A few months back, some colleagues and I began to work on a publication on the 50th anniversary of the merger of the French establishments into the Union of India (the treaty for the de facto transfer was formally signed on November 1, 1954).
We searched for people who had lived through the last years of the French colonial rule in Pondicherry. One of our first interviewees made an interesting remark: "But which history are you going to write? There are two histories, the Indian and the French!"
This observation is quite accurate, especially at a time when one speaks so much of detoxifying the 'other party's history.' Having had a keen interest in the subject for years, I knew that the story of the 'merger' had myriad angles.
To do justice to all those who participated in the momentous events, whether they belonged to the French establishments in India, or lived in a France just emerging from of the trauma of World War II or an India which had struggled hard for her Independence, I tried to grasp their motivations and way of thinking.
Text: Claude Arpi, photograph: courtesy Claude Arpi
Design: Dominic Xavier