Sunday, July 08, 2007

Les Feuilles Mortes...

Was reading Paulo Coelho's "Like the Flowing River" last week, when I read about a song that was briefly mentioned in one of the stories. A song called "Autumn Leaves"; actually a French song called "Les Feuilles Mortes". Being interested, I googled for it, and found its amazing lyrics (along with its English translation)that I am putting below .
Havent had a chance to hear the song, but yes, I am looking for it now. In the meanwhile, I will just enjoy reading the lyrics...

Les Feuilles Mortes
Lyrics by Jacques Prévert, (1945)
Music by Joseph Kosma, (1945)


Oh! je voudrais tant que tu te souviennes,
Des jours heureux où nous étions amis,
En ce temps-là, la vie était plus belle,
Et le soleil plus brûlant qu'aujourd'hui.
Les feuilles mortes se ramassent à la pelle,
Tu vois, je n'ai pas oublié.
Les feuilles mortes se ramassent à la pelle,
Les souvenirs et les regrets aussi.
Et le vent du Nord les emporte,
Dans la nuit froide de l'oubli.
Tu vois, je n'ai pas oublié
La chanson que tu me chantais...

(Oh! I really hope you remember
Those happy days when we were friends.
In those times life was more beautiful
And the sun brighter than today's.
The dead leaves gather on the rake.
You see, I have not forgotten...
The dead leaves gather on the rake,
As do the memories and the regrets,
And the north wind carries them
Into the oblivion of the cold night.
You see, I have not forgetten
The song that you used to sing to me.)

Refrain
C'est une chanson qui nous ressemble,
Toi qui m'aimais, moi qui t'aimais.
Nous vivions tous les deux ensemble,
Toi qui m'aimais, moi qui t'aimais.
Mais la vie sépare ceux qui s'aiment,
Tout doucement sans faire de bruit.
Et la mer efface sur le sable,
Les pas des amants désunis.

(It's a song that resembles us.
You, you loved me and I loved you
And we lived together,
You who loved me, I who loved you.
But life separates those who love,
Gently, without making a sound,
And the sea erases from the sand-
The footsteps of separated lovers.)

Les feuilles mortes se ramassent à la pelle,
Les souvenirs et les regrets aussi
Mais mon amour silencieux et fidèle
Sourit toujours et remercie la vie.
Je t'aimais tant, tu étais si jolie.
Comment veux-tu que je t'oublie ?
En ce temps-là, la vie était plus belle
Et le soleil plus brûlant qu'aujourd'hui.
Tu étais ma plus douce amie
Mais je n'ai que faire des regrets
Et la chanson que tu chantais,
Toujours, toujours je l'entendrai !

(The dead leaves gather on the rake
As do the memories and the regrets
But my love, quiet and loyal,
Always smiles and is grateful for life.
I loved you so much, you were so beautiful.
How can you expect me to forget you?
In those times, life was more beautiful
And the sun brighter than today's.
You were my kindest friend
But I only created regrets
And the song that you used to sing,
I hear it always, always...)

Monday, July 02, 2007

Interesting people I met...

I look forward to travel. Gives me a great opportunity to meet strangers, talk with them, observe them and if possibly, learn from them. Here's an account of three such very interesting people I met last month.

It was the day of the French Open final. Having slept at 2.30am after a long and tiring day spent in packing my bags & clea'r'ing my apartment in Tampa that I had to vacate, I was looking forward to catching a few winks on my flight to Chicago. Uncharacteristically by my own sleep standards (trust me - I can sleep anywhere, anytime), I was awake 15-20 minutes into the flight. Since I had no intention of reading, the usual bunch of books I carry were tucked up into the cabin bag put safely at the top. Reading the airline magazines in the front pocket isnt exactly my cup of tea, and I was finally relieved when the big burly American gentleman sitting next to me offered me his newspaper to read.

An old retired American chap well into his 60s, he was a jolly old fellow who loved to talk as much as I do. We were then talking for a whole 2 hours on different things ranging from sports, culture, cracking jokes, politics as well as personal stuff!

I was stumped with his amazing sense of humour as well as his good-heartedness; a drunk guy sitting in front of us talked very rudely to the airhostess; and my neighbour called her to tell her,
"Look Anna darling (yeah, he did note her name), I dont care what that gentleman sitting in the front tells you - I know this! You are doing a wonderful job! And we all appreciate it very much!"
When he ran out of his champagne, he would call Anna again, and then hold his throat and enact as if he is going to choke to death if she couldnt refill his glass. This he did atleast a good 3 or 4 times!

I was a little disappointed with myself of not having confirmed my 'vegetarian' meal preference with the airline, and I had to refuse the salmon and the beef options for lunch. My good neighbour then offered me his cookie and requested Anna to give me an extra cookie! And then fooling around with me, he told Anna who brought me the extra cookie, that I ate his cookie :D

Uncle Dan showed me his wife's photograph. She was Japanese and very beautiful. He told me that they had different likes & dislikes. While she loved New York, he hated it. He loved watching football over beer in the evenings, and she would keep nagging on something that bothered her. Yet they loved each other deeply.
They had met in Japan, fallen in love with each other, and she moved with him to the US.
They then moved to Dubai where he ran his business for a good 20 years. And then he sold his business to his Indian partner and came back to lead his retirement life in Florida.

