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The Queen's Hamlet

The Queen’s Hamlet is a charming attraction in the park of the Palace of Versailles, built for Marie Antoinette in the 18th century. It consists of a group of rustic cottages and farm buildings, arranged around an artificial lake, that served as a place of leisure and education for the queen and her children. The hamlet was inspired by the naturalistic movement in art and architecture, and by the model farms that were popular among the French aristocracy at the time. The hamlet was also a way for Marie Antoinette to escape the formalities and pressures of the court life, and to enjoy a simpler and more intimate lifestyle. The hamlet was designed by Richard Mique and Hubert Robert, who also modified the landscape of the Petit Trianon, where the hamlet is located. The hamlet has three distinct areas: the reception area, where the queen entertained her guests in the boudoir, the billiard room, and the Queen’s House; the farm area, where the animals and crops were raised and the dair
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A Unique Barber


Deprived of a good education, P Ponmariappan, a hairdresser at Millerpuram in Tuticorin, is determined to ensure that youth inculcate the habit of reading. In the saloon he set up after he dropped out of school, he has a collection of over 800 books and offers a 30% discount to customers who read the books and provide genuine feedback.

Ponmariappan, 38, could not study beyond Class VIII due to poverty. But his thirst for knowledge made him set up an audio system in his shop, in which he played speeches by renowned Tamil orators, including Sugi Sivam, Nellai Kannan, Tamilaruvi Manian, and Bharathi Baskar. He cultivated the habit of reading books and it was after reading ‘Puthagamae  Thunai’ (the book is a good companion) that he got the idea of collecting books and displaying them in his shop.

To ensure that the students read at least a few pages of a book, he makes them write the gist of what they have read in a small book he keeps in his shop. “This encourages others to read the same book,’’ he said. Ponmariappan set up his collection six years ago with 250 books; now he has about 850 books, mostly Tamil and a few autobiographies of great leaders in English.
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