Two hours by bus through attractive rice fields and coconut groves east of Kumbakonam on the coast of the Bay of Bengal is the small town of Tranquebar. Its history is quite unlike that of other towns in the region. In the early 1600s the Danish government, with the approval of the local Indian rulers, established a trading settlement here and consolidated their presence in 1620 with the imposing beachside Dansborg Fort that still stands today, now housing an interesting museum that tells the warts and all story of the Danish occupation.In its heyday the settlement grew to a population of 5,000 and survived for two centuries before being sold to the British in the mid 1800s. We stayed a night in Tranquebar at the characterful Gatehouse, part of the Bungalow on the Beach property, and just about the only tourist accommodation in the town. After inspecting the Fort we strolled around the streets to admire the mix of architectural styles, from Danish and British colonial to modern day Tamil houses to traditional Tamil stone huts with thatched roofs.
We met a woman in a lane carrying several large tree branches on her head while her young daughter struggled with a large tree root. We offered to help drag the root back to her hut. She was grateful for the assistance and we were glad to help, and especially relieved when we finally dropped it outside her hut, not having realized just how far away it was. How her daughter could have moved the root that distance is beyond us.
Later we passed by several old Christian churches and children’s hostels, the current day legacy of early missionary activity in the area. At one hostel, these days supported financially by a German charitable organization, teenage boys were playing cricket in the yard and when they asked "Where are you coming from?" and we replied Australia, they erupted into shrieks of “Ricky Ponting”. We bathed in Ricky’s reflected glory for a few minutes before continuing down the street where younger boys from the same hostel were sitting on the ground happily playing a board game.
Tranquebar means “the place of waves”, no doubt named after the rough ocean here. But the name was particularly apposite on 26 December 2004 when a giant sea wave generated by the Indian Ocean Tsunami crashed ashore and then just as quickly swept back out to sea. taking with it men, women, children, animals and buildings, and leaving behind a decimated town flooded with seawater. Almost 10,000 people along the coast here were killed and tens of thousands were made homeless. Quite possibly some of the boys at the hostel are Tsunami orphans.
After the day’s sights and experiences we felt privileged when we snuggled between crisp sheets at the Gatehouse later that night.
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