Thursday, February 15, 2007
May God bless you
I am no more used to see time going so quickly. Slow down! Will the landing be soft next year?
Noel was a good time with lots of chats with friends in unexpected places : St Jacques place in Metz, an old Prieure in the Champagne countryside, Quai Branly museum freshly inaugurated in Paris, Brie-Comte-Robert (ils ont ose! meme qu'ils etaient a quatre la ou j'en attendais que trois!), la "Marine" along the St Martin canal in the middle of many tents of homeless people,etc.
Back to India, I had to get quicky ready for the Sports Day. Saint-Gobain had hired the Jawaharlal Nehru cricket stadium and some event organisation company to make it a big family party for all Saint-Gobain Chennai members. I won the 1500m, but almost got my nose cut by a tamil wizzard who chose ME as victim among hundreds, had me sit on a chair on the stage, put a giant horseradish in my mouth and went in my back to prepare something dreadful...I saw him only at the last second coming back with a big and sharp knife, let it be, but also with a scarf on the eyes. My fate would decide what was to happen. Smile, you are surrounded by collegues, members of you department, etc. The blinded man stepped forward, touched my nose (as a you teach a robot in order to get some reference in space, that made me rather feel confident about the next seconds), and all at once started to cut slices a high speed. Good that the knife stopped a few millimeters from my poor (but dear) nose. Good show!
Now A pearl. To understand more the current atmosphere in India, have a check at this unique speech delivered on Republic Day (jan 26th) by Abdul Kalam, president of India. I was lucky to catch it on the radio on my my back home. I was kind of fascinated. Impossible to switch to another chanel.
http://presidentofindia.nic.in/scripts/republicdetail.jsp?id=5
(to appreciate more, you have to know that A. Kalam is a great indian areospace scientist, he contributed a lot in developping indian rocket programs (including nuclear ones). His fascination is still alive! And what about the the formula : "may God bless you" sayed by a muslim to an 80% hindu nation? I find it beautiful.
On the next day, Pondichery (renamed Puduchery now) was organizing a small music festival for the Rep' Day, starring...Merzhin, a band from french Britany (by the way check "Britany" on Wilkipedia, you will learn that 72% of the Breton live in the administrative region of Bretagne, the 28% balance living in Loire-Atlantique including Nantes - the Bretons will appreciate...). Merzhin performed well, with a great "bombarde" player (magic sound). During one hour I felt like in a mini interceltic festival, under the tropics..., so good! I had gone to Pondy by motorbike, for the first time, in fact the real purpose why I bought it 2 years back.
Early wake up, streets full of activities, sounds from temples, fragrances and smells, horizontal sunbeams, good time to catch genuine indian life. Toll-gate of ECR (East Coast Road) at 8.15am, free for two-wheeler -yes!-, then straight road on a dune, between the ocean and coconut trees. Surprisingly coulds, but also well of light making gold flakes on the water surface. The day is already won. Non-stop along Mahabalipuram, then stop along the road to sip a tender coconut, and I enter already the State of Pondichery.
I am not the one who threw the idea to bring the bullet back by road through Pakistan, Iran, Turkey,... (thanks for the idea Max) but am the one who dreams of it now. Who wants to join?
Et puis...some new from Paris made me rush for a visa. I was illegal immigrant since jan 17th since the last 3 months extention had expired and Chennai Immigration Office refused to extend it further at the local level. Not that illegal. If you applied (I did it 6 months earlier) your application duplicate has the value of a visa. As long as nobody sayed you "no", you can stay. Stay but not go. So I had to rush to the MHA (Ministry of Home Affairs) in Delhi.
Wednesday jan 31st. Man Singh road. Jaisalmer House, MHA. 9.40am. Take a token, number 86, and wait for a pass in a room full of fellow foreigners. I look around and breathe, enjoy the moment : So beautifull and diverse faces, old mountain guys with turbans and white beard, probably from different regions of Pakistan, maybe Afghanistan, tibetan monks, burmese refugees, that's the India that makes me dream (have you read "Kim" from Kipling?), that I can't find in the uniform South. The next scene is out of a Kafka book, a low efficient, corrupt, shameless and undisciplined administration. Endless piles of applications, unsorted, old wooden windows, open, papers flying moved by the permanent draft, and more that I prefer not to write! No wonder that my application has not come back after 6 months. It has simply got lost in this ocean of paper. It is terrible, but I am happy to witness that!
Luckyly the newly filled application will take some time to be processed. So I go with Manish, my facilitator, a local Saint-Gobain sales manager, to the Lodi gardens, where we have lunch under a big tree. After that, we go for a digestive walk through the gardens paved with old great mausoleums still showing some turquoise tiles, Samarcande is not faraway,... but Chennai, yes.
...
Then 3 days in Paris and beautifull ethiopian songs.
...
On the way back to Chennai, I appreciate the brand new Boeing 777 from Emirates, with an unlimited bibliotheque of movies, songs,... and operas. All Mozart is there with Popp, Terfel, Solti, Te Kanawa, Flemming. "Le Noce..." or "Don Giovanni" ? Impossible choice.
