puducherry bilingual writer and retired professor of english p raja enlightened officials a sizeable number of them hailing from other parts of the country on the history and culture of the union territory of puducherry at raj nivas following an invitation from the lt governor kiran bedi on july 2 raja highlighted the origin and development of the onetime fishing village into a cosmopolitan town covering the 280yearold reign of the french over the tiny hamlet he also threw light on the freedom movement trigged by advocate ponnu thambi pillai popularly known as la porte meaning the door he also touched upon the french influence on the territory which is prevalent even after the french left some 60odd years agobedi who honoured raja after the talk said her office will hold more such talks to give the higher officials a glimpse of puducherrys past she said the talk by raja which was recorded will be played in universities to create awareness among students on puducherrys history and culture raja with 32 books in english and 14 in tamil proposes to release a fivevolume encyclopedia pondicherriana that will speak on the history culture literature religion and politics of puducherry chief secretary manoj parida secretaries to the government and heads of various departments attended the talk