Rebonjour au voyage

Le 6 avril, 2016. Au revoir à la chaleur indienne mais pas de mangues non plus 😞
La taille juste d'un café au lait à Francfort .
Bons rencontres pendant le vol avec des français qui viennent de Bourgogne , Dijon ... J'ai bien pratiqué la langue mais la fatigue me prend et je m'endors. Puis je regarde un bon film masala de bollywood et je suis à Francfort .
Très propre, aéroport bien organisé, pas du tout confondant comme de Gaulle !!
Je pense toujours à ma mère et ses soucis de vieillesse en priant Dieu qu'elle ne souffre pas.

À Washington DC, je suis bien à l'aise chez ma fille. Faire la cuisine, un peu de nettoyage, faire des sièstes, écouter les oiseaux dans sa maison de forêt, s'enjouir des sons de la silence en lisant ... Ce sont mes activités paisibles.
Ça fait déjà une quinzaine depuis mon arrivée .

Pendant ce temps, ma mère devient de plus en plus dérangée par ses douleurs et avec sa vieillesse, la sourdité.  Je me plains d'elle,  j'espère que je ne sois vivante aussi longtemps qu'elle. La qualité de vie c'est important pour tout être .

Je regarde les papillons heureux qui survolent les buissons, le soleil les rend plus colorés. C'est un paradis vert.

Mais enfin, c'est notre esprit qui doit reconnaître le paradis où qu'on soit. Dans le bruit, ou dans le silence, dans la ville ou dans la forêt, dans la solitude et dans le chaos de la vie  - il faut imaginer le bonheur !

Je fais des promenades solitaires dans ces ruelles de forêt, ça me fait du bien. La tranquillité, les oiseaux qui s'appellent musicalement, parfois je croise quelqu'un qui marche, on se dit "hi" et on continue sur le chemin.


Je lis Alain de Boton - How Proust Can Change Your Life - intéressant - On n'a pas besoin du cataclysme pour aimer la vie aujourd'hui. Nous sommes des êtres humains, et la mort peut arriver ce soir.

Voyage- 2009

Chez Sandhya à Washington DC.

Nous habitons une maison qui fait face à Rock Creek Park une jolie petite foret! Je ne vois que la verdure par la fenêtre, parfois un oiseau qui survole tres vite. Je sens l'oxygene dans l'air pur. Je me rappelle Thoreau habitant au bord de Walden pond.
Habiter avec la nature, quelle bonheur. Et à Bangalore on a detruit tellement les arbres, on n'a aucun respect pour la nature.
On prie Dieu sans respecter la nature.

Cette foret c'est comme un fortifiant pour mon ame tourmenté. J'écoute la musique en regardant les arbres, je peux les toucher, ils sont si pres!

Tu me manques tellement dans cet endroit paisible, je t'aime plus que jamais.


J'ai des oiseaux qui sont mes amis. Je leur donne du pain a manger, il viennent pendant toute la journée.
Ils commencent a devenir gourmands!
Ils chantent et sifflent si joliement.

La gallerie d'art est super, je fais des tours guides qui sont tres interessants - on explique l'art de  Picasso, celui des Italiens, l'art abstrait...
Hier j'ai rencontre Lucille une collegue francaise de Sandhya. Elle est sympa, jolie, je suis heureuse de parler francais avec quelqu'un apres si longtemps!

 

I love the way people are so comfortable with their bodies here - fat, thin, round, black, brown, nothing makes a difference to the way they dress or move. No one stares, you can (un)dress as you please and keep going. Live and let live, enjoy life to the maximum, seems to be everyone's motto. Running, jogging, cycling, practising sports ...

But then all basic needs - food, clothing, house, water are taken care of, people here can afford to be the way they are. In India we are just bogged down by our numbers and our constant multiplication, how can we provide for sports when we lack basic amenities?

 

People in wheelchairs zip around faster than 'normal' people; they take trains, buses, use ramps, elevators are as perfectly mobile as anyone else - when will we reach this utopia in India , if ever we will?

Vancouver was beautiful with Uma. Super combination of mer, montagne, campane.

We saw such a lot of nature, my trip ended with an adventure too. Fell off the ski lift, could imagine what babu felt then - clung to dear life and live on...

