-- Peaceful Pondicherry :: My Beautiful home town :: 2011 -- HDR

-- Peaceful Pondicherry :: My Beautiful home town :: 2011 -- HDR , originally uploaded by Pappu | Photography Love  :: NIKON.

Pondicherry INDIA
This My Beautiful Hometown

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Puducherry (formerly Pondicherry (help·info)) is a Union Territory of India. It is a former French colony, consisting of four non-contiguous enclaves, or districts, and named for the largest, Pondicherry.

In September 2006, the territory changed its official name from Pondicherry to the vernacular original,[1] Puducherry, which means "New village"[2] in the Tamil language. The territory is called புதுச்சேரி (Putuccēri) or பாண்டிச்சேரி (Pāṇṭiccēri) in Tamil, or "Pondichéry" in French. It is also known as The French Riviera of the East (La Côte d'Azur de l'Est).

Geography
Puducherry consists of four small unconnected districts: Puducherry, Karaikal and Yanam on the Bay of Bengal and Mahé on the Arabian Sea. Puducherry and Karaikal are by far the larger ones and are both enclaves of Tamil Nadu. Yanam and Mahé are enclaves of Andhra Pradesh and Kerala respectively. The territory has a total area of 492 km²: Puducherry (city) 293 km², Karaikal 160 km², Mahé 9 km² and Yanam 30 km². It has 900,000 inhabitants (2001).

History
The History of Puducherry can be traced back to the 2nd century. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, of the early 2nd century, mentions a marketplace named Poduke (ch. 60), which G.W.B. Huntingford identified as possibly being Arikamedu (now part of Ariyankuppam), about 2 miles from the modern Pondicherry. Huntingford further notes that Roman pottery was found at Arikamedu in 1937, and archeological excavations between 1944 and 1949 showed that it was "a trading station to which goods of Roman manufacture were imported during the first half of the 1st century AD".

French influence
A remarkable degree of French influence in Puducherry exists to this date. Puducherry was designed based on the French (however originally Dutch) grid pattern and features neat sectors and perpendicular streets. The entire town is divided into 2 sections, the French Quarter (Ville Blanche or 'White town') and the Indian quarter (Ville Noire or 'Black Town'). Many streets still retain their French names, and French style villas are a common sight in Puducherry. In the French quarter, the buildings are typically colonial style with long compounds and stately walls. The Indian quarter consists of houses lined with verandas and houses with large doors and grills. These French and Indian style houses are identified and their architecture preserved from destruction by an organization named INTACH. The use of French language can be still seen in Puducherry.

Pondicherry still has a large number of Indian and a small number of non-Indian descent residents with French passports. These are descendants of those who chose to remain French when the then ruling French Establishment presented the people of Puducherry with an option to either remain French or become Indians at the time of Puducherry's transfer to India in 1954. Apart from the monuments pertaining to the French period, there is the French Consulate in Puducherry and several cultural organisations. Another important one is 'Le Foyer du Soldat'. It is a legion hall for soldiers who served in the different French wars.

Of the cultural organisations the French Institute of Pondicherry, the Pondicherry Centre of the École française d'Extrême-Orient and a branch of the Alliance Française are noteworthy. A French-medium school system, the Lycée Français de Pondichéry, continues to operate under the aegis of the French Minister of National Education (France).

Official languages of government
Official languages of Puducherry are French, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam. Status of each languages varies differently with respect to each district. When communicating between districts of different languages, generally English is used for convenience

1.Tamil: Language used by the Puducherry Government, especially used when communicating within and between the Tamil majority districts of (Puducherry and Karikal) along with issuing official decrees. Also the official Language in Tamil Nadu state.

2.French: It is also the official language of Puducherry Union territory. It was the official language of French India (1673–1954) and its official language status was preserved by the Treaty of Cession signed by the Indian Union and the French Republic on 28 May 1956.

French remained as the de jure official language of Puducherry U.T by the Article XXVIII of the Treaty of Cession, which states that
The French language shall remain the official language of the Establishments so long as the elected representatives of the people shall not decide otherwise (English version)

Regional official languages
1. Tamil: An official language of Puducherry. It is the most widely spoken language in the territory. Puducherry, being a neighbour of Tamilnadu, shares much of its culture.

2. French: As Puducherry was once a colonial enclave of France, French remains an official language.

3. Telugu: Another official language of Puducherry, but used more within Yanam (Telugu district). Telugu is widely spoken in Pondicherry by Reddys, Chettys and Naidus. So, more correctly, it is considered a regional official language of Puducherry while being the official language of Yanam District. It also has an official language status in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

4. Malayalam: Another official language of Puducherry, but used only within Mahé (Malayalam district). So, more correctly, it is considered a regional official language of Puducherry while being the official language of Mahé District. It also has an official language status in Kerala State and the Lakshadweep Islands Union Territory.

Language spoken in numbers
As of 2001, number of people speaking in each official languages are,

Tamil: 820,749 (In Puducherry and Karaikal Districts)
Malayalam: 36,823 (In Mahe District only)
Telugu: 31,362 (In Puducherry and Yanam Districts)
French: Above 10,000

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