Certified crazy

Last week, on the Paris Metro, I found another set of beautiful lines. (Like earlier) This time, I googled for the four lines and found the whole poem:

Que m’importent lieu, durée,
Si je demeure assurée
De garder toujours l’instant
Seconde ou siècles, autant
Le vent sur sa route emporte.
Lieu, durée, ah, que m’importe,
Tout défile au même train.

Je ne saisirai qu’un grain
Du sable des destinées.

Pour le cueillir, je suis née.

- Liliane Wouters
Extrait de Tous les chemins conduisent à la mer, éditions des Eperonniers, 2007.
Keeping aside the stink of the Metros, I think it has been a worthwhile ride.

j’ai dit parfois
j’ai dit oui
j’ai dit non

j’ai dit parfois
j’ai dit oui
j’ai dit oui

j’ai dit peut-être
j’ai dit jamais
j’ai dit je t’aime

-Pierre Tilman

As seen on a sticker of Rock en Seine festival in metro ligne 6. Apart from this one. May be, someday, I shall make a series of these beautiful lines that I happen to stumble over, in Paris.

Another update on life. Random points jotted down at various points in time.

• Its a bad idea to try to open the door with the same hand as the one that holds an egg or more.
• Always, always, always keep a scarf handy. Especially in Paris. You never know when it starts to get real cold.
• Try and have an extra bath the evening before an important event. If Murphy strikes, the chauffage will go dead the morning you have the important event. And deo or parfum (more than normal) makes it obvious that you have skipped the bath.
• Buy croissants between 8 and 10 am. Most bakeries make them fresh around that time. You can not miss the smell of the butter anyway.
• Dinners have turned into a snack + dessert thing for me these days. Oh I so detest getting used to new electric plates for cooking. Food ends up raw or overcooked.
• eePhone has helped keep up with tweets. I also have tried that thing called twitpic.
• It is also a bad idea to try and tear off a piece of kitchen tissue from a kitchen roll when you have an egg in the same hand.
• A few months ago, my kitchen saw me baking more often. There are yet a few dishes that I would like to try before I leave France. Time will tell.
• I have fallen in love with the butter that you get at Pascal Beillevaire. Démi sel, croquante. And it shows.
• It is better to travel alone than with company that you will probably feel uncomfortable with, later.
• Do not try lenses if your eyes are on the dry side. (That is when you use too much of computers and too less of your brain.)
• DO NOT EAT ANYTHING OUTSIDE YOUR OWN KITCHEN 3 DAYS BEFORE YOU HAVE TO MAKE A LONG JOURNEY. No matter what. Even if you do not get to eat Paneer or Pani Puri for a long time to come. That includes dabheli, sev puri, bhel and dahi puri too. And dosa. And Kulfi. I ended up taking 3 injections within 26 hours. The last one 3 hours before my flight.
• It is a bad idea to read food blogs when you are hungry. And especially when you do not have quick access to good food.
• Its a pleasant surprise to listen to a French or a Spanish guy to say a few words in Hindi now and then.
• Letting go one hour of chatting with friends per day gives you more time to spend on other things in life. Try it. And besides sending and receiving a personal email is always such a good feeling.
• Himesh Reshammia and his songs are funny. No matter if he changes his hair style or his singing style.
• Either plan your travels very well or dont plan them at all.

I hope I put up more of these notes. More for my reference than for that of others.

Read off one of the posters of Rock en Seine in the ligne 6 of Paris Metro.

Je ne saurais décrire
La puissance de mes sentiment
Je n’est qu’une chose à dire
Je t’aime tellement …

Touché.

Paris has a bizzare way of charming people. All the tourists spots dont tell you how the real Paris feels like. Real Paris is the feeling you get when you drive down Rue Alesia on your velib at midnight and still have people walking back from films, lovers sitting on the benches and taking in the moonlit sky and some jogging at this hour in the night.

Just came back from a 45 minute ride on the cycle and it did the wonders that a lot of people could not. Made me happy and free. I have fallen in love with this city.

Last weekend saw me going back to Sophia. Some friends and I decided to go Parasailing. Super fun. Got scared considering that they dropped me from the chute, onto the sea. More than the drop, it was the fear of water that sent me panting for air after the drop. Other than that, the whole thing went off well. Also went down to Marineland the next day to see some dolphins and whales play. The sea lions did a small skit which was very cute.

Plan was to go bungee jumping off the highest point in europe, but couldn’t find a driver to take us to the point up in the mountains. May be next time.

This could probably be my last post from Sophia Antipolis and Eurécom for a long time to come. With exams done, and projects submitted, and reports taken care of, now its time to shift base to Paris, for internship for the next six months.

Time sure flew by very fast, especially this semester, as I had expected it to, and we are all saying bye bye and au revoirs to every other person who leaves Sophia for other places in France and elsewhere in Europe. A lot of parties and good bye dinners. Hugs. Pool games. Foosball. Wine. Flowers. Jokes. Laughter. Jogs. Trips to Carrefour. The climb up to Eurecom. More trips to Carrefour. Closure of EDF contracts. Trips to Issac. The balconies. Rain. Tea. Cheese balls. Maggi. French. And the struggle to speak Français. Beach. Promenade des Anglais. Crème glace. Fountain. The walks through the jungle. The complements. Benches in the moonlight. Neighbours. Sitting at the window. 321. The church. Running to catch the last bus back home. Falafel. Summer wind. Group classes during exams. Copy everything blindly from others´ notes. Open book exams. Handwritten A4 cheatsheets. Badminton. Asking for everything under the sun. And getting it. The calls. Late night speak-your-heart-out sessions. Haircuts. Cleaning up after parties. Cooking food and seeing it being eaten very happily. Pani puris. Hair bands.

Au revoir, mais pas adieu.

Past two months have been a blur and I guess the next one will arrive and finish before I can say cheese. This spring semester has kept us all busy. Some quick updates on what I have been up to.

April was home-college-home routine. Assignments and homeworks, labs and reports, projects were never ending. Had a 10-day vacation from school in May, so got my family to come over to Europe and went on a tour to Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Loved Austria – must go back if I get a chance. Ma and sis came back with me to Sophia for about three weeks. Piling on good Ma cooked food has its own (side) effects.

Some of us went to Cannes during the film festival and some friends were disappointed that they did not get to see Aishwarya Rai.

There was “Indian Dinner” organized at college yesterday. We cooked food for about 50 people. I still can’t believe we pulled that off – about 25 Indian dishes. I am amazed at the amount of spice some of my classmates can handle. Some others constantly held a glass of water in their hand. Some of us will leave college for our internships next semester and yesterday felt like a farewell dinner. I don’t know yet where I will be for the internship, but I hope I enjoy the next semester as much as I enjoyed the last.

Life would have been so much more interesting if all the signs on our Indian roads would have been in what we call “Bambaiyya Hindi”. Some examples:

Exit: chal kalti maar. 

No smoking: Cigarette nahi pine ka, kya?

(French) Vous n’avez pas La Priorité: Abey, tera number nahi, apun ka hai. 

No entry: Andar nahi ghusneka. 

Keep left: Baine baaju me rakh. 

No U-turn: Wapas ulta nahi ghumne ka. 

Can you think of some more funny ones? 

Isn’t anyone tryin’ to find me?
Won’t somebody come take me home?
It’s a damn cold night
I’m tryin’ to figure out this life
Won’t you take me by the hand?
Take me somewhere new
I don’t know who you are
But I’m, I’m with you
I’m with you.

– I’m with you by Avril Lavigne.