You often fall in love with a
person but sometimes it’s a place. I felt smitten with Avignon - a lovely urban
town in the Provence region of France. Well, recalling my very first experience
in the city didn’t do anything to evoke the love rather left us almost high and
dry. We arrived by train and went around looking for public transport information
to get to our hotel. Considerable sweating and scurrying around in the hot sun
lead us to an unaware security guard who guided us to a wrong bus stop where we
waited and waited but no bus arrived. After a frustrating hour or more we
finally took a cab. So the well intentioned guard’s misinformation cost us 40 Euros
where we should have reached in 8 Euros. But the ordeal was far from over.
Upon reaching the B&B in the
town’s suburb, we were welcomed by a locked door. We rung the bell and hence
began a faceless communication with the lady on the other side who asked for
our hotel’s confirmation voucher number. On having provided it, she gave us a
code to punch in the security key board which would let us in. However, upon
typing the code, the security equipment lighted with the following message, “Access
denied, Make Payment”. We looked dumbstruck at each other for a long moment then
at the faceless communicator trying to explain that we had paid in full and the
Reservation Voucher read the same. But she wouldn’t budge, as long as her
system didn’t show it she wouldn’t unlock the door or let us in and so we sat
there on our luggage fuming both physically and mentally trying to sort out the
glitch. The guy at the booking website’s call centre thankfully confirmed that
it was a fully paid reservation and kept us on hold for 15 whole minutes on an
international call. This was insanely exasperating and irritating. We gritted
our teeth in the scorching sun (yes it was as bad as in Chennai) till he
rectified the technical anomaly in the system and sent the confirmation to the
hotel. And the faceless lady finally agreed to give us another code which worked
and the door clicked open. It wasn’t merely relief, it was a deliverance.
The opening scene in Avignon left
me cantankerous but all that followed soon only deepened the affliction of the French
romance. Fragrant Purple Earth is what remains etched in my mind. Gazing at those
expanses of lavender fields took me to a land of antiquity where I, a peasant
girl sauntered unbridled and amok in the French countryside carrying my parasol.
The beautiful and imperial lavender is sometimes juxtaposed with vibrant green
and at other places with golden swaying hay. It is one of the most magnificent
sights to behold. And with a little rub between the palms the lavender buds
exude the most sensational aroma. Inviting villages of Sault, Gordes, Rousillon
beckoned us with their tamed rusticity but natural charm. Unspoilt and elegant in appearance but
bucolic at its heart is how I would define these little towns dotting the
landscape of Provence with its gorgeous purple bounty.
After basking in the countryside
and seeing, smelling, touching and tasting (lavender ice cream) lavender it was
time to explore the city of Avignon the next day. And as we made our way to the
city centre by evening, it was oozing with voltaic excitement. The side cafes packed with people, the streets
a live performing stage and the air just electric with energy and vibrancy. By
sheer luck and chance, our travel plans coincided with Avignon’s Cultural and
Theatre Festival. And for anybody who has the slightest interest in art will be
over the moon to witness this absolutely rocking festival. It is a world
renowned event where artists and spectators from around the globe come together
to thrive in its glory.
As we were ambling along, I
realized the main street had been almost cordoned off for performers and
crowds. I cannot truly capture the essence of that sight in words though I am
living it in my mind several times while writing this. I have personally never
seen such a culmination of artistic effervescence. The entire area was a live
stage with street artists and performances every few hundred meters. From hip
hop to tango, from guitarists to avant gard instruments; from acrobatics to
actors it was all happening right in the streets and by lanes of the city
centre with crowds circling around each performance. A particular guitarist’s
soulful music still resonates in my mind and his calm and joyous expression
clearly showed how much he loved his work. There was another band called the Nomad
Men who caught my fancy for more than one reason, of course there music was
tantalizingly upbeat and foot tapping, but one of the instruments was so novel like
a ten feet wooden saxophone and the whole band was setup so inventively on a
refurbished bike not to forget the pair of drummers who were such a good
looking sight! However, what surprised me was that almost every musician here
had his own recorded CD which he was selling as well as using to promote
himself. They are both involved and serious about their pursuit. Further down, there
were pumping dance routines one after the other with escalating energy. The
love affair that began in Paris overflowed in Avignon only this time the medium
had changed.
Theatre is another huge aspect of
this festival and though I couldn’t see any they all being in French and sold
out, the glimpses of it were all around us. The actors market their play on the
streets in a very characteristic style. With painted faces and elaborate
costumes they are doing the rounds on the street in their character’s get up
delivering catchy dialogues on the way. It is not only eye catching but very
new and interesting. Classics, comedy, satire, drama it’s all there to
entertain every mental palate. Performers gather from far flung places for the
love of their work and of course opportunities to come in the public eye. They live
frugal lives, almost depending on their patrons’ generosity, but they still
love what they do and this simple fact makes every challenge worthwhile. They are
basically proud of their choices. This sort of acceptance, love and joy in the
pursuit of art seemed to me like a Sufi connection and some of them did appear
like dervishes completely lost in the music and dance of their spirit.
Such sights made me question and
wonder if it is alright in life to say enough. Is it okay to be happy with
limited resources and avenues? Or is every human bound to strive for peaking progress
and growth? A growth which the world can define and translate into countable
units. Let me put it this way a musician who has the potential to become the
next Lionel Richie but is content in playing by the street side, watching the
world go by, while some in the crowd stand mesmerized and congratulate him. Is
his chosen life an atrophy of his talents? Is he stunting his personal progress?
A progress that in time might stunt the very joy from his music. Is it not a
personal choice then than who are we to judge his aspirations and success by
our personal barometer? The margin of error in being complacent and satisfied
is rather very narrow. As long as a person still wakes up looking forward to
his vocation or profession, derives joy from it and earns enough to lead a self
reliant life I guess he is doing very well for himself.
What I also wonder is why we as a
community and society in our country never encouraged a heartfelt alternative
career quest. Potential artists forced into a rut which didn’t make sense to
them or pushed blindly into an academic race they had no inclination to run? The
movie ‘Tamasha’ rightly put it across. Most importantly why does it not
register with us that some people choose not to run the race not because they
are complacent, lazy or incompetent but simply the joy from their art or
vocation is enough for them. Thankfully
there is eventually a visible shift in our mindset. There is a growing tribe of
explorers and artists in all fields who are boldly breaking the stereotype and
fighting the antagonism to find their footing in the academic loving society.
Drifting back to Avignon, well all
I can say is that it was a celebration of intellectual, creative and artistic
sensibilities revelled against the most picturesque purple fragrant lavender
fields, a sight and experience that will stay with me for a long long time to
come till I fall in love with another place.
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