A scar on the face of Paris

“How do u like our new glass pyramid?” General Bezu Fache asks Robert Langdon.

 “Its magnificient” he says and starts explaining that it’s a modern architectural marvel that has 333 pieces of glass placed perfectly into a pyramid.

“A scar on the face of paris” he interjects as he takes him into the Louvre. Too bold a line that would feel like a needle prick even as we read it. It expresses the hatred that people who loved old parisian architecture had, on its modernisation.

I enjoyed Pondichery more than what Piscine Molitor Patel did in Life of Pi – Afterall I have been spending this full quarter of my life in that town. Irrespective of its names: Vedapuri, puducherry, it was always pondichery to me (pronounced ‘pondhishery’). My fascination grew up from school days listening to everyday stories of my octogenarian French tuition masters – on how Pondicherry used to be, the French political and social system, from hospitals to markets.

“The original general hospital was called “Hotel-Dieu” literally meaning hotel of god…” “my father was a pharmacist, he used to make tablets by hand using powdered medicine” “everything in pondy was planned perfectly, streets had shops that sold just one particular commodity -  like all the shops that sold cosmetics were lined up in the Nehru street end ” and there was a new one in every class of  ‘Monsieur’ Bernard Venance. Combined with his enthusiasm, these stories were a perfect feast to my imagination.

This passion got more into an obssesion making me collect all the little tit bits of information I hear. I ended up taking my friends and family on heritage walks across the town. I used to drill their heads with the ellipse shaped plan of old Pondichery with the canal dissecting It into an unequal two, the two clock towers at the foci(one was removed as it hindered public transport near the market-gandhi street crossing), the larger part of the ellipse being further demarcated into the tamil and the muslim quarter.

Then there came the three invaders – to scar the face of Pondicherry. They sprouted like mushrooms. Those just-another-skip-away liquor shops to begin with. It has nothing to do with me abhorring drinking but their proliferation changed the way we saw Pondicherry - accept it.

In the meantime we witnessed all our cinema talkies getting knocked down one by one – slowly but very alarmingly – to accommodate the luxury hotels, the next set of invaders. The first one excited us, the third and fourth one did not attract much attention and to see the fourteenth such hotel popping up now is annoying.

It was a get-together with mom’s colleagues in 90s at this new ice-cream shop.  It was called Baskin 35 Robbins and tasted very different from the Arun ice-cream we grew up with till then. But, just after a year or two it closed down. Pizza corner came then, stood much adversity and established business somehow. ‘That was all folks’ till years back, when pondy saw another sea change. Loads and loads of brands, from jewellery to textile to fast food, more trying to fit in everyday, suffocating this little town. We love KFC zingers, our moms love GRT and Alukkas, not to forget the day long shopping at kumaran stores and pothys, but we all liked Pondicherry without them J

NB:

I found this interesting link when I was looking out for the second pic

http://old.auroville.org/journals&media/avtoday/archive/2004-2009/2004-03/plan_pondicherry.htm