Glass finds joie de vivre on the east coast of India

INDIA was once part of the British Empire – the jewel in the crown and so on – but that there was also a Gallic presence on the country’s east coast is not so well broadcast. And, sacré bleu, it remained under French control for seven years after India gained independence from Britain in 1947. This is now ancient history but the past lives on in the city of Puducherry and the appeal of experiencing a little bit of old France in modern India is irresistible.

600X400 INDIAPuducherry’s street names bear witness to years of French colonialism

Puducherry has a schizophrenic identity – part European and part Indian – but on first arriving in the city there is little to suggest this. You step down from an air-conditioned coach and everything looks and feels just like the humming bus station in Chennai where you began your journey: bay upon bay of vehicles looking more dilapidated than they really are, people with assorted luggage everywhere and ranks of tuk-tuks with importuning drivers. Be assured that the price quoted to take you to your accommodation will be more than double the going rate – but take this in in your stride and bargain for what will be only a 10-minute ride to the French Quarter.

A canal divides the Tamil Quarter from the neighbourhood that was once the administrative heart of French rule over the city. Your accommodation should be here, or very close to it, and my tuk-tuk puttered its way down a quiet, tree-lined tree before stopping outside the pretty pastel-coloured exterior of La Villa Shanti.

600X400 INDIAWhen you see this on the wall you’ll know you’ve arrived at La Villa Shanti

The century-old building, meticulously restored by two Parisian architects, Tina Trigala and Yves Lesprit, deftly combines colonial and Tamil features with contemporary touches. The result is aesthetically pleasing: four-posters in the bedrooms, a modernist Indian mural on the wall in the bar, a soothing white colour scheme and elegant greenery in the dining area.

600x400 INDIAThe garden courtyard of Maison Perumal, a heritage hotel in Puducherry.

Most of the buildings in the French Quarter have heritage status and very few of them remain domestic dwellings. This makes for fewer crowds and, added to vehicular traffic being banned every evening, constitutes a precious relief when wandering the streets. Faded ochre-coloured walls, shuttered windows and walled gardens help create a sense of the past.

600X400 INDIACafe and bar at La Villa Shanti

Old colonial buildings are everywhere and they share architectural features: colonnaded porticos, courtyards, small gardens, high ceilings and arched doorways. A number of them are now heritage hotels, like Villa Shanti, and all of them are worth exploring, photographing and pausing in for a coffee or glass of (French, of course) wine.

400X600 INDIAFrench school in Puducherry

Buildings to look out for include École Française D’Extrême-Orient, the French Lycée and the impeccably presented French Consulate. What is now the Hotel de L’Orient once served as the department of Education under the French and this lovely 18th century building offers pure nostalgia; it’s tempting to book a table for an al fresco meal amidst fig trees, palms and fast-moving fans. Everything on the menu is affordable: a curry, baked ratatouille, chicken with a basil cheese sauce for example.

Chennai and its international airport is just over 150km north of Puducherry, and the logistics of journeying makes a Chennai stop-over, at the start or end of your trip, almost a certainty. An advantage of flying there from London with Jet Airways is an early morning arrival at Chennai airport and with a hassle-free transfer to your city hotel with Blacklane you’re delivered in time for breakfast and a whole day jet-lag free day ahead of you.

There is not a great to deal to see in Chennai but the pictorial splendour of Kapaleeshwarar Temple’s exterior, coexisting with an intensely sombre interior, is the kind of unanticipated contrast that passes for normalcy in India.

400X600 INDIAThe interior of Palais de Mahe, a herirage hotel in Puducherry

The incessant hooting of vehicles on the streets of Chennai – it seems psychotic at times – turns a hotel into a suitable retreat for a vow of silence. The Crowne Plaza has a lot going for it: blessed with a pool fringed by frangipani and a spa with Ayurvedic treatments plus six different places for meals and drinks. The Hilton has a rooftop pool and an Indian fine-dining restaurant. The champagne brunch at The Leela Palace is a grand wheeze whether staying there or not.

There are daily return flights from London Heathrow to Chennai via Delhi (from £368 per person) with Jet Airways. A walking tour offers a fun way to learn about Puducherry’s colonial history and Lonely Planet’s South India & Kerala has practical information and useful maps.

by Sean Sheehan

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Glass Online food writer

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