Park Monument, Pondicherry

"Standing smack in the centre of the most beautiful public space in town, the green and shaded Government Park is Aayi Mandapam. Built in Greco-Roman architecture, un-sinfully white, during the reign of Napoleon III-Emperor of France, it bears the name of Aayi - a 16th century courtesan, who razed down her home and replaced it with a reservoir. To appease a passing king, angry at having mistaken her candle-lit residence for a holy place. It was from this lake that Napoleon's men quenched their thirst, some 300 years later. Napoleon, charmed by the story, ordered a monument to Aayi."