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...

Jazz Festival in Paris

This week Paris is quietly attending the Jazz Festival at various venues. So I searched on the net for a club and found the China Club. So Rob (a canadian friend, with Italian roots and engineering background like me) and me went to the club after an Indian meal of Mutter-Paneer (gravy dish of peas and cottage cheese) with Rice at my place which he enjoyed! But we were in for a surprise as we got down at a station which was quite far from the Club. However, we decided to walk and what a walk it was...we crossed almost 5-6 metro stations on foot! Finally reached the place which turned out to be wonderful. Extremely elegant and had a good crowd. But the Jazz set was about to end and hence we decided to have something at the Club and discussed alot of issues like world politics, religion and interestingly similarities between Italian and Indian cultures!
Incidentally, Italian society is also patriarchic and women do alot of house-hold work which is a fast changing trend in India as well. Moreover he pointed out how Italian women put on weight after marriage...sounds like India? I will very soon get to eat authentic Italian food cooked by Rob with lots of "oregano"!! One source of authentic Italian food is in the college restaurant where Pizza served is very good (though full of cheese) but its very much unlike the US-Indo pizzas available in Indian outlets. No wonder there are not many Domino's and Pizza Hut outlets here as every other cafe (and there are 60,000 of them in Paris) offers those original pizzas.
I realise the topic of this blog was about the Jazz Festival!
Now that the topic has shifted to food, one more piece of information. I once went to a restaurant near Eiffel in a place called Ecole Militaire...named Hotel Punjab for Indian food. And guess wat, it is owned by a Pakistani and run (operations) by Bangladeshis!

Presentations and Career Fairs

All the major recruiting brands have come to the campus here at ESCP-EAP. Yesterday was a Finance special day with all majors putting up stalls in the campus. The people at the stalls have a tough job...tat of encouraging all the students who come to the stalls to apply online and making everyone feel that he or she is "cut" for the job. The stalls were no doubt informative but realised that most of the students were there for freebies and guess what the goodies were...pendrives, loads of chocolates, pens, stress-busters, bags, etc. 2 weeks back there were loads of presentations by the companies and after each presentation, students were offered snacks and drinks...yes, drinks in the campus. Something unheard of in India. Anyways, a good chance to taste different varieties of cheese...when in France, not to taste the cheese, wine and champagne is a sin.

Watching movies

Can't help buying DVDs when I go to buy some groceries from the Indian-Sri Lankan area in Paris called Gard da Nord. So happened to watch 2 movies recently: Kabhi Alvida Na Kahna and Teesri Manzil.

First about Teesri Manzil...there is a song which I call "A tribute to the Giant Wheel!"...something about it:

I must admit that the precision with which Director Vijay Anand has filmed the movie and the songs is unbelievable. 40 years back, he could achieve what we cannot with digital technology well in place.

Long calculated shots and unusual camera positions...

"Dekhiye saahibon wo koi aur thee..." is completely picturised on the giant wheel and the camera almost takes you to a ride of the wheel...your head may actually spin! There is a particular shot wherein Shammi Kapoor is performing on the ground and the camera is placed on the rotating wheel...for almost 540 degrees of rotation, Shammi performs without going out of the frame, lip syncing without making a mistake.

No wonder, Pancham used to like watching his songs being shot.

After 1942 A Love Story, I cant think of a movie wherein people eagerly waited for songs to come on screen. No wonder, songless movies are in fashion nowadays.

Now lets talk about Kabhi Alvida Na Kahna...well, honestly I liked the movie. It is real and entertaining. Karan Johar is a genius. If you can forget some over-sentimental scenes, hamming by Shahrukh (but he cant help it, NRIs love it), songs and length of some scenes...you may like the rest of the film. Karan Johar always has entertaining scenes in his movies. Things that make it paisa vasool. NO I am NOT talking about special appearances by Kajol or John Abraham or 120 different colors for sarees in the background or 456 balloons on the set or one mandatory sports scene which tries hard with no success to capture the thrill of climax of Lagaan!!

