Where ?

"Mon corps est en occident , mon coeur est en orient"

Yehuda Halévy
Judah Ha-Levi, Yehudah Halevi, (Judah Ha-Levi) was a Jewish physician, poet and philosopher. He was born in Toledo in Spain, about 1085 and died about 1141.

PARTIR, éloge de la bougeotte

"Avant de penser librement , il me faut toujours voir, sentir, éprouver. La plus intellectuelle des démonstrations ne remplace pas une nuit de palabre avec un inconnu, un voyage en train, ou le haussement de sourcil d'un anonyme qui n'a plus chez lui le droit à la parole. La conscience se construit sur le socle de sa propre histoire et de sa culture, mais surtout grâce à la vie des autres, pour peu que l'on y prête attention. On fait alors lentement sa propre moisson de rencontres, d'expériences, de gamberges, pour finalement éprouver une "conscience", ce sentiment intime par lequel on apprécie moralement ses actes et ceux d'autrui. (.....) Mon désir de voyage n'est pas politique, mais c'est en voyageant que s'est forgée ma conscience citoyenne. (....) Marcher pour mieux comprendre, marcher pour se faire entendre, marcher pour rassembler. Toute volonté d'être acteur du monde se démontre en marchant !"
Daniel Herrero - PARTIR - éloge de la bougeotte - ed La Table Ronde

Mobile Home and Camping

I just spent a couple of days in a "camping" as we fench say, sleeping in a mobile home.
I had never done it before and don't think I will do it again.
I had a deep feeling it wasn't my idea of vacation now it is a fact.
I must become (or be) an old unmarried lady (vieille fille) but I must admit that sharing the ups and down of my fellow citizen during my holidays doesn't send me to the Nirvana.
The endless question and quarrels about, what do we eat for lunch ? the beef is too cooked, who is going to walk the dog ? do you want antother pastis ? and (my favourite) do you know the last fashoniable dirty joke (which is going to be said loud enough to make sure that the entire crowd will hear it , wheter or not they want to) gives me very fast a big big headache and the urge to retreat as fast as possible to the closest desert island.

Mean I know but I really can't help it. I can't even find something funny to say about it!

So I guess I'm forever stuck to my backpack (the love of my life) and to the crowded indian buses (or any other country come to think of that) and the not always so kleen cheap hotels lost in the middle of nowhere.
But you will tell me the crowd is still there.
Yes I know but at least I don't understand what they say and everything around is so different so alive and (shame on me) so far away from the french!

Monsoon

Je ne peux pas reste insensible à cela. Une histoire parmi de trop nombreuse de la souffrance autour de nous

This aerial view shows Indian villagers displaced by floods taking refuge on the raised surface of the road in the Darbhanga district of the Indian state of Bihar. Rescue operations were underway as the number of people stranded by floods from torrential monsoon rains and glacial snowmelt climbed to 12 million across north India, officials said. STRDEL/AFP/Getty Images

NPR.org, August 6, 2007 · The death toll continues to rise in South Asia as flood waters begin to recede, giving hope to the millions that have been displaced from their homes by the monsoon. On Monday the death toll rose to 347 and authorities worry that number could grow if waterborne diseases spread.
Thirteen bodies surfaced in eastern Bihar state as six major rivers started receding, Manoj Srivastava, the state disaster management secretary, said Monday.
A 17-year-old died Sunday when he fell from the rooftop of his marooned village home into the flood waters while trying to catch a food packet dropped by an Indian air force helicopter in Darbhanga district, said Upendera Sharma, the district magistrate.
His death raised India's overall death toll in the past week to 191.
The death toll rose to 156 in Bangladesh, with 36 more deaths reported nationwide Monday, the Information Ministry said.
In a late night television address Sunday, the Bangladesh's military-backed interim leader Fakhruddin Ahmed appealed to all Bangladeshis to join army and government efforts to aid the flood-affected people.
"Any natural disaster like floods brings an opportunity for the nation to stand united," Ahmed said. "Let us stand beside the helpless flood-affected people hand in hand, imbued with the sprit of human welfare and patriotism."
The South Asian monsoon season runs until September as the rains work their way across the subcontinent, a deluge that spreads floods and landslides across the region and kills many people every year.
Indian officials say more than 1,200 people have died in their country alone since monsoon season began in June. Scores of others have been killed in Bangladesh and neighboring Nepal, where floods have hit low-lying southern parts of the country.
Some 19 million people have been driven from their homes in India and Bangladesh in recent days. At least 2 million people have found themselves marooned and unable to reach safe ground, though relief supplies have been airlifted to many.
Relief supplies have been air-dropped over the worst-hit areas of India's Bihar state, but some stricken residents have ended up fighting with each other in their desperate attempts to grab food parcels, officials said.
Water levels in three rivers, Ghagra, Rapti and Gandak, in Uttar Pradesh state have started receding or remain constant, said Mahindra Awasthi, a spokesman for the Central Water Commission in Lucknow, the state capital.
"If this trend continues it will give a big respite to the millions of marooned people," he said.
The meteorological office forecasts minimal rains in north and northeastern India during the next 24 hours.
As rains ease, doctors and paramedics have started supplying medicine to people to prevent diarrhea, skin allergies and other waterborne, diseases, said S.K. Gupta, an Indian army officer.
Army doctors treated 235 people suffering from waterborne diseases in makeshift camps near Gorakhpur, a town 155 miles southeast of Lucknow, said Gupta, who is commanding a unit involved in relief operations.
"Our effort is to prevent the outbreak of an epidemic," he said.
From NPR and The Associated Press.

To belong

There are places where your heart stops beating or beats faster, places you belong to.
For me this place is here. Far away from where I come from, from my traditions but where I know I'm home and always will be. Where my soul is in tune with its surroundings, where I'm completely and truly myself.
India
I was lucky to be able to live there for a while and lucky to discover what it meant for me.
I don't know if I will ever be able to live there again, to settle there but I know that it will always be within me and guiding me.

Un petit coin de Bretagne

Une semaine en Bretagne avec Romain (mon filleul) moment à part de partage et de découverte.

Découverte de l'île de Groix, de ses sentiers, ses habitants, son histoire et ses legendes.

Moments hors du temps à apprendre à se connaitre, à se parler, à profiter tout simplement.

Instants glanés qui resteront toujours gravés dans un petit coin de mémoire.

25 ans plus tard

"Parce que c'etait moi, parce que c'etait lui"

Michel de Montaigne