 

It's almost time to leave DC. I love this house with the forest and the birds, it's good to cook and clean and be of use and help to Sandhya. But vacations come to an end too, I have to go back to work, to something worthwhile with time.

 

Hope to come back some time next year with more plans for free time, like working part time from home, or volunteering at some special school.

 

When people are scattered in different corners of the earth and elsewhere above, we have to connect with our souls and hearts, besides internet of course!

 

Au Revoir lovely birds and forest, take care of my girl for me. I read recently in a legend of Vancouver that God changes evil souls to stone and good souls to trees that give shelter, fruit and don't expect anything in return.

May the trees around here protect her and perhaps babu is one of the trees here too, looking after his daughter.

Washington DC 3 avril 2010 - journal de voyage

3 avril

Quelle belle journee. Je me reveille pour voir le soleil levant des arbres dans la foret de Sandhya!

Les feuilles commencent a verdir, c'est la saison d'espoir, la saison de printemps, quand la vie recommence.

Cette foret me donne envie de peindre:), meme si je ne suis pas capable de tenir un pinceau! J'entends les oiseaux qui me manquent dans la jungle des batiments a Bangalore.

 

Hier on a vu la fete des 'cherry blossoms'  - fleurs des cerisers - au bord de la riviere Potomac. Tous ces arbres ont une couleur rose-blanchatre!

J'ai jamais vu une chose si jolie. Je me rappelle avoir lu de cette fete au Japon - hanami - du sakura.

J'ai oublie d'apporter mon appareil photo a cause du' jet lag' - le decalage d'heures me fait sentir un peu desoriente et bizarre dans la tete.

 

Il y a une foule de gens dans les rues - les enfants qui disent - 'mais regarde - so many people, so many people - tant de monde, tant de monde!' Il faut que vous veniez en Inde pour savoir ce qui veut dire 'so many people' - je me dis.

Mais aujourd'hui c'est comme si le monde entier est descendu a DC pour voir les cherry blossoms.

 

5avril:

On va a Trader Joe's pour acheter des legumes et des aliments. Trop de choix, je me perds dans les rayons, et je ne sais pas que choisir!  Gros paquets de tous, j'essaie d'acheter seulement ce que je ne gaspillerai pas - il y a du monde dans le monde qui n'ont pas de quoi manger.

 

7 avril

On est rentre voir les fleurs des cerisiers, mais les rose-blanches fleurs ont disparus comme un reve! C'est fini - c'est redevenu vert. Le fleurisson ne dure que 2-3 jours. Je l'ai capture dans ma tete et pas dans mon appareil photo. J'ai oublie mon appareil - frappe par le decalage des heures!

 

9 avril

C'est si verte cette foret, apres une pluie dans la nuit. Les couleurs changent pendant toute la journee, avec la lumiere. Je m'enjouis de cette paix, la verdure, le silence perce seulement par le chant des oiseaux. Ici c'est un spa d'oxygene a la porte arriere!

 

1 mai - 15 mai

Voyage au cote ouest des Etats Unis. On prend des avions et la voiture, Michigan - Ann Arbor ou on entend le President Obama qui parle - quel homme magnifique et sincere! Puis on va a Yosemite ou l'on voit des montagnes et des chutes majestueuses, des arbres GRANDS qui touchent le ciel - la peinture des Dieux!

On voyage a San Fransisco - jolie ville avec montagne et mer. Un merveil cree par l'homme - le Golden Gate Bridge. Puis Los Angeles, Universal Studios (une journee entiere a faire des betises comme des enfants - genial ); musee de Getty au haut d'une colline. Puis on va a la mer en route a Orange County et San Diego. L'eau est froide, mais j'adore la mer - la Pacifique est douce. Encore deux jours avec des parents, en visitant les nouveaux-nes de la famille, puis on retourne a notre cher Rock Creek Park - la foret a DC.

 

16 mai - 26 mai

Des amis qui nous visitent de l'Inde - on fait la cuisine indienne, on bavarde, on fait le tourisme a DC...

 

28 mai

Je rencontre Joanne Cafiero qui travaille avec les enfants autistes. Elle a 65 ans, mais elle est pleine d'energie. Je vois des enfants dans ces ecoles speciales et je vois que la condition humaine est pareille de par le monde. Les femmes qui aident ces enfants sont comme celles en Inde, pleines de compassion, ce sont les liens humains, qui depassent la race et la couleur du peau.

