The frontier tales

Right in the middle

My early posting as a rookie straight after joining the civil services was in the coastal town of Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu. It was a popular landing spot for smugglers operating from Sri Lanka. But Nagapattinam was much more than that. It was close to, and home to, some outstanding temples -- the beautiful temple of Sikkal where the deity Murugan had for company the shrines of Shiva, Vishnu and Hanuman, a unique combination; Thirumalavasal, Vaitheeswarankovil, Keelaperumalam temples and many more.

Nagapattinam was also home to the Nagore Dargah. Legend has it that a saint Abdul Khader is said to have come from the central provinces and settled down here. It is also home to Velankannai where the Basilica of our Lady of Health presides-the Pope has declared Velankanni as a holy city. People from across faiths, to this day, visit all these shrines-Nagapattinam is truly a study in communal harmony.

I digress. So, after my posting there I met old veterans who were briefing me the lay of the land. I kept hearing about their exploits in ’the frontier’. I was deeply impressed and had visons of these warriors’ stopping illegal crossings in the cold, harsh climes of the Hindu Kush. I wondered about the challenges they would have encountered travelling all the way from the south to north-western India and of the harsh climate they would have faced.

I asked one such veteran who kept telling me of ‘the frontier’ how was travel like in those days. He replied, “very difficult. Bus connections were poor and it used to take us at least 4 hours.” I was stumped. Bus connections, four hours, I asked incredulously? He said yes, yes. By way of explanation, he repeated, bus connections were so poor. I realised there was some very major misunderstanding. I queried, where is the frontier? Karaikal was the reply!!

Karaikal was the frontier about which I had been hearing about all these days. Karaikal, all of about 22 kms away from Nagapattinam!

I realised why it was being referred to as a ‘frontier’. Karaiakal was a de jure French territory till mid 1950’s, as was Pondicherry (now Puducherry). The border between Karaikal and Madras Presidency was what was being referred to so very proudly as ‘the frontier’. It was indeed a different country. And to call the Karaikal border as a ‘frontier’ was geographically correct. But huh, I wasn’t impressed anymore.

And every time I subsequently heard of their exploits in ‘the frontier’ my reaction ranged from mild amusement to deep irritation. Some frontier, indeed!