Kerala - Others   

A French mission to revive cultural bonds

Mohamed Nazeer

Mahe: They are not on a trip to follow in the footsteps of the colonists from their country who had ruled here for nearly 300 years till 1954. They are here as part of their visit to the five former enclaves of the French to see the cultural legacy that their country had left behind in these places and to maintain cultural ties with the people of these areas.

The 15-member team from Paris that reached here on Monday could not have been more surprised to see the French legacy in this `petite' colony of France, especially when they saw schoolchildren singing French songs greeting them and people delivering speeches in French at a function to honour them.

The French delegates are members of the Paris-based L'association Les Comptoirs de l'Inde, which has as its objective cultural exchange with people of the five former French enclaves in India - Pondicherry, Karaikal, Yanom, Mahe and Chandranagar.

The members include teachers, engineers, Government officials and, professors, including a Philosophy professor from Sorbonne, among others. They were welcomed by Puducherry Health Minister E. Valsaraj and Deputy Speaker A.V. Sreedharan and Mahe municipal chairman Ramesh Parambath at a function at the Government House here, which had been the colonial administrative office of the French.

They also interacted with Francophone people of this town. Their itinerary here included visits to places of historical and cultural importance, including Tagore Park, where statue of Marianne has been erected, St. Teresa Church, office of Alliance Francaise de Mahe, Mahe French School, cemetery, Puthalam Temple, Manjakkal Mosque and the Water Sports Complex here.

They also had a chance to enjoy Thiruvathirakkali and Kantakarnan Theyyam before they left.

Douglas Gressieux, a civil servant in the Home Office in Paris and president of the association, said that they were here to build a cultural relationship with the people of the erstwhile colonies of the French to pave the way for future economic relationship for development of these areas.

"The French Government is not doing enough to strengthen the relationship with these places. So the association wants to explore the ways to do that,'' Mr. Gressieux said. The team brought a collection of French books to be handed over to educational institutions here.

Muchilot Madhavan, who had gone to Paris and had been a French Communist Party activist during the World War II and member of the French resistance against the Nazi occupation, was remembered by the team at the function.

Mr. Gressieux said that the association would publish a book on Madhavan, who was shot by the Nazis.

Mr. Valsaraj said that the Puducherry Government had initiated various measures for developing tourism and Information Technology in Mahe

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