India’s Puducherry still exudes French charm 70 years after end of colonial rule

It is more than 8,000 kilometres (5,000 miles) from Paris to Puducherry, but some women dressed in colourful saris still chat in French, policemen wear the peaked kepi hats of the gendarme, and road signs mimic the famous blue and white enamel lettering of Paris.

“Indians of Pondicherry were considered as French nationals – culturally and legally,” said 96-year-old David Annoussamy, a former judge who served in the French court in the port city, using its colonial-era name.

“Nationality wasn’t about colour, it’s about knowing France,” the author said, wearing a traditional Tamil wrap around his waist and speaking from his sprawling home with a tree-lined central courtyard.

“The main thing was to know French”.

Today, New Delhi and Paris celebrate growing ties, with France seeking to boost economic deals including already valuable military contracts with India, the world’s fifth-biggest economy and most populous nation.

The territory on India’s southeastern coast was taken by France in 1674 when the French East India Company set up a trading centre to exploit its rich spices and goods.

France only left in 1954 – seven years after India’s independence from Britain – and it took until 1962 for Paris to formally cede full sovereignty.

The former French trading post has since changed its name to Puducherry, an administrative territory also incorporating other French ex-colonial enclaves including Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam.

Together, 1.25 million people live in the Puducherry territory, according to the last census in 2011, and most speak the Tamil language.

Just 5,000 French nationals live in Puducherry city today, the majority having Indian forebears who took citizenship from France.

Annoussamy took French nationality at the time of the