...
To Ben
...
Noel was a good time with lots of chats with friends in unexpected places : St Jacques place in Metz, an old Prieure in the Champagne countryside, Quai Branly museum freshly inaugurated in Paris, Brie-Comte-Robert (ils ont ose! meme qu'ils etaient a quatre la ou j'en attendais que trois!), la "Marine" along the St Martin canal in the middle of many tents of homeless people,etc.
Back to India, I had to get quicky ready for the Sports Day. Saint-Gobain had hired the Jawaharlal Nehru cricket stadium and some event organisation company to make it a big family party for all Saint-Gobain Chennai members. I won the 1500m, but almost got my nose cut by a tamil wizzard who chose ME as victim among hundreds, had me sit on a chair on the stage, put a giant horseradish in my mouth and went in my back to prepare something dreadful...I saw him only at the last second coming back with a big and sharp knife, let it be, but also with a scarf on the eyes. My fate would decide what was to happen. Smile, you are surrounded by collegues, members of you department, etc. The blinded man stepped forward, touched my nose (as a you teach a robot in order to get some reference in space, that made me rather feel confident about the next seconds), and all at once started to cut slices a high speed. Good that the knife stopped a few millimeters from my poor (but dear) nose. Good show!
Now A pearl. To understand more the current atmosphere in India, have a check at this unique speech delivered on Republic Day (jan 26th) by Abdul Kalam, president of India. I was lucky to catch it on the radio on my my back home. I was kind of fascinated. Impossible to switch to another chanel.
http://presidentofindia.nic.in/scripts/republicdetail.jsp?id=5
(to appreciate more, you have to know that A. Kalam is a great indian areospace scientist, he contributed a lot in developping indian rocket programs (including nuclear ones). His fascination is still alive! And what about the the formula : "may God bless you" sayed by a muslim to an 80% hindu nation? I find it beautiful.
On the next day, Pondichery (renamed Puduchery now) was organizing a small music festival for the Rep' Day, starring...Merzhin, a band from french Britany (by the way check "Britany" on Wilkipedia, you will learn that 72% of the Breton live in the administrative region of Bretagne, the 28% balance living in Loire-Atlantique including Nantes - the Bretons will appreciate...). Merzhin performed well, with a great "bombarde" player (magic sound). During one hour I felt like in a mini interceltic festival, under the tropics..., so good! I had gone to Pondy by motorbike, for the first time, in fact the real purpose why I bought it 2 years back.
Early wake up, streets full of activities, sounds from temples, fragrances and smells, horizontal sunbeams, good time to catch genuine indian life. Toll-gate of ECR (East Coast Road) at 8.15am, free for two-wheeler -yes!-, then straight road on a dune, between the ocean and coconut trees. Surprisingly coulds, but also well of light making gold flakes on the water surface. The day is already won. Non-stop along Mahabalipuram, then stop along the road to sip a tender coconut, and I enter already the State of Pondichery.
I am not the one who threw the idea to bring the bullet back by road through Pakistan, Iran, Turkey,... (thanks for the idea Max) but am the one who dreams of it now. Who wants to join?
Et puis...some new from Paris made me rush for a visa. I was illegal immigrant since jan 17th since the last 3 months extention had expired and Chennai Immigration Office refused to extend it further at the local level. Not that illegal. If you applied (I did it 6 months earlier) your application duplicate has the value of a visa. As long as nobody sayed you "no", you can stay. Stay but not go. So I had to rush to the MHA (Ministry of Home Affairs) in Delhi.
Wednesday jan 31st. Man Singh road. Jaisalmer House, MHA. 9.40am. Take a token, number 86, and wait for a pass in a room full of fellow foreigners. I look around and breathe, enjoy the moment : So beautifull and diverse faces, old mountain guys with turbans and white beard, probably from different regions of Pakistan, maybe Afghanistan, tibetan monks, burmese refugees, that's the India that makes me dream (have you read "Kim" from Kipling?), that I can't find in the uniform South. The next scene is out of a Kafka book, a low efficient, corrupt, shameless and undisciplined administration. Endless piles of applications, unsorted, old wooden windows, open, papers flying moved by the permanent draft, and more that I prefer not to write! No wonder that my application has not come back after 6 months. It has simply got lost in this ocean of paper. It is terrible, but I am happy to witness that!
Luckyly the newly filled application will take some time to be processed. So I go with Manish, my facilitator, a local Saint-Gobain sales manager, to the Lodi gardens, where we have lunch under a big tree. After that, we go for a digestive walk through the gardens paved with old great mausoleums still showing some turquoise tiles, Samarcande is not faraway,... but Chennai, yes.
...
Then 3 days in Paris and beautifull ethiopian songs.
...
On the way back to Chennai, I appreciate the brand new Boeing 777 from Emirates, with an unlimited bibliotheque of movies, songs,... and operas. All Mozart is there with Popp, Terfel, Solti, Te Kanawa, Flemming. "Le Noce..." or "Don Giovanni" ? Impossible choice.
...
To Ben
...
