Recently I went to see the Lycée Français International de Pondichéry without knowing its great history. I went to see because two of my good friends studied in that school. Thank God I went to see the Lycée (A lycée is a French public school that prepares older students for university), and I immediately fell in love with it. Hence, this brief note:
The Lycée Français International de Pondichéry reflects its long Indo-French legacy. It was marked by a visit from Jawaharlal Nehru and he described this school as an “open window on France”.
Eugène Desbassayns de Richemont was Governor General of Pondicherry in India between 1826 and 1828 and the founder of the Lycée français de Pondichéry (Collège Royal – on 26 October 1826). He was a great philanthropist – in 1839, he donated 15,386 francs for the foundation of a leper colony near Coconut Island. The hospital was completed in 1844, and still exists. Eugène Desbassayns de Richemont was an inventor of a method of welding with lead, and also of a type of fertilizer.
Eugène Panon Desbassayns de Richemont (29 March 1800 – 26 June 1859), second Comte de Richemont, was the son of Philippe Panon-Desbassayns de Richemont, Comte Desbassayns de Richemont, and Jeanne-Eglée Fulcrande Mourgue. He married Athénaïs-Claire-Joséphine-Grace on June 10, 1829 in Paris.
I asked a close friend of mine and an excellent human being Mr. Pushan Vij who graduated from LFIP a quarter century ago as to what he learned at school, he replied “he learned to speak fluent French, fluent English, and fluent Tamil, to use all three to explain to his teacher why he didn’t do his homework!
I do not know how Mr. Jonathan Sinivassane wrote a serious philosophy essay on René Descartes while the afternoon heat was 40°C and a rogue monkey is staring at him through the window!
The classic struggle of LFIP versus parental authority, as shared by Pushan Vij: “The headmaster was a professor of French. My parents went to ask how I was doing, and he answered in a monologue so long and poetic we forgot what the question was.”
I am glad to have met two illustrious students of LFIP in M/s Pushan Vij and Jonathan Sinivassane. What I admire in them most is their down-to-earth attitude and humility. They are the epitome of a French monsieur – a polite, well-mannered, and well-dressed man. I am aware that their school is celebrating it’s 200th year on 26th October, 2026. I take this opportunity and join them in celebrating the school.
About the Author
Dr. K. Raja Gopal Reddy is a seasoned internationally qualified Insurance professional. What you are reading here, may not answer all the questions we have, but has the absolute power of asking unsettling questions which increase the interest in the strange world, and show the contradictory wonders lying just below the surface of the commonest things of life. Look at this disturbing but beautiful thought of Friedrich Nietzsche “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him”.
Dr. Reddy can be reached at: raja66gopal@gmail.com
