Happy New Year's Eve

I have managed to ignore the blog lately. For the coming year, I hope for a consistency in the things I do!

I saw the sun go down and managed to get a blind spot that lasted a while.

Hope you have a glorious 2015.

It's October already!

I love this month! Not only is it the month of birth of all 3 of us siblings, which really isn't the only reason behind my fondness for it. But the change in weather is beautiful. In France, apart from temperatures dropping and going up, other seasonal changes are also so visible. People on the streets, the colour of their clothes, the vegetables in the market, the skies. I am pretty sure that even if I were born during one of those hot summer months, I would have loved October.

I have let a couple of months pass by without blogging about it. July was different this year. The summer wasn't as intense as last year. And I feel these past few months have really flown by. I remember vignettes, but feel like it all occurred ages ago.

In August, my sister and her little family visited. I went to Paris to look after my niece so that my sister and her husband can roam around the beautiful city on their own time. It was a lovely and different experience, looking at Paris through a toddler's eyes. Short trips to Barcelona and Madrid followed. Barcelona is a very lively city, very youthful and colourful. Madrid is a sophisticated, charming city. My sister and I had the best experience one day in Madrid, when we treated ourselves to an evening of Flamenco. It is such a rustic yet classic style, with live music and singing. The style of singing reminded me of Raï.

A couple of friends we made last year moved to another city. In September, I had the pleasure of having them over for dinner. They are from Romania and their former flat mate, who attends drum class with me, is from Latvia. I cannot begin to tell you the amount and openness of our political conversations. For some reason, they are well aware of India’s continued issues of control with her many neighbours. And we draw similarities from across the world, especially from across Europe.

Yesterday, at Claudio's place for Hindi class, we had just finished reading an extremely formal letter of application asking for leave of absence. I told him nobody speaks so formally like that anymore. Perhaps, they still write like that in the government where you have to sound like you will remain forever obliged to your superior if they grant you leave!

This led us to talk about 'monsieur' and 'madame', which literally is 'my-sir' and 'my-dame'. He said in the great old times, the royalty used to address their queens and kings like this. So, you are 'my-sir' or 'my-dame'. And that continued as it is.

THAT led us to talk about the origin of the word ‘ciao’. In Italy it is ‘hello’. In France, it is ‘bye’, although I feel it is more an outside influence than an original term in French. It turns out the Latin for ‘I am your slave’ (used during the Roman Empire) lends itself to ‘schiavo’, which is Italian for ‘slave’. ‘Ciao’ is a version of that.

Imagine!

May Day Tradition

I don't remember seeing little flowers last year, but this year on May Day, people were seen selling little sprigs of flowers on streets. Buses and trains weren't working, offices were closed, but streets were full of tourists and restaurants were making good business. In the midst of it all, I'd see people holding these little flowers. I was wondering what tradition it was to give flowers on Labour Day.

This morning, I went to the regular guy to buy some vegetables. At check out, the lady at the counter gave me this familiar looking sprig with little white flowers. Aah! I asked her what it was and she said it's a May Day tradition.

Still not satisfied, I came home and looked up the internet and found some interesting story behind this lovely tradition.

"SHOPS are shut, buses are not running, and unions are marching for workers’ rights, as France marks the Fête du Travail today. 

But, as well as work and workers, May 1 - which became a public holiday in France in 1947 - is associated with an older tradition. It is the Fête du Muguet, when thousands of roadside stalls selling lily of the valley spring up. The flower only became associated with workers’ rights in the 20th century. 

Last year the French forked out €31.8m to buy a sprig of lily of the valley (“muguet”) as a token of affection for family and loved ones. 

The tradition of giving lily of the valley flowers on May 1 is said to have begun in 1560, when knight Louis Girard presented King Charles IX with a bunch of lily-of-the-valley flowers as a token of luck and prosperity for the coming year. 

It is said that he took a shine to the idea and began the custom of presenting lily-of-the-valley flowers to the ladies of his court each year on the same day. 

Growers, particularly in the Loire-Atlantique, where 80% of cultivated plants will come from this year, have said that the recent mild conditions mean a bumper crop."

Solidarity

I spent this afternoon with my friend whom I met in drum class. She was planting some things in her garden and had given a shout out to anyone who was keen to help.

Naturally, I went to her place and to help her plant some tomatoes, strawberries, aubergines, and courgettes. On her terrace, there is a heightened platform of about a feet high, and about 4 by 4 in size. The earth in it had to be turned, pebbles removed, little weeds pulled out. A bunch of her other female friends had turned up too.

It turned out to be an afternoon of fun. I was meeting a few women for the first time. But over snacks and tales, we became acquainted and I found solidarity in this group which spanned across different ages and nationalities.

I know I am right when I smile at a stranger. I know it's the right foot forward when I say 'yes' to almost everything and 'no' almost never crosses my mind. I know I am right when I ask a question and am answered back in kind. And that's how a conversation begins.

That's all one needs to do to live a life filled with a colourful bouquet of experiences.

Blue Coast Logistics

The Blue Coast train is a hop-on-hop-off day line between Marseille and Miramas in the north. By car, it's probably less that an hour. But the train rides along the coast till La Courenne and then go inland, leaving the beautiful blue coast behind. You can buy the pass for 15 euros per person and get on and off the train as many times as you want in that one day. (Both photos taken from here.)

The train starts from St. Charles de Gaulle in Marseille at regular intervals during the entire week. The schedule changes only slightly during the weekend. Make sure to check before you make a trip. We had planned this day trip for the Sunday before last. But we missed the one at 10.30 and the next one was only at 2.30 PM.

This time we were better prepared and took the 8:30 AM train out of Marseille. Initially, we'd thought we'd get off at Martigues. But a closer look at the timetable told us that the train left Miramas only 20 minutes after it reached there. So we decided to go all the way up and see what's good and what's not along the way and then decide what to do.

On the way back, we got off at Martigues, the 'Venice of Provence.' (We'll let others decide whether or not this actually stands true!) When we reached Martigues, we thought that was it. However, the main hub is quite far from the gare. The timetable on the bus stop right outside told us that the next bus to anywhere was a hour later. So we walked in the direction that seemed right, walked into a shop, asked for directions and took the long walk back along a highway into town. Fortunately, we met someone who was more specific with how 'far' town was and this time we were able to get a bus.

We knew that the next train out of Martigues was at 2.30 PM. So after spending some time walking around town, we took the bus back, got on the train and headed to Carry-le-Rouet to spend the rest of the day at the beach.

Some things I realized:

• Make sure to carry food and water with you. It's less expensive and you can munch as and when you want to.
• Very rarely will you find yourself without a timetable to refer to, especially when you are relying on public transport in Europe. Make sure to refer to timetables and ask for assistance. If you know how to read one, you are pretty much ready to go!
• Be ready to adjust along the way, alter your plan and walk a lot. It can be fun and you'll learn a lot more.

Happy travels!

(Make sure to check out our personal photos of Martigues here!)