate General of France did things well. It began at eight in the morning. In front of the war memorial commemorating all our wars, symbolised by an infantryman of the First World War, are arranged together:

• the brass band
  
• the banners of former fighters
  
• representatives of their thirty-three associations
  
• hundreds of spectators from French Pondichery
  

The monument is located in front of the sea on the former Chabrol courtyard, which later became Goubert Avenue, named after the somewhat adventurous figure who played a highly ambiguous role during the final years of the French presence.

The avenue runs along the coast. It could have been a pleasant seafront if it had been better developed. Despite some improvements—feeble bay tree plants and unfinished grand projects—it is still where the inhabitants of Pondichery gather every evening for a very Mediterranean passeggiata.

They walk, discuss, and enjoy spicy and very sweet ice creams.

Among the guests is Antoine Sundiram, eighty-three years old, the last surviving Pondicherian who joined Free France in 1940.

At just twenty years old, after hearing Charles de Gaulle’s 18 June appeal on the BBC (broadcast in Tamil), Sundiram left everything behind, reached Bombay, and enlisted in the army.

He participated in numerous campaigns:

• Middle East
  
• Indochina
  

After retiring and returning home in 1967, he chose French nationality after the Franco-Indian treaty of 1962.

“We were about twenty Pondicherians,” he recalls.
“De Gaulle hugged us all. He never forgot Pondi.”