Relocating from the noisy din of Dhaka, his previous posting, to the relaxed environs of this former French outpost must be a pleasant change for Olivier Litvine, the new helmsman of Asia’s oldest Alliance Francaise institution.
It is a relief to be in a small town, where one has the luxury of walking to work and access to the sea, says Mr. Litvine.
“I find Puducherry to be an interesting mix of people, cosmopolitan and fairly laidback,” he says.
The French stamp, of course, is unmistakable. “Here, French is an almost Indian language. It co-exists with Indian languages and English. It is alive, it is in the economy,” says Mr. Litvine.
While in other places in India, French and its culture have found it harder to be relevant in the British sphere of influence, in Puducherry the French influence is ‘woven into the fabric’ of society, says Mr. Litvine.
On his first stint in South India, he jocularly remarks that while he has encountered the “ears” of the elephant (in Dhaka and Lahore), it is only now that he is coming across the ‘face’ of the elephant.
His early recollection of this town, as it is for most French people, is the song ‘Chandernagor’ by French songwriter Guy Béart, which talks of the French trading posts of Chandannagar, Karaikal, Yanam, Mahe and Puducherry.
Peaceful as his new place of posting is, for Mr. Litvine, the next few weeks could probably turn out to be a crazy race against the clock — a contrast to the slow bio-rhythm of the city — as he tries to bring his brainchild, the ‘War and Colonies’ exhibition to the city to coincide with Armistice Day falling on November 11, a global commemoration of the pact signed between the Allies and Germany at Compiegne in France to put an end to World War I.
Hosted earlier this year in Dhaka, the ‘War and Colonies (1914-1918)’, the exhibition features rare photographs from the battlefields and accentuates the multilateralism and sheer diversity of colonial soldiers who fought the war.
The exhibition is currently showing at select Indian cities and Mr. Litvine is well aware of the poetic justice of timing its arrival in Puducherry with Armistice Day observance. After all, several hundred soldiers from this place had fought in the great war, the War Memorial standing testimony to their valour.
“The idea behind the exhibition is to focus on the role played by colonial soldiers in the war,” says Mr. Litvine.
An estimated 6.5 lakh colonial troops fought on the European battlefields of World War I. While France drafted over 2 lakh workers from its empire that fanned out across Algeria, Indochina, Morocco, Tunisia and Madagascar, Britain mobilised 1.5 million men from the Indian subcontinent, including 1,50,000 Indian soldiers.
Interestingly, the Chinese never fought the war as workers got into maintenance of war munitions. The overwhelming majority of Indian troops, however, fought in Mesopotamia against the Ottoman Empire while some also fought on the Eastern African front, Mr. Litvine points out.
As Mr. Litvine recently told Centenary News , a publication devoted to the coverage of WW I centenary, “…the photographic exhibition is "no Spielberg exhibition... just the faces and postures of real men fighting a dirty war.”
The new director has much more than the great war on his mind.
Mr. Litvine is planning the details of a yearly Indo-French festival which will be titled ‘Encounters.’ It will be a platform for French artists, writers and those from the creative community, as well as Indian artists who have been influenced by French culture. Musicians from Réunion Island are also expected to participate.
Other plans include bringing a taste of French fashion here with a focus on enhancing collaboration between French designers and local talents.
