The city of Puducherry is known the world over for its spiritual ambience and the fragrance of French past. Every year, several thousands visit Puducherry to enjoy the sublime charm of this place. Now, there is another reason to visit the place — the protagonist of Yann Martel’s debut novel ‘Life of Pi’ was born here.
A documentary film produced by the Center for Electronic Media and Mass Communication, Pondicherry Central University, tells about the new importance of the place. On the occasion of 19 Rock Art Congress, the university released the documentary film, “In Search of the Land of Pi,” based on research and script done by Venkata Raghotham, professor of history. He has also lent his voice for narration in the documentary film.
According to the researcher, the story of Pi is set in Puducherry and the writer stayed in the town nearly a year soaking in the culture and delights of the city. Many of the landmarks of Puducherry were mentioned in the novel.
Yang Martel’s ‘Life of Pi’ had a dream run in written novelistic form and Ang Lee’s feature film Life of Pi winning the Oscar . The film was shot in Puducherry.
Dr. Raghotam said, “The movie was indeed most interesting one that was ever made and it is set in Puducherry. As historian and resident of Puducherry, I felt proud of the fact the city that has inspired Martel to write a beautiful novel. That can be explored in creative way and to show what I did in the documentary was to locate the places mentioned in the book and try to situate those places in historical context both of individual monuments and larger history of Puducherry as we understand.”
Explaining the details portrayed in the novel, Dr. Raghotham said that Pi lived in Puducherry till he left for Canada with his family. So he probably lived here for about 16 to 18 years. He would have seen much of what we have shown in the documentary. He would have seen the Promenade, the Gandhi Statue that appeared in the novel, and the famous botanical garden.
“Many of the important places in Puducherry were mentioned. I thought that people would be interested in knowing more about it. It took around three months to produce the documentary” he said.
Dr.Ragotham is a researcher in medieval history and taught history for 27 years in the university. He also received the best faculty awards.
