Chance encounter with a security guard from Puducherry | Paris Olympics

I was sitting on a bridge over the River Seine watching the opening ceremony of Paris 2024 when the sky opened up. The media pavilion had been set up on the Pont Alexandre III, an arched bridge with enormous pylons topped with beautiful gilded bronze sculptures.

When the rain refused to stop, I left the bridge and took shelter under a large umbrella used by private guards who oversee the security of the Games Village. Then I saw someone standing under the umbrella speaking Tamil on the phone. I smiled at him and asked his name. “I’m Krishnamurti. The French call me Kichanamorti,” he said, laughing heartily.

Krishnamurti is from Puducherry, a former French enclave, and has lived in Paris since 1981. He moved to France after graduating from a polytechnic college in his native city. He took an accounting course after coming to Paris and worked in the accounting department of a local university. He returned to Puducherry after fifteen years, but came back with his family and settled in Paris.

When Krishnamurti first arrived in France, it was mandatory for young people to serve at least two years in the army. When I asked him how hard it was to do compulsory military service at that time, he told me his life story. His father Meenakshi Sundaram had served in the French army during World War II. After his military service, Sundaram returned home and worked as a contractor doing public works for the local government.

Krishnamurti, while attending the French International School in Puducherry, learned French at an early age. When I asked him how the French pronounced his father’s name, he paused for a few seconds, thought, and replied, “Minechi Sundera”!

Although Krishnamurti lost his university job when he returned to Puducherry, he was hired in his second career in France by Airbus, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of commercial aircraft, thanks to the polytechnic degree he held.

“I work only twenty days a month. When Paris was chosen to host the Olympic Games after a century, I was eager to be part of this mega event. Then I saw an advertisement in the local newspaper looking for private security guards to keep athletes and spectators safe during the Games. I applied, along with my military service certificate, and fortunately I got the job,” Krishnamurti said.

Krishnamurti has two children. His son works as an IT professor at the Sorbonne University in Paris, while his daughter is employed by the Bank of France.