I will continue with my understanding of the book Mindsets soon! This is a petit detour, to share a little about Paris.
My first experience in Paris airport was not a memorable one, was a little creepy in fact! So, I greeted the news of our daughter studying in Sciences Po with much trepidation and a heavy heart.
I am not in love with the place yet, but I surely am warming up to it. The city has it all, character, beauty, grace, treachery, pain, celebration. Everything and everyone are the same and yet a little different. She is alive, vibrant and bustling 24/7 like Mumbai, London, New York or Singapore. Paris has a different air though, it is not wet like London, humid like Mumbai or sweaty like Singapore! Paris has a hint of tobacco, perfume and boulangerie potpourri.
The other striking difference is the diversity in Paris. I was surprised and enamored to meet so many people from different nationalities happily chatting away in French! You want to be a Parisan, you need to feel the place, live Paris, you cannot visit or sightsee Paris and know the place. I did not get this feeling from any other place I have visited before.
I knew I was hasty and unfair in my judgement about Paris. One 2hour stopover at an airport was not even a teaser! The airport authorities do their beautiful city a grave injustice when they announce, “Please take care of your belongings, the airport is not responsible for robberies!” The threat of being robbed looms so large all the time, it becomes difficult to soak in the beauty of the place, enjoy it in leisure feeling safe and relaxed. With so much beauty around me, it was exceedingly difficult not to simply let go, and live, feel the place.
Because Paris is both, the warning, and beyond.
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