Ramya Vivekanandan: Between your narrative and the well-framed photos, you gave us a vivid, virtual tour of areas and heritage in Paris.
Especially a proud, African heritage, which is quite prominent in France and is visible, too, in Germany.
You stress poetry.
The photos and narrative make a poetic whole.
I have lived in Germany, in the semi-rural areas of the Rheinpfalz, where little village people were my intimates (I am conversant at the C2 level (reading and writing at C1 level) in the German language).
Yours is one of the columns I love, share, and always read.
Armand, thank you so much for your close read and thoughtful note - it’s always a pleasure to read you! Very interesting to know about your experience in Germany. What a privilege it is to live the life of a global citizen - we have that it common.
Ramya Vivekanandan: My Mom, God rest her dear soul, was an RN in Walloon (Francophone) Charleroi, during the horrific occupation of Belgium by the Third Reich. The critical medical skill kept her, Thank God, in her Belgian home, while neighborhood youth were shipped to forced labor in munitions factories in the heavily industrialized Ruhrgebiet.
Mom reared me to think and feel like her contemporary during WWII.
This background gives me horrific premonitions about the white-nationalist right that now rules the USA and the electoral wins in Germany of the neo-Nazi AfD.
My loved ones in the innocent, beautiful Rheinpfalz have been close like cousins for 45 years.
In college, I had an innocent crush on an English Professor during my sophomore year, and she introduced me to the Bhagavad Gita, which has been a devotion of mine for just short of 60 years, later adding the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, with the teachings of Unity by Yajnavalkya, as well as the Chandogya Upanishad.
I owe a lot to that Professor that forms my intellectual and spiritual life.
I loved this! I felt like I was with you and could see this part of Paris (also my part too!) through your eyes. Loved all the vivid description and the cast of characters- that flyer was hilarious! I might try to recreate this route you took one day!
I’m so glad that it resonated, Ehae! You should definitely check out some of this route one day. Passe le bonjour à Professeur Michel, if you see him 🤣
Thank you for taking us on this journey through time, weaving past and present together so vividly.
After 30 years in Paris, it’s easy to overlook the city’s details, but your precise narrative brought memories rushing back.
Montmartre—a wellspring of inspiration for artists, writers, and musicians. The entire 18th arrondissement is endlessly unique, a crossroads of cultures where people from all over the world coexist. A meeting point, a bridge to the homelands they left behind. Life abroad, beautifully lived.
A delightfully eclectic 18th, where you can have n’Dolé for lunch, Moroccan mint tea in the afternoon, and couscous for dinner—all within the same neighborhood.
This was a lovely read. Paris can bring on the magic in big ways. You captured it well.
Thank you, Roberta! París is magical indeed.
Ramya Vivekanandan: Between your narrative and the well-framed photos, you gave us a vivid, virtual tour of areas and heritage in Paris.
Especially a proud, African heritage, which is quite prominent in France and is visible, too, in Germany.
You stress poetry.
The photos and narrative make a poetic whole.
I have lived in Germany, in the semi-rural areas of the Rheinpfalz, where little village people were my intimates (I am conversant at the C2 level (reading and writing at C1 level) in the German language).
Yours is one of the columns I love, share, and always read.
Armand, thank you so much for your close read and thoughtful note - it’s always a pleasure to read you! Very interesting to know about your experience in Germany. What a privilege it is to live the life of a global citizen - we have that it common.
Ramya Vivekanandan: My Mom, God rest her dear soul, was an RN in Walloon (Francophone) Charleroi, during the horrific occupation of Belgium by the Third Reich. The critical medical skill kept her, Thank God, in her Belgian home, while neighborhood youth were shipped to forced labor in munitions factories in the heavily industrialized Ruhrgebiet.
Mom reared me to think and feel like her contemporary during WWII.
This background gives me horrific premonitions about the white-nationalist right that now rules the USA and the electoral wins in Germany of the neo-Nazi AfD.
My loved ones in the innocent, beautiful Rheinpfalz have been close like cousins for 45 years.
In college, I had an innocent crush on an English Professor during my sophomore year, and she introduced me to the Bhagavad Gita, which has been a devotion of mine for just short of 60 years, later adding the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, with the teachings of Unity by Yajnavalkya, as well as the Chandogya Upanishad.
I owe a lot to that Professor that forms my intellectual and spiritual life.
Which makes me LOVE your work!
I loved this! I felt like I was with you and could see this part of Paris (also my part too!) through your eyes. Loved all the vivid description and the cast of characters- that flyer was hilarious! I might try to recreate this route you took one day!
I’m so glad that it resonated, Ehae! You should definitely check out some of this route one day. Passe le bonjour à Professeur Michel, if you see him 🤣
Thank you for taking us on this journey through time, weaving past and present together so vividly.
After 30 years in Paris, it’s easy to overlook the city’s details, but your precise narrative brought memories rushing back.
Montmartre—a wellspring of inspiration for artists, writers, and musicians. The entire 18th arrondissement is endlessly unique, a crossroads of cultures where people from all over the world coexist. A meeting point, a bridge to the homelands they left behind. Life abroad, beautifully lived.
A delightfully eclectic 18th, where you can have n’Dolé for lunch, Moroccan mint tea in the afternoon, and couscous for dinner—all within the same neighborhood.
Beautifully told.
Nothing like the 18e!