TRAVEL
Baton Rouge: French flavour in Louisiana
K. Rajbir Deswal

HAT’S off to the Punjabi munda Bobby Jindal, for making it big in Baton Rouge, the capital city of the American state of Louisiana. It was named after its founder French King Louis XIV. 

Bobby missed the governorship by inches in the "reluctant South," dominated by the Black community, mostly Arcadian Cajuns, in the elections held some time back.

A couple of hours air-journey from Atlanta, after a tiring ten-hour-long flight over the Atlantic, and we were hovering over Baton Rouge. It was raining when we landed there in the evening.

We had an appointment fixed with the Mayor President of Baton Rouge the following day when he made each member of the group an honorary mayor of the city for a day and handed over the symbolic key to us with a citation as a token of respect. 

It is only in retrospect now that I can gauge the thrill associated with a gubernatorial office which the First Indian-American, could-have-been-governor, Piyush Bobby Jindal might have experienced.

Founded in 1720, Baton Rouge of today has a lot to offer than mere Cajun curry, crabs and cuisine.

EARLIER COLUMNS Among ancient caves and chaityas at Bhaje Abhilash Gaur December 14, 2003 Oasis of calm, islands of tranquillity Manpreet Singh December 7, 2003 Haven in the Palni hills Partha S. Banerjee November 30, 2003 Welcome to Hollywood terrain! Nirmal Datta November 23, 2003 Time and history stand still in Mrs Braganza’s house Rajbir Deswal November 16, 2003 River, springs and a green carpet welcome in Vajreshwari Abhilash Gaur November 2, 2003 Lakes, waterfalls and orchids in abode of clouds Peeyush Agnihotri October 19, 2003 A paradise called Atlantis Mohinder Singh October 12, 2003 Growing vegetables in a sea fort Abhilash Gaur October 5, 2003 A city of bulging domes Arun Gaur September 28, 2003 The timeless temple of Ambarnath Abhilash Gaur September 21, 2003 Worshipping Durga in Goa Ervell E. Menezes September 14, 2003

Louisiana’s old Governor’s Mansion, State Capitol, USS KIDD, riverboat casinos, swamps, 19th century plantations where slaves had been employed for long, and numerous malls, restaurants, theatres, museums, universities and churches are of interest for all visitors to the place.

French explorers, leading an expedition along the Mississippi river, sighted a red stick that was coloured with the blood of fish and animals and was fixed there to divide the Houmas Indians and Bayougoula. They named it "Le Baton Rouge" which means "the red stick" or in our own Hindustani Lal chhari.

With 34 stories built in barely 14 months, the State Capitol came up during the Great Depression in 1932, with the untiring efforts of Huey P. Long, the governor, who was later assassinated in this very building. He lies buried on the grounds of the 27-acre spread of the Capitol. From the Observation Deck on the 27th floor, at a height of 350 feet, one can have a panoramic view of the city with the Mississipi flowing past in the west. But beware the wind speed! The chill here does not allow you to hold ground (floor?) for more than half a minute.

The Capitol has double life-size sculptures of some of Louisiana’s governors who had "firsts" to their credit e.g. first colonial governor, first American governor, first confederate governor first post-reconstruction governor and the first Black governor. Bobby Jindal when elected (for he has age on his side being barely 32) would be the First Indian-American governor.

After climbing on to the embankment, one can see the M-shaped bridge on the Mississippi from over the USS KIDD which is a World War II destroyer. It has been stationed there as a memorial.

The 2050-tonne warship floats only during the summers when the water level in the river touches an average 40 feet rise. Otherwise, it sits in a specially designed cradle and you can walk underneath it. As its mascot, the ship has a pirate by the same name (Kidd) painted, as was done to honour the suggestion of an admiral.

Plantations are equivalents of big zamindaris all along the Mississippi. Long barges floating in the Mississippi full of merchandise are a historical testimony to these being the traders’ destinations over the bygone centuries. Plantations on either bank of Mississippi were almost the commercial fiefdoms of the landlords who traded in indigo, cotton-ginning, tobacco, rice and had employed slaves in abundance.

Destrehan, San Francisco, Tezcuco, Houmas House, Nottoway and Oak Alley Plantations are in close proximity to Baton Rouge. We preferred the last mentioned which had a hundred-years-old Oak Avenue in the foreground leading the way on to the Mississippi banks.

The river-road of the lazy Mississippi connects many of them and one can go cruising as well to have a peep into the life and times of the rich planters. Small wonder that mysteries, intrigues and voodoos still do rounds of these mansions and tourists take a lot of interest in them. In fact, there seems to be a conscious promotion effort also which attracts curious visitors.

The third-largest city of the USA, New Orleans, is about 90 miles from Baton Rouge. The highway to New Orleans floats through swamps and marshy lands, which turn into vast lakes at places. There are miles-long bridges. We could see an early-March denudation of the green leaves of the tall trees of the tropical variety all along the route.

Discernible French influence can be found on architecture, Cajun food, music and rituals. Cajuns were originally the French, early settlers in Canada who were driven away by the British. Mardi Gras, Cajun Christmas and Festivals Acadiens are some of the very popular festive occasions celebrated with gaiety bordering on wildness. There is always an excuse to eat, drink, dance and party. Christmas fireworks on the Mississippi banks are a rage among the locals. We were lucky to see the performance of Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman

We had an occasion to be among the academia in the Louisiana State University and the ‘Home of fighting tigers’. Here we met Mohinder Singh a burly Jat from UP who holds a Doctorate in Law and who teaches Law in Grumbling University. And hold your breath, he was the SHO in Jama Masjid areas during the Emergency of 1975. We also met P. Ray Kedia, Head of Department of Criminal Justice. The Indian Community held a feast for us in the local temple on the Shivratri evening.

The Wal-Mart and other department and specialty stores have a lot to offer but only so far as window-shopping is concerned. Real delight in purchasing comes from the Dollar-stores in Baton Rouge where every item displayed is sold for a single dollar.

This feature was published on December 21, 2003