 

5 juin

Comme le temps s'ecoule vite. Je dois m'enjouir de cet endroit paisible, du foret, des oiseaux, de la paix. Je remercie Dieu pour l'oxygene.

La vie c'est bien organisee ici, mais ce n'est pas parfait, ni aussi civilisee qu'on imagine. Je lis dans les journaux que des jeunes ont pietiné et battu un ado dans le métro, pour ses chaussures de marque:( L'avarice et le mal existent partout dans le monde. Un cycliste a été écrasé par 2 voitures. Les accidents comme en Inde egalement:(

 

15 juin

Comme le temps s'est vite écoulé. Je n'ai que trois jours de plus ici. Quel paradoxe est l'être humain! On n'apprécie pas les gens quand on vit avec, et quand le jour de départ s'approche, on commence a être triste, les proches commencent a nous manquer déjà!

La séparation, c'est peut-être créée pour nous faire mieux apprécier l'un et l'autre. Cet écart nous aide a s'aimer plus. Il n'y a point d'amour sans écart, sans distance, sans séparation. Biensur, il y a l'internet qui nous remet en contact ces jours-ci, mais avec ceux qui sont partis au dela, ils nous manquent sans aucune solution dans ce monde.

 

 

17 juin

J'adore cette forêt de Rock Creek Park, si paisible, quelle brise calmant de ces arbres; j'ai fait du bien dans la vie pour mériter cet endroit, merci beaux arbres du foret, merci pour cette verdure et cet air qui m'apaisit. Vous allez me manquer tellement! On dit que les arbres sont comme des bons ames qui nous réconfortent.

Et en 2011, avril, je ne reviens pas aux Etats Unis, donc je me satisfais de lire de ces expériences et de les revivre dans ma tête!

Verlaine, Sarojini Naidu

Il pleure dans mon coeur
Comme il pleut sur la ville ;
Quelle est cette langueur
Qui pénètre mon coeur ?

Ô bruit doux de la pluie
Par terre et sur les toits !
Pour un coeur qui s'ennuie,
Ô le chant de la pluie !

Il pleure sans raison
Dans ce coeur qui s'écoeure.
Quoi ! nulle trahison ?...
Ce deuil est sans raison.

C'est bien la pire peine
De ne savoir pourquoi
Sans amour et sans haine
Mon coeur a tant de peine !

_Paul_Verlaine
_Il_pleure_dans_mon_coeur

Ecstasy

Cover mine eyes, O my Love! Mine eyes that are weary of bliss As of light that is poignant and strong O silence my lips with a kiss, My lips that are weary of song! Shelter my soul, O my love! My soul is bent low with the pain And the burden of love, like the grace Of a flower that is smitten with rain: O shelter my soul from thy face! Sarojini Naidu

 

Louis Tremblay - morceaux traduits

Translated excerpts from Louis Tremblay – Une Vie Normale – A Normal Life

It is enough to sit at the keyboard of a computer, to open a channel and wait for inspiration to fall from the sky, to write a manuscript in a little while, for the editor.

There is a sensation of mental disassociation that a person feels when he is confronted by a difficult situation.

I close my eyes.
I see you.
I open them again.
You are gone. It’s always like that.

My memory transforms itself into a time machine and you come back to life.
Then I can kiss you again, see you again, take you in my arms, and tell you that I missed you.

It is always a paradox. I cannot deal with your absence without your memories. And these memories can only awaken the pain of your absence.

Why should a mother not have the right to weep for the loss of her child in public without having to justify herself or be considered hysterical?

I close my eyes. You are there.
I don’t want to open them again.

You know, rainy days are also like regular days. God does not differentiate.

There is a vast gap between our wonderful principles and our behavior.

They said I did not shed a single tear. They called me courageous. I don’t know.
I wasn’t there.
Besides, why should I cry?
What happened?
I don’t remember identifying him.

I did not see the coffin cover you, like we close the cover of a book once finished.
I floated. I was unreal, the situation was unreal. I even smiled.
We have just left life behind us, but death hasn’t struck yet. The feeling of emptiness, resignation, is strong and I imagine it must be the same for people waiting in the corridor of death.