He asked me about my experiences in the US - what did I learn, what did I think aboutt American people in general, and told me that
"Forget the war; an average American is basically good at heart."

He asked me how old i was. I replied I was 28.
And he told me, "Wowww! You are at such a fine age! You can still do so many things at 28. You know what? You wont have such freedom or flexibility in 10 years from now when you become 38. But 28 is such a nice age to be..."

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The same evening was my flight from Chicago to London. Till the very last minute, I was calling friends across the US to tell them that I am going home for good. Speaking in Hindi/Marathi/English, the lady sitting next to me in the flight was obviously a little perturbed with all the excitement in my voice. Finally, the air hostess came and told me that I had to switch off my phone and the plane was going to leave. Sheepishly, I apologised to her and the lady and switched off my phone.

Her name was Lara. She was a woman in her late 30s. Looking at her, I thought that she was neither a Brit nor an American. Turned out that she was a Russian Jew whose grandparents had immigrated to South Africa during the WW-II. She had done her schooling and college in SA, UK and US; was married an American and was now settled in the UK.
She worked as one of the head honchos for a beer company, and said that she was the best friend for all her friends coz they got free beer from her. I had to admit to her that unfortunately for her or for me, I didnt drink beer. :(

She took a 15 day vacation every year to go home in South Africa; I had heard of the beautiful Garden Route, a 200 km adventure filled drive along the West Coast from Jo'burg to Cape Town, from a colleague at work; and Lara endorsed it saying that I must visit her 'home' country and especially the Garden Route. :)

As we spoke more on the different cultures, she said that she never wanted to stay in the US coz she felt that Americans always considered her as an alien, which surprisingly she didnt find in London.

She asked me if I was married. I said no, and added that in India, I am supposed to be married at this age. Very interestingly, she said that she understood, coz its the same in Jews - even for them, they are bound by tradition to get married at a certain age, have kids at certain age, etc, etc - which she did not do. She went out of the system by marrying an American, but most importantly - she chose to make a decision.

We wished each other luck for the future, and after knowing that I would be spending a week vacationing in London & Scotland, she even recommended me a nice Indian restaurant in London that was her favorite. :-)

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Our Scotland trip had been really very fantastic - it was a family vacation coming after a good 4 years and we had a great time. Amongst the places we visited, I fell in love with Inverness, especially the lovely walk along the River Ness that runs through the small town. The Scottish are very nice people to talk to - their accent is very much different than the English, whose accent is again very, very different from the Americans. Infact, I had much trouble in understanding the English accent - but I loved hearing the Scottish speak in English. And all the Scots I met - at the railway station, at the tourist info desks, at the restaurants and at the hotels - all of them seemed very simple, genuine and happy souls.

Having almost finished our trip, we were waiting for our train in Glasgow, when me n mom decided to do some window shopping. Entering a jewellry shop, mom was looking at something that caught her fancy.

That is where we met Lisa, a 22-23 yr old girl who worked part time in that jewellery shop. She was originally from Dundee in Scotland, had done her schooling and college in Scotland itself - Dundee & Edinburgh and told us that she never wanted to leave Scotland.

This was going to be my gift for mom - she was interested in a pearl set, while I had liked a crystal set. We asked Lisa for her opinion, and being the sales-girl she was, she told us,
"If you like the classic look, go for the pearls. But if you like something more modern, go for the crystal set."
A typical consultant's reply - let the customer make the choice! :D

While mom was making up her mind, I was chatting with Lisa. I asked her how much she knew about gems, pearls & jewellery and if she had undergone some formal training. She surprised me by saying that in her under-grad, she had studied Microbiology, but she realised that she could never pursue that as a career. Using her arms to gesture, she said that looking into the microscope all day long did not fascinate her very much!

Her big eyes became even bigger when she said that what did fascinate her was nursing. She was working currently in summer to earn some money to pay for her tuition, and then come September, she would undergo training to become a professional nurse and then work in some hospital in Scotland itself. She was so content in remaining in her home country or hometown itself.

Needless to say, she was extremely delighted when we ended up buying both the sets :D

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Three people - Uncle Dan, Lara and Lisa - from three different backgrounds, countries and cultures; and standing at three different stages in their lives.
The common thing to each of them was probably that all three of them had taken a decision in their life about what they wanted to do. And they were happy in doing that.

As I remember them today, I cant stop smiling as I also remember the beautiful song sung by 6 year old Connie Talbot on Britain's Got Talent show on TV,

Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly
Birds fly over the rainbow
Why then, oh why can't I?
Some day I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where troubles melt like lemondrops
Away above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me

Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly
Birds fly over the rainbow
Why then, oh why can't I?

If happy little bluebirds fly
Beyond the rainbow
Why, oh why can't I?