Jim Morrison's Grave

Finally yesterday I went to this landmark in Paris...Pere Lachaise (a walk away from ESCP-EAP campus) where Jim Morrison is buried. Its a BIG cemetery where greats like Oscar Wilde and Edith Piaf are also buried. Honestly, I did not know much about the American singer, poet and writer. It was a looooong walk till his grave, which because the place is huge, is very difficult to locate without a map. So walked walked and walked till I was totally lost and tired when I spotted a young French guy with a map. He had no clue about what I was saying till he heard Jim Morrison's name and suddenly his face lit up and he took me to the place. On the way, he tried to tell me something in French but all I could understand was that he is a huge fan of Jim and had spent some time crying at his grave and hence was very excited to escort me.

What hit me like a rock as I checked the grave was the inscription "Dec 08, 1943 - July 03, 1971". A man who died when he was just 27 years old and is buried in a cemetery with some of the finest names. BUT it is mainly because of him that tourists and youngsters visit the Pere Lachaise Cemetery. Such is life...

It seems there is a lot of controversy surrounding his death as his body was not seen by many except for a few officials and no autopsy was performed on it. He had also expressed a desire to fake his death and go to Africa to use a pseudonym as a writer. If he died that day in Paris then some people claim he was murdered and some others claim it was due to a drug-overdose.

One thing beats me...all over the world, many creative people take to drugs. What does it do to them? Fires up their creativity? Gives them a high that nothing else in the world can give? Makes them think better? For their fans, it is their work that gives them a high but maybe what works for the creator or the genius is drugs.

One evening at Tracadero near Eiffel, a group of youngsters were dancing and playing rythm instruments. They were not doing it for money and looked genuinely happy playing the instruments with ease and panache. And the rythms were quite provoking and hence they were engrossed in the music and were dancing oblivious to others around. I was impressed since music was giving them a high and they looked very happy and content with life and the music around. Till I saw 2 of them having dope. Wooosh. So it was not life, not music...it was drugs that was the reason for this state of elation. Disappointed, I walked away to look for people who are on a high without the aid of drinks and drugs...