‘Vous-voulez de banana,’ (translation – ‘Do you want a banana?’) – Never before and possibly never after will these words sound as special to me as they did. I was bubbling with joy at the fateful coincidence. They came from a dishevelled homeless person on a train station in Paris as he was munching a banana and offering it to a traveller on the platform. From Asking to Offering – what a role reversal.
The bananas had had quite an ordeal and their story started a few hours ago when owing to a series of coincidences, I ended up alone on the streets of Paris with nothing but 3 and a half euros and a travel pass. I had no ideas where I was going, nor, did I know where I wanted to go. I only knew I had an evening to spend and to somehow manage dinner.
I love long solitary walks especially when it is cold and this jaunt had a modest beginning. It started off with a conversation with a Romanian beggar in broken French. The venue – a posh Parisian street that houses luxury brands like Louis Vuitton.
I can be assured that the conversation went well as we exchanged pleasantries before I departed and I offered him 50 cents from the 3.50 Euros I had that he graciously accepted. My repeated attempts to ask him ‘Why does he not work?’ did not really pay off as I genuinely could not construct the question in French.
Nevermind the beginnings, the journey picked up pace quite literally (pun totally intended) as I tried to cross the street to get closer to the marvellous Arc-de-Triomphe. The weather was cold, the signal for pedestrians still red and the sight of a warm bus standing next to the signal all too inviting. I decided to ditch the Arc and ended up boarding the bus .
Scenes of Paris flew by as I sat on a window seat behind an old French lady. My mind trying to figure out where to get off. I wasn’t quite sure. Number of fancy restaurants flashed by and before I knew I was on the surreal sets of the movie Moulin Rouge – was this for real. It probably was and I had reached the crime prone ‘Soho’ of Paris. Curious to explore more I got off and started strolling through the streets.
One thing life has taught me is that when streets rise higher as though moving towards heaven the prudent thing to do is to ascend higher. I followed the lesson and started climbing higher. After the sights of few cosy houses and cafes, the ‘Rues’ (french for ‘Streets’) of Paris led me to the magnificent Sacre Coeur (the most beautiful church I have seen in my life).
For a devotee nothing can be more romantic than a place where he can have a private meeting with God (something Aamir Khan and Raj Kumar Hirani will probably need a few lifetimes to understand – sorry PK). It was 8:45 in the evening, from the height I could see the brightly lit cold city. To my delight the doors of the Church were open and I slipped into one of the quiet benches. I don’t remember when I went into deep meditation but Nuns crooning the sweetest melodies brought me back to reality. It was Saturday night and to say the prayers were divine will be an understatement.
As I sat there wondering the series of events that brought me there I couldn’t but feel grateful. Of all the places in Paris that a person who merely had 3.5 Euros, a travel card, and no ideas about the city could reach this was the sweetest. Thank you ‘Guruji’
After the prayers got over I said Goodbye to God and got out. By this time I was assured that my wife would have reached home. I was very hungry but I decided that I will only eat if God offered me a nice meal – 3 Euros in any case was not going to be enough so I had to trust divine providence to work again this evening. I got out of the Church to see a old man asking for money and readily parted off with a Euro Coin.
The next 15 minutes or so it took to walk back to the Metro station was quite interesting. I was bombarded with drug peddlers, and pimps – offered everything from ganja to décolleté. Unsurprisingly I did not get bothered or scared as I only had 2 Euros, a travel pass and a meditative mind to lose. Thankfully I lost nothing.
I finally reached home hungry, happy, albeit disappointed that the divine did not organize a meal for me. How could this be? I was upset and so decided to fast that night even though the fridge had plenty of food.
‘Where is my meal, God?’ I just could not let go.
I had to only wait eight hours for the question to be answered. Early next morning I went to buy some bread and milk. As I went to the counter, the guy said something in French and handed me a large parcel. As I got confused and replied ‘I was sorry I did not get you,’ he replied in adorable French English – ‘ Would you like these Banana’s as gift?’ I smiled and realised that my dinner was here, only a little too late.
I graciously accepted. Only catch I don’t eat bananas in cold weather – however, I had seen this time of the year the city had plenty of homeless people who could use some extra food. The lesson was learnt – ‘I had enough, God did not want me to Ask but to Offer.’ A few hours later the Banana’s had reached their rightful owner on the train platform.