The other one is probably even more famous- Marie Antoinette, the queen of France during the French Revolution, when apprised of the fact that the peasants had no bread to eat, is supposed to have said, "Let them eat cake." Nobody is certain whether she actually said so or not, but the words have been attributed to her to highlight the ignorance of the royalty of the hardships faced by ordinary French citizens of those times.
In the National Defence Academy, I studied French in my final year. I remember Mr. Paul, our teacher, acquainting us with the finer nuances of the language such as every noun having a gender and that the last consonant of a word is not pronounced unless the next word begins with a vowel in which case the consonant is conjoined with the vowel- 'Voulez vous?' 'Mais oui!' After the NDA, I lost touch with the language but can recognise some words and phrases to make sense of a written piece. I am glad that Shumita achieved a high level in French by studying at the Alliance Francaise in Delhi and can be my translator when required.
The radio introduced me to French songs. Among the earliest I remember are "La Mer" by Charles Tenet composed in 1943 during a train journey in South of France and Edith Piaf's "La Vie En Rose" written in 1945 to alleviate the mood of the French during World War II.
Originally a French hit, Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye and all well-known singers of those days, recorded their own version of the sweet, chic number, "Mademoiselle de Paris", aptly describing a French maiden-
"She's so chic and adorable
No one thinks it deplorable
When men all turn around just to see
Mademoiselle de Paree.
Ooh la la, oui oui oui
She's the spirit of spring in Paree."
Another French song, "Les Feuilles Morte" was popularised by Nat King Cole as "Autumn Leaves." Over the years, I have been enjoying Michel Legrand's compositions such as the sweet "I Love Paris", the haunting "I Will Wait For You" from "The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg" and "Windmills Of Your Mind", the theme from "The Thomas Crown Affair." Then there are Francis Lai's enchanting themes from "Un Homme Et Une Femme" and "Love Story", and Paul Mauriat's brilliant instrumental rendition of "L'amour Est Bleu."
I read some French fiction, translated into English, of course, but it gave me an insight into French history as well as their way of life and customs including the dreaded guillotine! I loved Alexandre Dumas' classics "The Three Musketeers", "The Count Of Monte Cristo" and "The Black Tulip". Victor Hugo was another favourite with "Les Miserables" and "The Hunchback Of Notre Dame." Jules Verne, 'father of science fiction', was ahead of his time with "Around The World In 80 Days" and "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea." "Cyrano de Bergerac" by Edmond Rostand was a heart-rending romance of a man in love but too shy to reveal his identity to his lover because of his extraordinarily long nose.
Movies and musical plays based on these books have been big hits too.
Two Francoises grabbed my attention in late 1950s-'60s. The first was an 18-year old author, Francoise Sagan, who made waves with her first book, "Bonjour Tristesse". The book was controversial but a gripping portrait of a coming-of-age girl aged 17 and her complex relationship with her father. It made Sagan famous and she followed it up with other popular books including "A Certain Smile" which was adapted into a film starring Rossano Brazzi and Christine Carere, an actress little known outside France. The story was of a teenage girl falling for a much older man. The theme song by Johnny Mathis went to the top of all music charts and was a personal favourite of mine.
The second Francoise was a young singer, Francoise Hardy. I was on Trishul when we visited Kuwait. We were invited to a party hosted by some young Palestinians who had a huge collection of music. There I heard Hardy for the first time and was enchanted by her voice. She also sang in English and I bought an LP with the unforgettable song "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?" that keeps constantly reverberating in my ears.
In 1963, my ship Khukri visited Pondicherry. A visit to the French Quarter gave some idea of life in a French city. It was also my first introduction to the famous French bread, the long 'baguette'!
Still, it was only through movies that I could see France. "The Last Time I Saw Paris" starring two budding actors in Elizabeth Taylor and Roger Moore along with Van Jonson was a heart-rending tragedy with the haunting theme song sung by Odette. Another hit movie was the musical, "An American In Paris" with six Oscars to its credit including Best Picture. Gene Kelly was super with his tap dancing ably accompanied by Leslie Caron. A few years later came "Gigi", another superb musical winning the Best Picture award and 8 other Oscars. Its cast was mainly French with Leslie Caron, Louis Jourdan and the one and only Maurice Chevalier. Who can forget his lovely song, "I'm Glad I'm Not Young Any More"?
Meanwhile two young stars were earning enormous popularity in France and beyond. Alain Delon with his striking good looks was winning female hearts. For men, there was Brigitte Bardot, the ultimate oomph girl. In "Doctor At Sea", she was brilliant, charming Dirk Bogarde with"Je Ne Sais Pas", 'there are many things I don't know but I do know this, that I love you love you love you, je ne sais.'
My first visit to France took place in 1982. I had been sent by NHQ to the Italian Naval Exhibition in Genoa, Italy. Our stay included a weekend and a local Indian friend offered to take me on a car drive to Cote d'Azur, the French Riviera. So we travelled through Monte Carlo and Nice to Cannes and St. Tropez and looked to spend the night there. It was the peak of summer and we could not find a hotel with a vacant room and kept driving on to Toulon and Marseilles. Still no luck, so we turned back and went inland a bit and soon found two rooms.
The next day, it was a drive back with a few hours on the beaches of St. Tropez, Cannes and Monte Carlo. The drive along the sea coast was beautiful and reminded me of the car scenes in Alfred Hitchcock's "To Catch A Thief" with the difference that the car in the movie had Cary Grant and Grace Kelly with a love interest whereas we were just two males, simply friends! I made a mental note to correct that in the future.
A visit to Paris materialised only in 1987. I was posted in Singapore as the Defence Attache and Akhila and I embarked on a trip to UK and Europe. Our 3-day stay in Paris was hectic as we wanted to cover all the famous tourist spots, Eiffel Tower and River Seine, Arc de Triomphe, a walk up and down Champs Elysees looking at famous designer shops such as Chanel, Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton, Prada and many more, Louvre Museum with the sculpture 'Venus de Milo', and perhaps the most famous painting in the world, Leonardo da Vinci's 'Mona Lisa', Notre-Dame Cathedral, Moulin Rouge, and Versailles Palace and Garden. Phew!!!
The promised corrective action during the earlier trip to the French Riviera was executed with Ruchir organising a trip for Akhila and me in 2018. We spent four days based in Monte Carlo and going around Nice, Cannes and St. Tropez along with some smaller towns like Antibes, inland villages and vineyards.
Vive la France and hopefully, au revoir.
Tailpiece or pieces: During our stay in Paris, our host accompanied us for shopping. On return to his small car, we found two big limousines, one in front and one at the back, with almost no space for our host to manoeuvre his car out. Unperturbed, he started the car, put full wheel on one side and reversed till he hit the rear car. Then he put the wheel on the other side and drove forward hitting the front vehicle. He repeated these manoeuvres 4-5 times till he managed to eke his car out of the parking. Content, he drove on quite unconcerned at the damage and the hanging tailpiece of the car ahead.
Was that a typical French way of muscling out of tight spots? Maybe or maybe not. Our host was an Indian!