I am talking about the wit in the dialogues, the way words are played around with...the humour which is real...which shows those characters (played by the most expensive actors) actually talking about things that you and me talk about...KKKG had some such scenes with Shahrukh and Hrithik trying to frustrate each other, Kal Ho Na Ho had many such scenes with Rajpal Yadav, Saif, Shahrukh, etc...and of course KANK also has many of them with Amitabh Bachchan as well!

All in all, a good film...or atleast not as bad as everybody seems to be saying. Not that this should be sent to film festivals because that will embarrass people who have watched Closer (2004).

There was one reference of Paris by the way, in the movie...this is to justify this post.

Another reason for writing this is that I am feeling too lazy to get out of bed...its cold outside!

Do post your comments...

Abhishek Bachchan in Paris

Near Eiffel Tower (precisely at Trocadero), there was a small unit shooting, without getting any attention. Seemed to be like a small time television shoot till I noticed some Indian faces and asked some unit members. One stupid unit girl said it was the shooting of an hindi film "Jhoom" and went away. With this I could guess it is Jhoom Baraabar Jhoom (Yash Raj and Shaad Ali's next film). But it struck me that the film has a huge star-cast including both the AB's and my favourite Omar Shareef (Pakistan's legendary comedien). Then I asked another unit girl (named Aarti) and she turned out to be worse (rather silly) and did not tell who all are shooting :) Anyways, as it turned out, the ordinary looking actors were Abhishek Bachchan and poor Lara Dutta (short clothes in chilly weather!).
Interestingly, a sardarji uncle with his family rejected the shoot as that of some South Indian film and was walking away. When I showed him AB, his family screamed and uncle asked who, where, really? :D
We also checked the shoot in Shaad Ali's TV screen and the shot looked awesome. On right-hand corner of the screen were AB and LD and rest of the frame was occupied by Eiffel Tower lit up in the nite. Check out for the scene in Jhoom Baraabar Jhoom...prolly next year's biggest release.

They are all talking about India

Today I finished this week's lectures for 6 courses and though none of my classes had more than 5-10% Indians (the student exchange programme here has 240 foreign students from places like UK, US, Germany, Russian, Czech Republic, Norway, Spain, Mexico, Italy, Canada, Finland, Poland, etc etc), ALL faculty members have spoken about India. All of them have mentioned that Indians are smart and that India is all set to be a major power tomorrow. Nothing new about this but it seems the developed world has taken notice of India. Mentions of China are different, abit skeptical for lack of transparency.

A common feature in most of the courses is that of inviting guest speakers (some people may come all way from US; speakers include lawyers, businesspersons and academicians). Many many examples were shared in Brand Management and Marketing Communications sessions. There is a huge culture gap as many ads shown in class here could never have been shown in India (Videos and Pics).

Think I am obsessed with making so many comparisons with India. Very soon others will do this :D

People in Europe are not really fond of the US...India with its rich culture can surely fill this void ;) If only we take pride in us and realise how much we have to offer to the world.

Interestingly on the first day itself an American girl was complaining about how Indians are snatching their jobs...this reminds me that Thomas Friedman in The World is Flat analyses this beautifully and proves how outsourcing is infact generating more jobs for Americans!

Came to know yesterday that Paris is the most dugged city in the world...has to be...with so many metros all over, u dont have to walk more than a few meters to the nearest station. Also heard about a tunnel below Paris which is partly open to public...need to find out more about it.

Pt Shiv Kumar Sharma, Ustad Zakir Hussein and Sonu Nigam are to perform here soon...will never attend their concert outside India (they are too expensive!)...till of course someone gives free tickets (Dubai was the best in this aspect!).

French Women and Managers

In France alot of importance is given to contracts. Till you don't sign a contract, you have not won the trust. Unlike some other countries (like China) where you have to build the trust by wining, dining and getting to know each other well before you sign a deal. If you are invited to a french household, it is a matter of honour because it clearly indicates that you have won the trust but beware, as Indians we tend to be nice to our host and offer to help them with food and kitchen but in France, its a strict NO. It is seen as an infringement of their personal space. Very different from US or India. Dinner invitations are more formal here.

