PUDUCHERRY: Celebrating the anniversary of the birth of Henry Sidambarom, who fought for the rights of Indians in the French territory of Guadeloupe, a delegation from the island led by his grandson Jacques Sidambarom and other members of the family visited the UT to re-establish ties with their ancestral land. Puducherry’s link with Guadeloupe dates back to 1853, when Indians, particularly those from Puducherry and Tamil Nadu, were taken in the ship Aurelie, to work in the sugarcane plantation owned by French colonists, for low wages. Henry’s parents from Kumbakonam were among them, said Sam Vijay, president of the ‘I love India Association’ in France. At a presentation made by the delegation at Nallam Clinic in the presence of MLA K Lakshminarayanan and Dr V Nallam, president of the Friends of Pondicherry Heritage, the delegation revealed how their forefathers were taken on contract for five years to the sugarcane plantations and exploited. Despite being taken on a contract, there existed economic slavery. People could not raise money to travel back to India. Some of them tried, but the ships returned midway to Guadeloupe claiming that they had run out of provisions. These people ran into conflicts with black slaves who were earlier brought to the island by their French masters, were exploited by the white sugarcane planters and faced problems in returning to their parent country, apart from Christianisation and issues in naturalisation as French citizens. It was Henry Sidambarom who rose to become the Mayor and secured them their rights and French nationality in Guadeloupe. Now there is an intermingling of Indians, Africans and the French in Guadelopue. Creole language, a mix of African, Tamil and Caribbean with French structure has been adopted by the people. Indian-origin people hold high positions in all fields including politics. Tamil food is popular. ‘Kozhambu’, slightly modified with native ingredients, is popular among all sections of the people. Deepavali is celebrated in the north Indian style by lighting lamps and bursting crackers. The harvest festival there is an offshoot of Pongal and ‘mela’ in memory of ‘God of Coolie’ is celebrated. The delegation which arrived from the island also called on Chief Minister N Rangasamy on Wednesday.
Posted on: Thu, 10 Jul 2014 22:14:45 +0000
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