Time advances like the flow of water. It does not pass judgment on happenings.
It does not delay our misfortune and does not rejoice at our good fortune. It has no compassion for us. It does not stop for us. It goes its way without paying heed to the pebbles strewn on the path. Nothing matters to time and he drags us with him.

I could not accept that life restarted in the days that followed your death.
I could not accept that in just a few days time, people went about their habitual occupation, that the rain fell, that the sun rose and set, that everything was like before for everyone but for us.

To lose a child (any dear one) is a wound in the heart and soul, a thorn gone deep down your insides that no doctor can see. We suffer. We become the suffering.
The worst is that it does not improve. The pain stays intact in spite of the tenacity of the days that go by and come back. The pain does not wear out; its surface remains open as it did on the first day. My pain took up all room; I licked my wounds in a corner like a wounded animal. Nothing else seemed important.

Sooner or later, one has to choose to come back to the world of the living. Life continues and pitying yourself and your fate is of no use. I regret all that happened but one can do nothing.

I shed so many tears without emptying this abscess that stayed swollen and painful till it closed and imprisoned all the pus inside it.
I counted on time to settle matters but I came to the conclusion that certain things demand that we take care of them before time does. It was as though I had lived a single and very long day.

Behind this door were the physical remains of your passage on earth. Crossing that door seemed like disturbing a scared place.

Seeing your room, emptying your things was like deleting you like you had never existed.
I took your clothes and held them close to my face. I could smell you.

Who can claim to have mastered his destiny from the beginning to the end?
Others are none other than me.
You killed a part of me.

I got back in touch with the music of life, its smells, its sounds, its noise and its lights.

I realized that from now on and for life, I would miss a limb, an organ, a vital part of myself. You had died. This organ, limb, life was no more, but I had to learn to live with this, or rather without it.

I chose people who could listen to me.
Now I had to relearn to smile.
Life remains as unseizable as the flow of water.

I close me eyes.
You are there.
I open them again.

Voyages souvenirs 2012

May 5th 2012.

 I arrive in Geneve by Lufthansa. Announcements in German at Frankfurt airport - HUGE and well indicated, unlike Paris as Ambika says. 'Achtung, bitte ... "  Wish it was all in French, the online movies are all in German,  I sleep through the flight, overcome any fatigue and jet lag, so I can be fresh for Geneve! 

Heureusement, Geneve is all French, the language is not too different from standard French, only spoken a bit slower, so I enjoy listening and talking.

Indu and her husband are at the airport to receive me, tres sympa! We drive home, I meet her kids, Rudra and Brinda who both speak a lovely mixture of French and Tamoul - what a delightful marriage of languages:)  

We go to the lake, catch up and I try to soak in the clean air, the surroundings, but jet lag hits me and I register very little of what I see! There is a fountain in the middle of the lake, we have icecreams, I 'partage' with Rudra the franco-tamoul 6 year old!

May 6th -

 I board a train to Zurich, to meet Muthu. The train journey is full of pretty picture postcard views, train stations a la DDLJ, green patches of vineyards, punctuated with yellow mustard squares, pristine lakes, mountains, chalets...  Houses with colourful shutters (les volets).

Muthu is waiting for me at Zurich hauptbahnhof - main station. There are no swipes, no turnstiles, for tickets anywhere, just walk in and out, but be ready for random checks.

We head home for lunch, then out to see Zurich city and Zurich 'see'. Clock towers everywhere, water fountains to drink water that tastes of clear streams, the city is one of comfort and wealth, no signs of shortages of water or food! 

We have melting-in-the-mouth macaroons at Sprungli cafe, take a boat ride on the lake... the views are of fairy tale misty mountains, snow covered, nature at her best! This is what dreams and bollywood films are made of!

I window shop for cuckoo clocks and cow bells and souvenirs, the prices make me dizzy!

After much happy walking and gaping, we get back to Muthu's house, where I make aloo parathas for her to make up for the lovely host she has been.

Squeaky clean swiss country and ciites, reminds me of Asterix comics - where the Romans have messy orgies and the Swiss follow them around mopping up and cleaning the mess!

May 7th -

 Muthu takes me on a trip to Luzerne and Titlis up a beautiful snow covered mountain - 10,000 feet above sea level! It's a cold and rainy day, but that just adds to the beauty of the landscape.