Now lets talk about French Women. Western world since the last many centuries is known for emphasising on "individuality" and giving respect to an individual's own space, needs and habits. It is the same in France...women are independent BUT what stands out is the fact that they are still very feminine or womanly (primarily in business context)...they want to be treated like women (with all the chivalry in place) unlike some places where women are taking feminist movements to crazy heights like asking for same shoes as men in the military! (with no respect for biology) Work place harrassment has not become extremely fragile here. They are extremely secure of their gender. As our professor puts it, they may also play with it.

The system in France is very hierarchical and people in power want to be seen as people in power (sounds like India?). Pecking order is important. In colleges, the management may have rooms at the top floor!

"State knows best" is felt popularly across France and hence private charities are not really liked in France (Warren Buffet beware!). People may try to find hidden agendas in private charities. Roots for this can be found in the fact that the French believe in a "Zero-sum game". So someone has to lose for somebody else to gain. Hence if you talk about the success story of Dhirubhai Ambani here marked with the built-from-scratch attribute, it will lead to a certain analysis resulting in finding who became poorer when he became richer (of course, this is not true always).

And last but not the least, the best expression of your knowledge is Language. How well you articulate, impress people with your speech and proper use of language is what will determine your success in France. There is an academy dedicated to the language and dont be surprised if the French correct your language and suggest better words (this is not to be taken as an offense but as a sign of help).

With this I end this post, and apologise for not being able to post everyday after an ambitious start. Probably you can visit once a week to avoid disappointment.

Find of the day rather week...moving around in the crowded streets of Saint Michel, I found a sweet shop with a lot of Parisian sweets and wait...it had ZLABIA...and wat is tat...JALEBI!!...i asked the owner who cud talk in broken english and he confirmed tat it is inspired from indian jalebi!...u can see its pic.

Went on a cruise today in Sienne (equivalent in a way of Yamuna in Delhi :D)...it was organised for student exchange participants...many popular monuments and bridges in Paris are around Sienne. Eiffel tower is also on its banks. Louvre, the famous museum where Mona Lisa "lives"...it seems Napoleon was in love with the painting and kept it in his bedroom...his wife got jealous and sent it away. Saw the place where Louis XVI was beheaded by people. There are many such interesting tales like one of Joan of Arc, a 19 year girl who was burned alive. She was a farmer's daughter who led the French against Britain (looong back) and used to dress like a man. She was tried and whatever she said during the trials was recorded and became popular. Many movies, books, poems have been dedicated to her. According to our Prof who introduced her to us, she was "overvalued". Then there are places related to the French revolution and so many revolutions. Paris has an interesting history of revolts, revolutions or nowadays riots. People firmly believe that "State knows best" but take to streets of they need a change. Many decisions and decision-makers have been changed by people here. And almost all French revolutions have started from Paris.

One interesting thing about French language is that there is an academy dedicated to the language that takes care of it and in a way adds words to the vocabulary and sets rules of usage. French spoken anywhere in the world should be centred around Paris unlike English which is now truly Glocal (adapted all over the world and not necessarily the Queen's language).

More about French culture in the next post.

Welcome friend, to my blog...experience paris with me...day by day. Clean and green...tats how paris differentiates itself from say a city like Bombay. Otherwise view from the train and buildings resemble south bombay with its european architecture. My acco (pics to be uploaded soon) is in Maison De L'Inde (or The India House) in a place called Cite Universitaire (where alot of country specific houses exist). Uptil now life in paris has been mainly on the metros...extremely convenient, well-connected, fast, never late (Farah from London told me how their metros often run late...and the Indian story is well known), beggars are also found in there, well-mannered people (no one's in a hurry). On day 1, we tried to ask people about our station and left a few french enthusiasts confused as they tried to read their charts ;)...finally an Indian on the train came to our rescue...honestly indians need not learn a foreign language...trust a mallu to be there to help u anywhere in the world (next day morning, a mallu gentleman dropped us right uptil our platform in one of the stations!).

Wait for the next post on first day in college and then subsequent posts on the "inside" information about people and culture of france both from social and political perspectives.