Yanam

Andhra Pradesh surrounds it on every side, and yet this town of 35,000 answers to Puducherry, a district of the union territory marooned inside another state. It was French for the better part of two centuries and only joined India in 1954; people still call it French Yanam. What that history left is a Telugu town with French edges, a mix locals have nicknamed Frelugu. The Tuesday market, Marche du mardi or Mangalavaram Santa, once drew buyers from across the Madras Presidency hunting foreign and smuggled goods, and the town's People's Festival falls in January. Come for the oddity of the place, not for a list of sights.