The trip on the world's first rotating cable car is all very touristy but fun! There is a huge cut-out of Sharukh Khan and Kajol from DDLJ up the mountain. I love my very first experience of freshly falling snow - reminds me of the song by Simon and Garfunkel! It dosen't feel any colder with the snow, just soft white flakes caressing the face.

 We are surrounded by a bus load of NOISY Indians and Chinese! I wonder who is noisier? Does it have something to do with being the world's most populous countries? Do we have to shout to make ourselves heard?! 

God - these could create an avalanche here in the snow with their yelling!!

We run into an empty cable car to escape the decibels. 

Luzerne is another picture perfect little town, with lake, old wooden bridge, fabulous facades of old buildings...

On our way back on the train, nature decides to show us there is more to perfection  - with a rainbow - 'arc-en-ciel' - a stunning arch in the sky that leaves us gazing in wonder, till it disappears as suddenly and surrealistically, as it appeared.

May 8th

I make my way back regretfully to Geneva, see the water fountain at the railway station and again wish we had half as much water back home in India, or at least the sense to use what we have carefully. I wonder why our politicians don't learn to do something to share, maintain our resources or improve our infrastructure after their trips abroad, amassing personal wealth seems to be their only concern. But I am just a preacher:(

Bus stops and directions are so well indicated - I find my way back to Indu's house easily - there is a little church close by, a long and downhill winding road to CERN.

I leave my bags and take the tram to CERN - get an information overload of particle physics, the large hadron collidor and other such. What amuses me most here is a comic poster in French that shows Marie Curie's kids bawling for food in the background, while she says 'I have a Nobel prize in chemistry and physics not cooking!'.

In the evening, we go out 'en famille' to have pizzas at 'L'age d'or' which is one of the few restaurants where kids can speak loudly! The Swiss are the other extreme of Indians in public conduct and social regulation!

May 9th, 10th - Toulouse!

I have a warm friendly reunion with Monsieur K - Christian Vair - an old friend from work - we meet again after 10 years! Chris looks crazier in Toulouse, he is wearing a t-shirt from India, old and threadbare with a picture of a tamil film star on it :)

We walk down the Garonne riverside - under a canopy of green trees reflecting in the water. It's warmer here than Geneva and the surroundings are so different, there is a complete change - no rules here, no clocks to follow, just relax by the river, littered sidewalks... the French are so different from the Swiss! No sign whatsoever of perfection - just 'let it be'!

Toulouse is a quaint town with beautiful ancient churches, buildings of coloured brick, fabulous facades which prove the 'richesse' of the owners. Chris explains the architectural details to me ...

No one seems to work in this town, everyone seems to be 'en vacances'! I love the sound of music - French - all around me, I enjoy 'parler francais', we get back to have baguette and cheese!

I seem to be tireless even after hours of walking around the city - this is what Douce France does to me:)

We celebrate Chris' birthday on the 10th after a walk a la campagne - go by the river Ariege, walk past onion fields, pluck acacia flowers, breathe the fresh air in the countryside and just chill!

In the evening, Chris invites a few friends over, one of them - Cindy has played a bit role in a bollywood film and is all excited to meet an Indian! I love the French for their love for India!

We go to a pizzeria for dinner, I love the food and the francais, but the mushroom of cigarette smoke from all the tables makes me choke:(  Why do the French smoke so much? Is this one of the secrets to their slim figures? The wine probably offsets the ill effects of nicotine? 

The variety of cheese eaten in mini bites with pieces of warm baguette...'miam'!!

Too soon time to leave - I am at the exit gate at Toulouse Blagnac aeroport - feeling sad (quelle tristesse) to leave the country I love to visit. This has been my first visit without seeing pretty Pari(s) , but really well worth it!

May 11th, 12th encore Geneve

 A quick tour of the UN office... 

Ici et maintenant

Vivre ici et maintenant, c'est la seule façon de se débrouiller avec la vie! Faites le mieux possible, dans un monde impossible à comprendre. Décider d'être heureux/se, accepter la situation et les gens comme ils le sont. Ne pas plaindre, chasser hors la tête les pensées négatives.
Facile à dire, mais j'essaie ...