After 290 rich colonial years, the "French presence" in India came to an end. Pondicherry and three other small enclaves ("pimples on the face of India" Jawaharlal Nehru had once called them) were turned over to India, in accordance with the recent agreement between Nehru and Pierre Mendès-Fraance. Thus India effortlessly picked up 193 square miles of territory and 320,000 new citizens. The reek of gunpowder attended the takeover, but it came from joyfully exploding fireworks.
Not everybody was happy. When the time came last week to lower France's tricolor, sullen French officials did...