This indeed is a story of my home town attempted several years ago at the request of the then editor at The New Indian Express T.N.Gopalan. As can only be expected of me, I didn't complete it. There is a scope for developing the story now...
(My brother-in-law Stanley D' Silva helped me meet the people including M.Raghavan, C.H.Gangadharan etc. I have misplaced the photographs taken at the time...)
Once a sleepy, coastal town Mahe has lately morphed into a bustling municipality. River Mayyazhi flows standing testimony to the changing times. Mahe is a part of the union territory of Puducherry. The town is shaped by the confluence of myth and reality, Indianess and French…
According to historian C.H.Gangadharan Mahe was once part of old Kolathunadu which shot into prominence after French occupation. Mahe attained independence on July 16, 1954. The De facto transfer was on November 1, 1954.
Gangadharan reminds that the state of Kerala was carved out in 1955. There has been consistent demand from the inhabitants for merging Mahe with Kerala. The tax concessions and privileges it enjoys as being part of the union territory is one of the many reasons that those who oppose the merger cite.
The 15 lower primary schools, 4 higher secondary schools, 2 high schools, including 1 French school, 1 college, a professional college (dental), BEd colleges, an ITI and a Navodya Vidyalaya for the measly population of 36,000 attests to the generosity this small town enjoys.
The wine shops, a hallmark of the town, started mushrooming particularly after the early 1970s. The town has over 60 wine shops of which 30 are wholesale shops all within a 1 sq km radius which encapsulates the town.
According to Tayil Sadanandan, translator of Alfred Martineau’s `The Origins of Mahe of Malabar (History of India from 1720)’ Martineau ‘helps us find that Mahe and Malabar had a great history of wealth and wars.’ The French occupied Mahe in the XVIII century for a period of sixty-two years, interrupted twice by ten years of English domination.
The statue of Marianne in the Tagore park symbolizing equality, fraternity and liberty, the French education system, the St.Theresa’s Church constructed in 1736, a cemetery (where my Dad, mentor, and guide, Emmanuel Mathew, rests) and some ancient forts stand testimony to the French rule in Mahe.
The Puthalam temple, owned by the Dalits, where Mahatma Gandhi visited in the year 1934 has great historical significance.
Mahe under the French rule was said to be a place where everybody was equal irrespective of caste or creed. It facilitated an exodus of the oppressed section of the society from parts of Kerala to Mahe where they settled down.
Noted Malayalam writer and Mahe’s own Mukundan has romanticized and popularized this small town in no small measure. The saying goes that there are two Mahe’s: one is Mukundan’s Mahe and the other the ‘real’ Mahe. Many visiting Mahe after reading his books won’t find what they were looking for. For instance, the beautiful myth centering the Velliankallu, a rock far into the sea.
The annual festival of St.Theresa’s church falls during the month of September. The native people living in other parts hardly miss to participate in the annual spiritual gala.
Mukundan’s elder brother M.Raghavan (a writer himself) has this to say about the legacy left behind by the French, “all the same, older generation men like me were enriched by the French literature which we cherish like a treasure.”
“I read Emily Zola in original when I was very small,” recalls Raghavan.
Out of its population of 37,000 the town has 50 families who are French nationals. They have an organization for themselves.
Every year they celebrate the national day of France on July 14 and Armistice day on November 11. They sing the French national anthem and o
They organize a mass at the local church. Thereafter also take out a procession to the Marianne’ statue where they honour the statue by decking it with garlands.
Although Mahe still holds the French in high esteem there are residents like Morris D’ Silva who declines to eulogize the French.
Freedom fighter Sishubalan Mash says, “French is the most beautiful, immaculate language..." words.”
Recalling the virtues of the French rulers, Sishubalan who had undergone a lot of sufferings during the freedom struggle, points out that it is the local people who spoil the broth.
Down the way, unfortunately, the French education has lost direction and stands neglected.
Stanley D’ Silva (my brother-in-law ) says that during the French rule there were 8 middle schools, 4 public schools, and 3 management schools, all having French as the medium of instruction. The Lours Comple’ Mentaires is the only one that remains now. The school today has no proper building of its own. The age-old building with much historical importance which was located in front of the church was demolished long ago paving way for a commercial complex. The school was since shifted to a rental building…
The Mahe sports club has its own pride of place in the history of Mahe. It played an active role in the national movement. In those days the youths who visited the club were branded as ‘communists,’ and my Dad was one of them…
ENDS.
