One of the special experiences Anna and I had was to visit Tranqubar, before we left Pondicherry. Aswathy and Anandit had joined us for this visit.
The Danish had landed in Tranqubar in 1610 for business. It is a small town on the sea cost, between Cuddalore and Chidambaram. The first thing that attracted us was this imposing building (photo1) which was located in the fort, facing the sea, which is currently a museum with artifacts and pictures depicting the events of that time. There is a display of the names of boats that used to arrive and depart at the port, the first one being in October, 1610.
The second historic building (photo 2) is the place that was used as teacher's training school, which is unoccupied now. As Business prospered, more Danish travelers arrived and settled down. That is how, literacy training, Bible translation, establishment of a printing press, teacher's training school, etc. took place through the Danish initiative.
It is town without the usual merchandize associated with tourist towns. Except a few ice cream trollies, we did not notice much of business activities. In fact the only restaurant in the town, at the beach could not offer us food as they needed advance notice. We had to drive to the nearest town, 15 kilometers away to find a restaurant.
It was a good experience to be in a historic place and recollect our pre-independent history. Although, merchandize was the prime reason for the foreigners to come to India, most 'settlers' had left behind some useful contributions to the local community. The Teacher's training school itself is an illustration of the activities to benefit the local community. So the visitors were not just 'occupiers', but brought something useful in most of the occasions. We owe our railway system and civil services to the British; international trade routes to the Portuguese and the Danish; our educational infrastructure of some colleges and schools and hospital system in the rural areas to many overseas people from Europe and North America, who spent a life time of service in India.
I realize how much we are to be grateful for the early start we have had as a nation through these self giving services of overseas personnel. I remember, that Dr. Ray Windsor, from Newzeland was the first professor of cardio-thoracic surgery at the Post graduate Institute at Chandigarh, in the early seventies. He came to india to bring a skill that was not available at our Medical schools in india at that time. He spent thirty years in India, serving in different capacities.
I am aware of many initiatives from different professional groups from India to share our resources with people in Africa, Nepal, Bangla Desh, etc. I wish we could offer more support to the developing nations, who would value our experience in education and health care!
M.C.Mathew (text and photo)
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