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Rang

The yellow French quarter

Pondicherry

The old French quarter by the sea is painted mustard yellow with white trim, shaded by bougainvillea.

Panoramic view of pondicherry
Photo: Karthik Easvur, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Why Pondicherry is mustard yellow

Pondicherry, now officially Puducherry, was the main French settlement in India until 1954. The old town is split by a canal. On the sea side is the French quarter, often called White Town. Its villas and public buildings have high walls, tall shuttered windows and courtyards, and most are painted a warm mustard yellow with white bands around doors and cornices. Grey and pale pink appear too. Pink bougainvillea spills over the walls. Across the canal, the Tamil quarter has its own style of houses with verandas and carved wooden pillars. Heritage groups have worked to keep the colour scheme as buildings are restored. Street names are still shown in French and Tamil.

Mustard yellow#E8B93BTrim white#F6F3EABougainvillea pink#D6337AShutter grey#8E9499

Values are fair approximations of what the eye sees there, not measurements.

Colours tied to Pondicherry

YellowA primary colour between green and orange, seen in sunlight, leaves, and pigments
About this page

Written by the Rang desk with AI assistance. Background: "Pondicherry" on Wikipedia. If you know Pondicherry and we have it wrong, tell us.

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Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

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